Bible lesson
Chapter 49: Abimelech, Jephthah, and the Minor Judges
Study notes, questions and the Bible passages that Kingdoms of Scripture Chapter 49 covers, as the game’s chapter map shows them. Read the passages first in the Kingdoms of Scripture Bible, the text the game quotes: the game’s choices, maps and staging are reconstructions, not scripture. This page is not a church lesson and adds no doctrine.
Study notes
Abimelech kills seventy sons of Jerubbaal, his own brothers, and Shechem’s lords make him king. Later, when Jephthah returns to his house at Mizpah and his only child, a daughter, comes out dancing to meet him, he carries out the vow he had made.
From Judges 9:6 (KoS), Judges 9:24 (KoS), Judges 11:34 (KoS), Judges 11:39 (KoS).
These notes and questions are original study helps written for this site, not scripture. The verses shown with each question are quoted from the Kingdoms of Scripture Bible.
- Chapter
- 49
- Title
- Abimelech, Jephthah, and the Minor Judges
- Bible passages
- Judges 9:1–12:15
- Read in the Kingdoms of Scripture Bible
- The chapter opens with
Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and he spoke to them and to all the clan of his mother’s father’s house, saying, Speak, please, in the ears of all the lords of Shechem: Which is better for you, that seventy men rule over you, all the sons of Jerubbaal, or that one man rule over you? And remember that I am your bone and your flesh. His mother’s brothers spoke all these words about him in the ears of all the lords of Shechem, and their heart inclined after Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.
Notice and discuss
Read each passage, then think about the question on your own or talk it over with others. No answers are collected.
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What does the thorn tell the trees to do if they truly make it king, and what does it say will happen if they do not?
The thorn said to the trees, If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come, take shelter in my shade. And if not, let fire come out of the thorn and eat the cedars of Lebanon.
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Who rises to save Israel after Abimelech, and where does the text say he lived?
After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
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What does the daughter ask her father to let her do, and for how long?
She said to her father, Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone for two months, and I will go and come down on the mountains and weep over my virginity, I and my companion.
Note · Text The written consonants are ve-re’iti, “and my companion,” singular. The Masoretic reading is ve-re’otai, “and my companions.” The written singular is printed.
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Kingdoms of Scripture Bible (KoS). CC BY 4.0. Source: bible.kingdomsofscripture.com. Quotations are whole published verses, matched to the game’s chapter references.