The youngest brother of all, Jotham, manages to escape the massacre and later, when Abimelech has been made king of Shechem, Jotham briefly emerges from hiding to call out a powerful and prophetic parable: a story about four trees.
In the parable, the trees want to choose a king, but various worthy candidates turn down the leadership role, opting instead to do the thing they were created and called to do:
The olive tree keeps producing olive oil.
The fig tree keeps providing sweet fruit.
The grapevine chooses to focus on growing grapes for wine.
So then the trees ask the thorn bush (by implication, an unsuitable candidate) who willingly takes on the role, demanding allegiance from all the others and ultimately devouring them with fire.
The parable had a specific application to Abimelech's situation. (After a series of military skirmishes, the city of Shechem was destroyed and Abimelech died in an undignified way. Selfish ambition never ends well; there is always a price to pay.) But the story of the trees also has relevance for us as believers in the 21st century.
How easy it is to look at others and envy them for their leadership role, their music ministry or their gift of communication. We can easily fall into the trap of trying to copy others or work ourselves into their sort of role or position in the church. We focus so much on wanting to be like someone else, that we don't do a good job of developing our own gifting and finding the kind of role and fruitfulness that is ideally suited to us. Or, like Gideon, we hold back and allow our own sense of inadequacy to prevent us from stepping into the things that God has for us.
The fig tree knew it was good at producing sweet fruit; the olive tree knew it was created to produce fruit and oil. What were you created to do, and how can you honour God by fully embracing that role and calling?
