YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A PROPHET TO BLESS AND CURSE........ Certain people were recognised in the Bible to have especial power to their words. Balaam was one such. Balak the king of Moab said to him: ‘Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed’. (Numb. 22:6) But no such prestige attached itself to Jotham the son of Gideon, also known as Jerubbaal. When the wicked Abimelech (and whoever named him ‘Father of the king’ may have given him regal pretensions – such is the power of a name) – killed all Gideon’s sons so he could reign unopposed, Jotham escaped. He then said to the men of Shechem, who had been won over by Abimelech’s oratory: Judg. 9:19 If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: Judg. 9:20 But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. To prepare the way, God himself sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem (vs23). In the final act of this drama, Jotham’s curse came true. Abimelech killed the men of Shechem by setting light to the tower which they thought would protect them (vs49). The fire motif followed Abimelech to Thebez, where, as he was about to set another tower ablaze, a woman threw down a stone and broke his skull with it (v53). The Bible concludes: Judg. 9:57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 22:17:01 +0000
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