Editing Abimelech

{{Short description|Name given to Philistine kings in the Hebrew Bible}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Abimélech épiant Isaac et Rébecca.jpg|thumb|270px|Abimelech spying on Isaac and Rebekah; dish with serrated edge; [[majolica]] ceramics – [[Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon]]]]

'''Abimelech''' (also spelled '''Abimelek''' or '''Avimelech'''; {{Hebrew Name 2|אֲבִימֶלֶךְ|אֲבִימָלֶךְ|ʼAvīméleḵ|ʼAvīmáleḵ|ʼAḇīmeleḵ|ʼAḇīmāleḵ|"my father is a king"/"my father reigns"}}) was the generic name given to all [[Philistine]] kings in the [[Hebrew Bible]] from the time of [[Abraham]] through [[David|King David]].<ref name="Abimelech-Five Books of Moses-Biblical Personalities">{{cite web |title=Abimelech |url=https://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/9991/jewish/Abimelech.htm |website=Chabad.org |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref> In the [[Book of Judges]], [[Abimelech (Judges)|Abimelech]], son of [[Gideon]],<ref>{{bibleverse||Judges|8:31|HE}}</ref> of the [[Tribe of Manasseh]], is proclaimed king of [[Shechem]] after the death of his father.<ref>{{bibleverse||Judges|9:1–6|HE}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The name or title ''Abimelech'' is formed from Canaanite words for "father" and "king," and may be interpreted in a variety of ways, including "Father-King", "My father is king," or "Father of a king."<ref name="Bluedorn2001">{{cite book|author=Wolfgang Bluedorn |title=Yahweh Versus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the Gideon-Abimelech Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jx7KrAnNOoC&pg=PA192 |date=19 December 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84127-200-9|page=192}}</ref> In the Pentateuch, it is used as a title for kings in the land of Canaan.<ref name="Bluedorn2001b">{{cite book|author=Wolfgang Bluedorn|title=Yahweh Versus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the Gideon-Abimelech Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jx7KrAnNOoC&pg=PA192|date=19 December 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84127-200-9|page=191}}</ref>

Abimelech can be translated in Arabic as well into "My father is king", "My father is owner" or "Father of a king," where {{Lang|ar-latn|Abi|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|أبي}}) means father or my father while {{Lang|ar-latn|malek|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|ملك}}) means king or {{Lang|ar-latn|mālek|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|مالك}}) for owner.

At the time of the [[Amarna tablets]] (mid-14th century BC), there was an Egyptian governor of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] similarly named [[Abimilki]], {{citation needed span|who is sometimes speculated to be connected with one or more of the biblical Abimelechs.|date=December 2021}}

=={{anchor|Abimelech of Gerar}} Abimelech of Gerar==
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 240
| header            = Two pictures by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]]
| footer            = 
| image1            = Wenceslas Hollar - Abimelech rebuking Abraham (State 2).jpg
| alt1              = Abraham
| caption1          = Abimelech rebuking [[Abraham]]
| image2            = Wenceslas Hollar - Isaac and Abimelech (State 2).jpg
| alt2              = Isaac
| caption2          = [[Isaac]] and Abimelech
}}

Abimelech was most prominently the name of a polytheistic<ref>{{cite book |last=Benamozegh |first=Elia |url=https://archive.org/details/israelhumanity0000bena |title=Israel and Humanity |author2=Maxwell Luria |publisher=Paulist Press International |year=1995 |isbn=978-0809135417 |page=104 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hamilton|first=Victor P.|title=Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary|year=2012|publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=978-0801031830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUry0cGNR_IC&q=Abimelech&pg=PT1003}}</ref> king of [[Gerar]] who is mentioned in two of the three [[wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis]], in connection with both [[Abraham]]<ref>Genesis chap. 20</ref> and [[Isaac]].<ref>Genesis chap. 26</ref>

King Abimelech of Gerar also appears in an extra-biblical tradition recounted in texts such as the ''[[Arabic Apocalypse of Peter]]'', the ''[[Cave of Treasures]]'' and the ''[[Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan]]'', as one of twelve regional kings in Abraham's time said to have built the city of [[Jerusalem]] for [[Melchizedek]].

