Calling to His Armorbearer - Judges 9:54

In the book of Judges we learned how, “a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull”, and in chapter nine and verse fifty-four of Judges, we learn how Abimelech, “called hastily unto the young man his armorbearer” where we read,

Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw your sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

The verse reads, “Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, …” The writer began with the words, “then he called hastily” whose name means “at that time he, Abimelech, shouted, cried out and proclaimed in a loud, swift and speedy manner” “unto the young man” which means ”to the youthful male human being” “his armorbearer” or “his, Abimelech’s, lifter, bearer and carrier of his battle weapons”, “and said unto him” which means “uttered, declared and proclaimed to him, Abimelech’s armor bearer” the following words. The writer shared how “Abimelech” speedily cried out to the youthful male who served as the one who carried his battle armor and uttered the following words. 

The verse goes on to say, “… Draw your sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.” The writer continued with the words, “draw your sword” which means “take out your, the armor bearer’s, sharpened war weapon”, “and slay me” or “and kill me, Abimelech”, “that men say not of me” which means “so male human beings do not utter, declare or proclaim pertaining to me, Abimelech” “A woman slew him” or “a female human being killed him, Abimelech” “And his young man thrust him through” which means “and his, Abimelech’s, youthful male pierce through his body”, “and he died” or “and he, Abimelech, became lifeless, inanimate and without breath”. The writer shared how “Abimelech” told his armor bearer to take out his sharpened weapon for war and kill him lest “men” will declare that he was killed by a “woman”, and the armor bearer complied and Abimelech was dead. 

When we think through the words in this verse, we learn how “Abimelech” cried out loudly to his armor bearer and told him to take out his sharpened weapon of war to kill him. He did not want to be known as the one who was killed by a “woman”, and when his armor bearer complied, he was dead and did not have that as a concern. God’s will was being worked out on behalf of the people of Israel, and we shall see more about that in our next verse. For now let us keep in mind that God is working on our behalf as well because He wants to have a personal relationship with us through His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected from the grave after three days. When we put our faith and trust in Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put His Holy Spirit within us to guide us into all truth and help us to live according to that truth so we never need to fear how we might be “killed” because we have been in opposition to God. (See John 3:16; 16:13; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:37)

Next time we learn what happened, “when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".