Abimelech (Judges)

Abimelech
King of Shechem
Abimelech from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Predecessor	Gideon, only as a Judge
Successor	Tola, only as a Judge
Born	Shechem, Israel
Died	Thebaz, Israel
Hebrew	אֲבִימָלֶךְ
Father	Gideon

Abimelech (/əˈbɪməˌlɛk/; אֲבִימָלֶךְ ’Ǎḇîmeleḵ) was a biblical judge who, according to the Hebrew Bible, ruled "wickedly" over the ancient Israelites. His name can best be interpreted as "my father is king", claiming the inherited right to rule; "Abimelech" was also a common name of the Philistine kings. He is introduced in Judges 8:31 as the son of Gideon and his Shechemite concubine, and the biblical account of his reign is described in chapter nine in the Book of Judges. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an unprincipled, ambitious ruler, often engaged in war with his own subjects.

Abimelech's mother was Gideon's Shechemite concubine, who was probably a Canaanite. He is likely to have been brought up with his 70 half-brothers, who lived in Gideon's household at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

According to the Book of Judges, Abimelech went to Shechem to meet his mother's clan, and claimed that he should be the only ruler over his mother's clan and over the rulers of Shechem. He asked them whether they would rather be ruled by seventy rulers or just one. His mother's relatives accepted his proposal, and gave him seventy shekels of silver from the house of Baal Berith.