What is the curse of Jotham?

from the old testament

• Gideon, one of Israel’s judges (Judges 6:11–14), grew in prominence and had 70 sons (Judges 8:30). One of his sons, Abimelech, was conceived with a concubine who lived in Shechem (Judges 8:31). After Gideon died, Abimelech conspired to kill his half-brothers by plotting with the leaders of Shechem (Judges 9:1–3). With their money and a band of worthless men, Abimelech slaughtered his brothers (Judges 9:4–5a). However, Jotham, the youngest, escaped (Judges 9:5b). After the slaughter, Shechem made Abimelech their king (Judges 9:6). This is the context behind Jotham’s curse.
• Hearing about Abimelech’s rise to power, Jotham publicly pronounced a curse on him and Shechem (Judges 9:7–20). He first illustrated his curse with plant imagery, calling Shechem a forest of trees seeking a king (Judges 9:8a). They began with a noble olive tree, who turned them down (Judges 9:8b–9). They then asked a respectable fig tree, who also rejected the offer (Judges 9:10–11). They continued to lower their standards, next asking a vine to rule over them (Judges 9:12–13). Finally, the trees degraded themselves, asking a bramble—a weed-like plant—to rule them (Judges 9:14). The bramble said, “If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon” (Judges 9:15).
• Jotham then explained his point (Judges 9:16–20) with a conditional curse. For the first part, he said, “if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal [Gideon] and his house and have done to him as his deeds deserved … then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you” (Judges 9:16, 19b).
• However, knowing they had not acted in good faith by helping Abimelech kill his brothers, Jotham said, “But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech” (Judges 9:20).
• Jotham’s curse, then, was that Abimelech would eventually destroy Shechem, which would result in Abimelech also being destroyed. It’s important to note that this was not a prophetic statement in the sense that God spoke through Jotham as a prophet. Rather, Jotham spoke on his own, expressing that Abimelech’s duplicity and willingness to kill his brothers meant that Shechem would also feel his wrath if they displeased him.
• However, though not technically a prophecy, God was working through Jotham to say what he would do to Shechem and Abimelech. After three years, God “sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem” (Judges 9:22–23a). The result was that “the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech” (Judges 9:23b). God did this so that “the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers” (Judges 9:24).
• Shechem laid an ambush for Abimelech’s men (Judges 9:25), and the men of Gaal stirred up the city against Abimelech (Judges 9:26–29). When Abimelech heard, he was enraged. He gathered men and attacked in four waves (Judges 9:34–45). Shechem was defeated when Abimelech burned their town with a thousand people inside (Judges 9:46–49). That fire literally fulfilled Jothan’s curse against Shechem.
• Still angry, Abimelech turned his attention toward a sister city, Thebez (Judges 9:50). However, when the people of that city retreated into their strong tower, and as Abimelech pressed in, he was mortally wounded by a millstone (Judges 9:52–53). He had his servant kill him to avoid the embarrassment of being killed by a woman (Judges 9:54). After he died, fulfilling Jotham’s proclamation that he would also die, Israel stopped fighting (Judges 9:55).
• The passage ends with, “Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal” (Judges 9:56–57). Through Jotham’s words, God fulfilled the curse to punish both Shechem and Abimelech.

from the new testament

• The curse of Jotham is not found in the New Testament.

implications for today

This curse of Jotham was so long ago and about a specific situation; how can we apply it to our lives? The curse may be passed, but human nature remains the same.

Abimelech’s wickedness reflects the realities of someone who is unrestrained in their sin. He had the power and influence to kill his brothers and did so to increase himself. That desire to increase is known as pride.

While very few of us will ever have the spheres of influence that Abimelech had, we are all filled with pride. Pride is elevating ourselves over others, even over God. Indeed, pride is our competing to be God: when we try to conform the world to our desires or make ourselves happy, we make ourselves the center of the world.

However, “pride comes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Just like Abimelech’s pride resulted in his death, we all too will die (Romans 6:23a). While God sometimes allows the prideful to continue, even to be successful in this world, Jesus asked what good is that only to have lose their souls (Mark 8:36). In contrast, He modeled a life of perfect humility, submitting His will entirely to His Father’s (Luke 22:42).

We are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. We do this by loving God with all our being (Matthew 22:37) and by loving others as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3–4). Consider your pride today. We all have it because we are all sinful. Pray and ask God to help you see it in your life and then take concrete steps to remove what you see!