Law of the Forest

When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’ “But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’ “Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’ “But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’ “Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’ “But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’ “Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’ “The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’ (Judges 9:7-15)

If you’re ever in conversation with a skeptic who contends that the Bible contains fables, today’s devotional will give you an opportunity to smile in return and offer to show him one.

According to TheSchoolRun.com website, a fable is “a story that features animals, plants or forces of nature which are anthropomorphised (given human qualities). A fable always ends with a ‘moral’.”

Judges 9:7-15 is a fine example of a fable in the Bible. Significant to this series, it’s a story about trees. It was spoken by Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, to the citizens of Shechem who had gathered to crown Abimelek as their king. Abimelek had schemed his way to the throne by cold-blooded genocide.

In Jotham’s fable, the trees foolishly asked a thornbush to be their king, resulting in their demise by fire. Driving home his point, Jotham applied the moral of the story to the fickle citizens of Shechem who had followed and embraced Abimelek. He indicted the people for their folly, their revolt, and their injustice against Gideon’s family. After the speech, Jotham was forced to flee for his life. No surprise there!

The fable proved to be prophetic. Abimelek’s treachery came full circle when the people of Shechem, revolted against him three years later. The moral was not part of the fable. It was history.

What happened to them? The Apostle Paul put it this way:  Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7-9)

Whenever you wonder if we really will reap what we sow, just ask the trees. A forest can teach us the law of the harvest.

 

The Insurrection Tree

When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal [Gideon]. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king. When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you….” (Judges 9:3-7)

The breach of the U.S. Capitol by rioters on January 6, 2021, a strong-armed attempt to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, was not the first insurrection in American history. But it was first direct threat to the peaceful transfer of power in the nation’s history and the only occasion members of Congress ever were forced to flee for their lives within their own building. Even the vice president’s life was threatened by the mob. Afterward, leaders of Congress from both political parties uniformly condemned the insurrection and rebuked the participants.

Perhaps it’s noteworthy that a similar event occurred in Old Testament history when Gideon’s son Abimelek hired some reckless scoundrels, murdered his brothers who stood in the way, and schemed to have himself proclaimed king. There are some interesting parallels to January 6^th. Most striking is that the insurrection took place at a strategic site of historic, national importance to Israel, the great oak tree in Shechem. This is the landmark tree where the Lord had appeared to Abram and had first promised to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s descendants (Gen. 12:6). This is where Jacob had buried his family’s idols when he returned home after fleeing for his life years earlier (Gen. 35:4). This is where Joshua had made a covenant with the people and had set up a commemorative monument (Josh. 24:25-26).

Hundreds of years after Abram met with the Lord at the great tree of Shechem, marking it as a holy site, that historic oak tree became an insurrection tree. There the people rejected their true King. There, at that tree, they followed an imposter, a usurper to the throne. There renegade lawlessness presented a public threat to personal safety. 

And there, at that same tree, a young man named Jotham, the only other surviving son of Gideon, condemned the insurrection and rebuked the participants. He confronted them with a parable about trees, of all things! Jotham’s speech is one of the few fables in the Bible, a tale involving talking trees. 

Yep, it’s not a misprint. Talking trees! That’s next time.

 

The Cursing Tree, part 2

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. (Joshua 8:28-29)

When Israel crossed the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, they had to drive out the previous inhabitants. Israel was called to fight a holy war, a unique moment in history. The Canaanites were under God’s righteous judgment and had to be removed from the land. This holy war was a precursor of the believer’s battle for spiritual growth, in which sin is under God’s judgment and must be removed from the believer’s life. (Holy war is not a model for any of the ethnic and religious fighting that is now taking place in the Middle East.)

One of the first places to be confronted was the small town of Ai. Please note that it’s Ai, not AI. In 2024 we may need to clarify that Ai was a city, not artificial intelligence. Although Ai was small, it proved to be a stumbling block for Israel. As a result of Achan’s sin, the Israelites were thwarted in their first attempt to take the city. God disciplined the nation of Israel for their sin and delivered Ai into their hands. Everyone in the city was killed, even the women and children. This is hard for us to understand, but it’s a question we will have to leave for another day.

The king of Ai was taken captive. Joshua executed him and hung his body on a tree, demonstrating that this defeated king – along with the people he had ruled, all dead – were under God’s curse. Here is the first recorded use of the cursing tree. Divine judgment had fallen upon the people and their king. The city was burned and never rebuilt. Joshua followed the regulations God issued in Deuteronomy 21:22-23 and took down the king’s body at sunset.

In the New Testament, sin would again be defeated at the cursing tree. The cross is where sin died under a curse in the form of Jesus (cf. Gal. 3:13).

 

The Cursing Tree, part 1

If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 NIV84)

Not all stories are happy tales, even stories about trees. The trees of the Bible we’ve encountered to this point have provided beauty, food, vocation, testing, shelter, shade, deliverance, landmarks, and by the providence of God, even sweet water in a desert for a company of complainers. 

Now we come to a sad story about trees. Cruel and godless peoples have used trees for torture and punishment, at least as far back as Israel’s exodus from Egypt in the second millennium B.C. Victims were hanged, impaled, or tied to trees until they died. Often their bodies were left on the trees to decay or to be eaten by insects and birds of prey.

Sadly, capital punishment was necessary under Old Testament law because human life, created in the image of God, is sacred. But the sanctify of life also meant that bodies were not to be abused after death. The corpse must be buried on the day of death. Executioners were not allowed to display the bodies of their victims to terrorize or oppress other people.

Generally, the Israelites did not execute their criminals by hanging them on a tree like the nations around them. Instead, they stoned those guilty of capital crimes, which ensured immediate burial. Criminals executed on a tree like pagans were cursed by God. The tree used as an instrument for death was a cursing tree, an oppressive system of terror. A recent revision changed “tree” to “pole” in our newer NIV Bibles, but it’s the normal Hebrew word for tree, in this case, a cursing tree. But even that curse had a limit. The victim’s body must be taken down on the day of execution so that the land would not be desecrated from a decaying human body which had been created in the image of God.

The passage which regulated this tree (Deut. 21:22-23) contained a hint of things to come. Surprisingly, the cursing tree also will appear in the New Testament. But first, we’ll see it in action when Israel entered the land of Canaan. That’s next time.