Abimelech's Bloody Reign at Shechem

After Gideon dies, his son Abimelech by a Shechemite concubine convinces the men of Shechem to back him as king. They give him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, and he hires reckless men, goes to his father's house at Ophrah, and slaughters his seventy half-brothers on a single stone — only Jotham, the youngest, escapes. Jotham climbs Mount Gerizim and shouts down a curse-parable about trees choosing a worthless bramble for their king. Three years later, God sends an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem; the men of Shechem rebel and Abimelech burns the Tower of Shechem with a thousand men and women inside. Then, besieging Thebez, a woman drops a millstone from the tower onto his head — and his armor-bearer finishes him with a sword so people won't say a woman killed him.

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