==Abimelech son of Jerubbaal/Gideon==
{{Main|Abimelech (Judges)}}
The [[Book of Judges]] mentions Abimelech, son of [[Biblical judges|judge]] [[Gideon]] (also known as Jerubbaal). According to the biblical narrative, Abimelech was an extremely conniving and evil person. He persuaded his mother's brothers to encourage the people of [[Shechem]] to back him in a plot to overthrow his family rule and make him sole ruler.

After slaying all but one of his seventy brothers, Abimelech was crowned king. The brother who escaped, Jotham youngest son of Jerrubaal, made a pronouncement against Abimelech and those who had crowned him.
The curse was that if they had not dealt righteously with the family of Jerrubaal, then fire would come against Abimelech from the people of Shechem and fire would come out of Abimelech against the people who had backed him in this bloody coup.
 
After Abimelech ruled for three years, the pronouncement came through. The people of Shechem set robbers to lie in wait of any goods or money headed to Abimelech and steal everything.
Then Gaal Son of Ebed went to Shechem and drunkenly bragged that he would remove Abimelech from the throne. Zebul, ruler of Shechem, sent word to Abimelech along with a battle strategy. Once Zebul taunted Gaal into fighting Abimelech, he shut Gaal and his brethren out of the city.

Abimelech then slew the field workers that came out of the city of Shechem the next day. When he heard that the people of Shechem had locked themselves in a strong tower, he and his men set fire to it, killing about a thousand men and women.

After this, Abimelech went to Thebez and camped against it. When he went close to the tower in Thebez to set it on fire, a woman dropped an upper [[millstone]] on Abimelech's head.  He did not want to be known as having been killed by a woman, so he asked his armour bearer to run him through with a sword. His place of death is cited as being Thebez.
<ref>{{cite web |title=Judges 9 |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/15817/jewish/Chapter-9.htm |access-date=8 February 2022 |website=Chabad.org}}</ref>

==Russian use==
'''Avimelekh''' ({{langx|ru|Авимеле́х}}) is a Russian male [[given name|first name]] derived from Abimelech.<ref name="Superanskaya2">Superanskaya, p.&nbsp;32</ref> It was included into various, often handwritten, church calendars throughout the 17th–19th centuries, but was omitted from the official [[Synod]]al [[Menologium]] at the end of the 19th century.<ref name="Superanskaya2a">А. В. Суперанская (A. V. Superanskaya). "Словарь русских имён" (''Dictionary of Russian Names''). Издательство Эксмо. Москва, 2005. {{ISBN|5-699-14090-5}}, pp.&nbsp;23 and 32</ref>

==Other people with this name==
Apart from the king (or kings) of Gerar, the Bible also records this name for:
*The father of [[Abiathar]], and [[List of High Priests of Israel|high priest]] in the time of David.<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|18:16|HE}}</ref> In the parallel passage,<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Samuel|8:17|HE}}</ref> the name is given as [[Ahimelech]]; most authorities consider this the more correct reading.
*The king of [[Gath (city)|Gath]] better known as [[Achish]], referred to as Abimelech or Achimelech in the title of Psalm 34.<ref>{{bibleverse||Psalm|34|HE}}</ref>
*The husband of [[Naomi (biblical figure)|Naomi]], and father of [[Mahlon and Chilion]] who leaves [[Bethlehem]] and dies in the land of [[Moab]],<ref>{{bibleverse||Ruth|1:2–3|HE}}</ref> in the Hebrew, his name is given as [[Elimelek]], which is likely the correct reading.
Other literary references include:
*Abimélech, [[Satrap]] of [[Gaza City|Gaza]] is a [[character baritone]] in [[Camille Saint-Saëns]]' ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]''.<ref>Weimar, 1877</ref>

==See also==
*[[Abimelech (oratorio)]]
*[[Wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis]]

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

{{EBD|title=Abimelech}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Philistine kings]]
[[Category:Monarchs in the Torah]]
[[Category:Set index articles on Hebrew Bible people]]
[[Category:Vayeira]]
[[Category:Shechem]]