By highlighting the setting of the Abimelech narrative through a connection with the great tree at Shechem, the author of Judges 9 positions the story as a foil to the Abrahamic promise that was fully enacted and experienced at the same great tree in Genesis 12. The culmination of Yahweh’s initial promise to Abram in Genesis 12 occurs when Yahweh appears to Abram at the great tree of Moreh near Shechem, portraying Abram as the new kingly Adam entering a new Eden. When Jacob’s sons attempt a failed conquest at Shechem in Genesis 35, Jacob calls his family to abandon their idols and bury them at the foot of the great tree, identifying commitment to Yahweh as prerequisite to receiving the promised kingdom. In Genesis, the great tree at Shechem echoes Eden and thus points forward to a promised kingdom that will restore humanity’s relationship with God.
Judges 9 draws from these initial stories to contrast Abimelech’s failed attempt at kingship with the promised kingdom of Genesis.
Judges 9 identifies the great tree where Yahweh appeared to Abram with the sanctuary of a corrupted deity variously identified as Baal of the Covenant or El of the Covenant and associated with the forbidden practice of divination. Despite his name, Abimelech is neither the son of a king nor a true king of Israel because of his alienation from Yahweh, the giver and goal of the promised kingdom given to Abraham’s seed. In fulfillment of his brother Jotham’s parable, Abimelech proves to be a mere bramble rather than the great tree that a true king of Israel will be.