In the book of Judges we learned how Jotham said to the men of Shechem, “(my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian. And you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) If you then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice you in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech”, and in chapter nine and verse twenty-one of Judges, we learn how “Jotham ran away, and fled” where we read,
And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there,
for fear of Abimelech his brother.
The verse reads, “And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, …” The writer began with the words, “and Jotham ran away” which means “and Jotham whose name means ‘’Jehovah is perfect” and was “the youngest son of Gideon who escaped from the massacre of his brothers”, “and fled” which means “and took flight, departed and escaped”, “and went to Beer” or “and was lead away and proceeded toward Beer whose name means ‘well’ and was a place in the desert”, “and dwelt there” which means “and sat, abode, remained and stayed there, in Beer”. The writer shared how “Jotham” escaped and departed to “Beer” where he remained.
The verse continues, “for fear of Abimelech his brother.” The writer added the words “for fear of Abimelech” which means “on behalf of the face, presence and anger of Abimelech whose name means ‘Melek is father or my father is king’ and was the son of Gideon by a concubine” “his brother” which means “his, Jotham’s, male sibling”. The writer shared how “Jotham” escaped and remained with “Beer” because he was afraid of his male sibling “Abimelech”.
When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how “Jotham” hurriedly escaped and left to live within the desert place named “Beer”.after making his proclamation to the “men of Shechem”. We can imagine how afraid of “Abimelech” that “Jotham” would be when he heard what “Jotham” said, however, God was will “Jotham”, and we shall see how He works this out for him in our next few verses. God is for us, and not against us. He loves us, and He proved His love toward us when He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and to be raised from the dead after three days. When we surrender our lives 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 give us the wisdom to know when to flee to Him and when to make a stand within His presence. (Ephesians 6:13)
Next time we begin to learn what happened, “when Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel”, 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".
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