Sat.'s Devo - Shechem

Read: Judges 8:9-21; Luke 23:44-24:12; Psalm 99:1-9; Proverbs 14:9-10
Gideon captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna and asked them about the men they had killed at Tabor. They described them as children of a king. Gideon then knew that they had killed his brothers so to avenge their blood, he had to kill them. He told his son to slay them and his son was young and couldn’t do it so Gideon did it himself.
After this, the people wanted to make Gideon their king but Gideon said that God must be their king. Good answer. He asked them each for an earring and made an ephod which is what the priest would wear. His effort to set up a form of religion turned into idol worship because they worshiped the office of priesthood rather than the calling.
Gideon had 70 sons with his wives and one son named Abimelech from a concubine from Shechem. As soon as Gideon died, the nation returned to worshipping Baal. The nation forgot all God had done for them through Gideon. Gideon, obviously didn’t teach any of his sons to fear God and hate Baal because they didn’t oppose the sin. Abimelech went to his hometown of Shechem and tried to raise support to be the king since his father was Gideon. The people of Shechem rallied behind their hometown boy and helped him kill all 70 of his brothers. One of the youngest sons escaped named Jotham. The men of Shechem crowned Abimelech king. When Jotham found out, he went and stood on top of Mt. Gerizim and told the people a parable about four different trees that were asked to be the king. The last tree was the bramble tree or the thorn tree. He was referring this tree to represent Abimelech. He explained that this bramble tree, Abimelech, devoured all the cedars of Lebanon. The cedars of Lebanon were prized above all trees and they represented his brothers. His father had risked his life to save them and this was how they were repaying him and his posterity.
In Luke, Jesus was on the cross and the sun refused to shine for three hours (the sixth hour to the ninth). When the light came back on, the veil in the temple was torn from the top down. The Roman centurion saw all this happen and was convinced that Jesus was a righteous man. The people knew it too.
Joseph of Arimathea or Ramah, who had not agreed with what they did to Jesus, took him down, wrapped him in a cloth and placed him in his own tomb - in a rock.
If you remember, Joseph of the Old Testament refused to let his bones stay in Egypt but had them brought to Shechem and buried (Joshua 24:32). Shechem became a city of refuge. Joseph of the New Testament had his graved emptied when Jesus died and rose from it. Both of Joseph’s tombs were emptied and the bodies taken to their promised land. Arimathea, or Ramah was also a city of refuge.
Lord, your Word never fails to bring life!