The rest of Gideon's lifetime saw peace in the land, but after Gideon's death, his son Abimelech ruled Shechem as a Machiavellian tyrant guilty for much bloodshed ( see chapters 8 and 9 ).

The Book of Judges ( 9: 45 ) says that Abimelech, the judge of the Israelites, sowed his own capital, Shechem, with salt, ca.

After Gideon's death, Abimelech, his son by a Sichemite concubine, was made king ( Judges 9: 1-45 ).

He escaped when the rest were put to death by the order of Abimelech ( Judges 9: 5 ).

Having delivered his warning, Jotham fled to Beer from the vengeance of Abimelech ( 9: 7-21 ).

Some researchers, such as Richard Abbott, note the possibility that Labaya and the biblical figure of Abimelech ben Gideon, from Judges 9, were identical.

Abimelech was most prominently the name of a polytheistic king of Gerar who is mentioned in two of the three wife-sister narratives in Genesis.

Next comes the main text (), six stories each concerning a major judge and their struggles against the oppressive kings of surrounding nations, plus the story of Abimelech, an Israelite who oppresses his own people.

For example, Psalm 34 is attributed to David on the occasion of his escape from the Abimelech ( king ) Achish by pretending to be insane-according to the narrative in 1 Samuel 21, instead of killing the man who had exacted so many casualties from him, Abimelech allows David to depart, exclaiming, " Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me?

He also had a concubine who bore him a son that he named Abimelech ( which means " my father is king ").

Abimelech, who had not laid hands on her, inquired if he would also slay a righteous nation, especially since Abraham had claimed that he and Sarah were siblings.

Abimelech was informed that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him.

This is supported in the Haggada when " Benmelech " son of Abimelech changes his name to Abimelech when he becomes king.

* MLK refers to a major Canaanite deity probably named Moloch, in which case Abimelech means my father is Moloch-a reference to belief in semi-divine kings ; or

* MLK refers to a type of ( probably human ) sacrifice probably named Molk, so that Abimelech signifies my father is a sacrifice-a reference to Abimelech being pious.

He is called Abimelech ( meaning " father of the king ") in the superscription of Ps.

Doeg is an instance of the evil consequences of calumny, because by calumniating the priests of Nob he lost his own life, and caused the death of Saul, Abimelech, and Abner ( Yer.

18: 16 his name is Abimelech according to the Masoretic Text, and is probably the same as Ahiah ( 1 Sam.

Rashi argued that when a stranger comes to town, the proper thing to do would be to inquire if he needs food and drink, not whether his female companion is a married woman, and hence as Abimelech did the latter, it tipped off Abraham to the fact that there is no fear of God in this place, and so he lied about his relationship with Sarah in order to avoid being killed.

(, and ) The Haggada identifies the two references to Abimelech as two separate people, the second being the first Abimelech's son, and that his original name was Benmelechof the King ", but he changed his name to his father's, which clearly evidences that the name means " my father is the king ".

The modern scarlet wool is also supplied by " Abimelech Hainsworth " and is much lighter than the traditional material, which was intended for hard wear on active service.

Doeg is an instance of the evil consequences of calumny, because by calumniating the priests of Nob he lost his own life, and caused the death of Saul, Abimelech, and Abner.

* Abimelech ( Judges ), proclaimed king after the death of his father Gideon ().

* The king of Gath better known as Achish, referred to as Abimelech or Achimelech in the title of.

In Gen 20: 13 Abraham, before the polytheistic Philistine king Abimelech, says that " the gods ( elohim ) caused ( plural verb ) me to wander ".

When " the citizens of Shechem and the whole house of Millo " were gathered together " by the plain of the pillar " ( i. e., the stone set up by Joshua, 24: 26 ; compare Genesis 35: 4 ) " that was in Shechem, to make Abimelech king ," from one of the heights of Mount Gerizim he protested against their doing so in the earliest parable, that of the bramble-king.

In the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, Abimelech (; א ֲ ב ִ ימ ָ ל ֶ ך ְ) was a son of the great judge Gideon (); thus his name א ֲ ב ִ ימ ֶ ל ֶ ך ְ / א ֲ ב ִ ימ ָ ל ֶ ך ְ can best be interpreted " my father, the king ".

The Bible records that Abraham and Isaac each stayed at Gerar, near what became Beersheba, and that each passed his wife off as his sister, leading to complications involving Gerar's Philistine king, Abimelech.

Abimelech ( also spelled Abimelek or Avimelech ; ) was a common name of the Philistine kings.

At the time of Abimelech, there was an Egyptian governor of Tyre named Abimilki.

The children of the concubine had equal rights with those of the legitimate wife ; for example, King Abimelech was the son of Gideon and his concubine.

This land was still under the control of King Abimelech as it was in the days of Abraham.

Like his father, Isaac also deceived Abimelech about his wife and also got into the well business.

So, Isaac unearthed them and began to dig for more wells all the way to Beersheba, where he made a pact with Abimelech, just like in the day of his father.

King Abimelech subsequently had her brought to him.

Later, God came to Abimelech in a dream and declared that taking her would result in death because she was a married woman.

In response, God told Abimelech that he did indeed have a blameless heart and that was why he continued to exist.

However, if he did not return Sarah to Abraham, God would surely destroy Abimelech and his entire household.

Early next morning, Abimelech informed his servants of his dream and approached Abraham inquiring as to why he had brought such great guilt upon his kingdom.

Further, Abimelech gave Abraham a thousand pieces of silver to serve as Sarah's vindication before all.

" () Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants ; and invited him to settle wherever he pleased in Abimelech's lands.

A Biblical story relates that Abimelech attempted to destroy Thebez in response to its participation in the revolt and when he and his army attacked a tower in the town, a woman hurled a millstone at Abimelech, killing him.