I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 9-10.

    Once again we see how the failure of a leader to groom his successor leads to problems. Fortunately, the problems are usually not as bad as what is described in this passage. There is also a lesson here for those choosing a new leader. In this case, the leading citizens of Schechem chose to appoint Abimelech as their king because he was related to them on his mother’s side. However, it is even worse than that. Once they had chosen him as their leader, they gave him money to hire men to kill his half-brothers, sons of his father Gideon. The people of Schechem had knowingly chosen a leader without honor because they believed his interests would align with their own. They believed that they would profit from his lack of honor. It was not long before they learned their mistake, but by then it was too late. The people of Schechem chose poorly, and for bad reasons, when they chose to lend their support to Abimelech. They paid a high price for this mistake. It is important to carefully consider the character of those we choose to follow.