Abimelech was an evil man. He killed sixty-nine of his half-brothers to rule unchallenged over the area around the town of Shechem. The men of Shechem wanted Abimelech to rule over them and supported him in the slaughter of his brothers. These events are recorded in Judges 9.  Judges 9:23 provides an interesting detail about this period. After three years of Abimelech’s rule, the Bible says that “God sent a