“Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren:”
My Notes
What Does Judges 9:56 Mean?
"Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren." The narrator's SUMMARY JUDGMENT: God RENDERED (returned, repaid) Abimelech's wickedness back to him. The seventy brothers slaughtered on one stone (9:5) are answered by one stone dropped on Abimelech's head (9:53). The instrument of his death ECHOES the instrument of his crime. The stone that crushed him mirrors the stone that held his brothers. God's justice is POETIC — the punishment rhymes with the crime.
The phrase "God rendered the wickedness" (vayyashev Elohim et ra'at Avimelekh — God returned/repaid the evil of Abimelech) uses the language of REPAYMENT: God didn't just punish — He RETURNED. The wickedness came back. The evil boomeranged. The violence that went out came back. The rendering is SYMMETRICAL — the punishment matches the crime in kind and in imagery. The stone answers the stone. The death answers the deaths.
The phrase "which he did unto his father" (asher asah le'aviv — which he did to his father) connects the crime to FAMILY: Abimelech didn't murder strangers. He murdered his BROTHERS — his own father Gideon's sons. The wickedness was FRATERNAL — brother killing brother, family destroying family. The rendering of wickedness addresses not just criminal justice but FAMILY betrayal. The seventy were his FAMILY. The crime was not just murder. It was fratricide at industrial scale.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What wickedness have you witnessed that God is in the process of RENDERING — returning to its source?
- 2.What does the stone answering the stone teach about the POETIC symmetry of divine justice?
- 3.How does 'rendered' (returned, not just punished) describe justice as the boomerang of wickedness?
- 4.What events in your life that seem random might actually be God's justice writing its rhyme?
Devotional
God RENDERED — returned, repaid — the wickedness of Abimelech. The seventy brothers killed on ONE STONE (9:5) are answered by ONE STONE dropped on Abimelech's head (9:53). The poetry of divine justice: the instrument of the crime becomes the instrument of the punishment. Stone answers stone. Death answers deaths. The rendering RHYMES.
The narrator doesn't say 'God punished.' He says 'God RENDERED' — returned, gave back. The wickedness was RETURNED to its source. The evil boomeranged. The violence that Abimelech sent out came back to Abimelech. The rendering isn't arbitrary punishment. It's the RETURN of what was sent. The violence went out as fratricide. It came back as a millstone.
The phrase 'which he did unto his FATHER' connects the wickedness to FAMILY: these weren't political rivals. They were BROTHERS — Gideon's sons, Abimelech's own blood. The wickedness was domestic before it was political. The betrayal was familial before it was national. The seventy dead were FAMILY members. The crime was a family massacre disguised as a political coup.
This verse is the narrator stepping back to INTERPRET: throughout Judges 9, events unfold without explicit divine commentary. But here, at the end, the narrator tells you what God was doing the entire time. God was RENDERING. God was RETURNING. What looked like human politics — Abimelech's rise and fall — was actually divine justice in motion. The events that seemed random were actually POETIC. God was writing a rhyme.
What wickedness in your story is God in the process of RENDERING — returning to its source?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And all the evil of the men of Shechem,.... In aiding Abimelech to slay his brethren, and in making him king after so…
We have seen the ruin of the Shechemites completed by the hand of Abimelech; and now it comes to his turn to be reckoned…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture