God Sent an Evil Spirit - Judges 9:23

In the book of Judges we learned, “When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, …”, and in chapter nine and verse twenty-three of Judges, we learn how, “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem” where we read,

Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; 

and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

The verse reads, “Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem;” The writer began with the words, “then God” which means “at that time the Supreme Deity” “sent an evil spirit” which means “dispatched and assigned a bad, disagreeable, unpleasant and wicked spiritual entity” “between Abimelech” or “in the midst and middle of Abimelech whose name means ‘Melek is father or my father is king’ and was the son of Gideon by a concubine” “and the men of Shechem” which means “and the male human beings belonging to Shechem whose name means ‘back or shoulder’ and was a city in Manasseh; located in a valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, 34 miles (54 km) north of Jerusalem and 7 miles (10.5 km) southeast of Samaria”. The writer shared how the Supreme Deity Jehovah God dispatched a wicked spiritual entity to be in the middle of  “Abimelech” and the male human beings who belonged to “Shechem”. 

The verse continues, “and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:” The writer added the words “and the men of Shechem” which means “and the male human beings who belonged to Shechem whose name means “back or shoulder” “dealt treacherously with Abimelech” or “acted in a deceitful, faithless and offensive manner toward Abimelech whose name means ‘Melek is father or my father is king’”. The writer shared how the male human beings from “Shechem” acted in a deceitful and offensive manner toward “Abimelech”. 

When we think through the words in this verse, we learn how the desire of  “Jotham” to have fiery fire to come between “Abimelech and the men of Shechem” was being fulfilled. Although it took three years to come to pass, the “men of Shechem” were now acting in a treacherous manner toward “Abimelech” because Jehovah God dispatched a wicked spiritual being to instigate it. God loves the people of Israel, and He comes to their rescue over and over again in the Bible. He loves us as well, and when the enemy of our souls, Satan, desires to rule over us and does so by way of sin and evil, we may rely upon the fact that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and to rise from the dead after three days. When we yield to 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 teach us to fully rely upon Him when our enemy seems to rule in our lives. (See John 3:16; Isaiah 54:17)

Next time we learn how the blood of the seventy sons of Jerubbaal was, “laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them”, 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".