Parable of the Trees
Judges 9:8
One wonders if King Charles, famous tree hugger, knew about the biblical Parable of Trees that rails against the monarchy when he posed beneath an old oak tree for his recent birthday portrait?
The parable, mid-way a horrific story in today’s chapter, is one more literary device for pointing out one of the key questions in Judges - and for many of us today - what is the ideal leadership model?
The Book of Judges seems to have some very strong - if inconsistent - opinions about kings and whether having them rule is a good idea or not. The philosopher and Jewish scholar Martin Buber was intrigued by this tension and devoted his 1967 book “Kingship of God '' to a close reading of Judges. He argues that it is in fact two books in one. These two narratives present the viewpoints on the institution of the monarchy in an intentional dialectical tension.
The hostility towards kings begins at the very first chapter.
Seventy deformed slaves who once were kings are briefly mentioned in the 15 verses - their fingers and toes cut off by Adoni-Tzedek, the Canaanite King who fought them and won, keeping them alive, begging for food scraps under his table. But the book begins with this king’s defeat - having lost the battle to the invading Israelites he endures his fingers and toes cut off, as he laments his fate and apt punishment.
That macabre scene echoes in today’s chapter, two centuries or so later, as seventy princes/brothers are beheaded in one day by their own half brother, fighting for the right to become Israel’s first king.
Avimelech means ‘My father is king’ and this is the audacious name given to one of Gideon’s seventy or so sons, born to his many wives and concubines. It’s possible the name was one the young man chose himself - as befits his violent ambition.
After Gideon is buried - not officially a king, having refused to begin a dynasty despite the people’s pleading - Avimelech springs into action. He convinces some of his mother’s family members to align forces and marches on his father’s HQ in Ophra, where he kills all seventy of his brothers on a single stone - it is assumed to be a massive beheading. All are killed but one - Yotam, one of the youngest sons manages to hide and escape the massacre. His name means ‘God is Perfect.’
The people crown Avimelech as a king, standing under the sacred oak tree on the top of the hill of Shechem, the auspicious site where Joshua once stood and dedicated an altar.
But at the same time Yotam - sole survivor, stands on the top of the sacred Mount Gerizim right across the valley and proclaims a protest in the form of a parable, perhaps a curse, defined by Buber as “the strongest anti-monarchial poem of world literature.”
Yotam’s parable is simple but baffling:
הָל֤וֹךְ הָֽלְכוּ֙ הָעֵצִ֔ים לִמְשֹׁ֥חַ עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מֶ֑לֶךְ וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ לַזַּ֖יִת מׇלְכָ֥ה עָלֵֽינוּ׃
“One time, the trees went to anoint a king over themselves.
They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
The olive refuses - too busy making oil and rather not be moving out and about dealing with the business of the trees. The fig tree and grapevine, when asked, offer the same response. But then the Bramble bush - bearing no fruit but thorns - agrees to be the king of trees on one condition -- all the trees must be under his shade or else he’ll set them all on fire.
If you are happy with your choice, Yotam concludes and tells the people - enjoy your king. But otherwise - be warned - the fire will consume the lot of you.
With those last words young prince Yotam runs away from his brother’s wrath - never to be heard from again. Avimelech reigned for three years before getting into bad blood with all his former allies and the rest of the nation. He is killed as he tries to lay siege to one of the towers and a woman throws a brick down and cracks open his head. To avoid the humiliation of being killed by a woman he orders his arms-carrier to stab him.
Nobody seems to mourn Avimelech. But the yearning for monarchy, despite this violent attempt, will eventually return.
What’s the story with this parable? Many have explored this text over the ages. The three trees, key staples of the region, sometimes stand for the virtues of humility, industry, and restraint, while the bramble bush represents the vices of egoism, and violence. That particular bush was used for marking boundaries between plots, fast to grow and sharp at the edges. When dry - it’s very flammable. The parable has clear views of Avimelech - and the foreign concept of centralized rule.
Maybe Yotam’s public performance was a form of artistic expression - the only protest possible at that tense and dangerous moment - to publicly proclaim the idea that God is the one ruler, not one king, and that all people are equally able to be called to lead. Whatever the succession story there - the parable is more than about that traumatic event. It is a radical pre-democratic democratic idea that took centuries to re-emerge - and is still struggling.
What’s moving here is that the parable is about trees - their wisdom, their presence in our lives. As Avimelech crowns himself under the sacred oak tree of the goddess, Yotam honors the trees and grapevines of their hills and homes.
It’s interesting to note that the Hebrew word for ‘bush’ is ‘siach’ - which is also the Hebrew word for ‘conversation’. While all the trees are ‘conversing’ with each other, seeking to configure the greater good, it’s the one ‘bush’ that misaligned the conversation. So what’s this lingering conversation about, from the burning bush to this one, and beyond?
The trees are not just about virtues and vices - they are talking through Yotam, and on, to us, through the ‘arboreal languages’ that last so much longer than these human tragedies, and mean so much more than words.
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