Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

Abimelek’s preoccupation with his image is played out in his death. Fearing that a stigma will be attached to him, he commands his armor-bearer to stab him “so that they can’t say, ‘A woman killed him’ ” (v. 54). Ironically, this did not happen, for even in another biblical passage, his death is credited to the “certain woman” (see discussion above and 2 Sam 11:21). Not all that many years later, the first king of Israel, Saul, will make a similar request to his armor-bearer on Mount Gilboa, not many miles from Thebez, to spare him the disgrace of being captured alive by the Philistines, though this armor-bearer, in contrast to Abimelek’s, refuses (1 Sam 31). In the end, “the man who had shamelessly played the female card to seize the throne (Judg 9:1–2) shamefully falls victim to a representative of this gender. In fact, the story of Abimelek, the macho man, is framed by two women: the first, who gave him life (8:31), the second, who took it (9:53).”51