When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jotham's opening line isn't just a call for attention; it's a profound spiritual warning. By linking their listening to him with God's potential listening to them, he’s implying their current choices might be severing their connection with God. He uses this privileged vantage point not just to be heard, but to frame their immediate political decision within the eternal framework of divine judgment.
When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Having just learned that his half-brother Abimelech was made king by the men of Shechem, Jotham, the only surviving son of Gideon, takes a strategic position on Mount Gerizim overlooking the city. From this vantage point, he publicly delivers a parable to the assembled Shechemites, rebuking their choice of leader and warning them of the destructive consequences of their actions. This act of defiance sets the stage for the ensuing conflict and divine judgment upon both Abimelech and the city.
Why did Jotham climb a specific mountain to deliver his message? The location wasn't accidental; it was a powerful stage set for a divine drama.
Jotham chose Mount Gerizim, a mountain overlooking the city of Shechem, for his bold address. This wasn't just any hilltop; it held deep historical and spiritual significance for the Israelites.
A Sacred Space
Mount Gerizim, along with its neighbor Mount Ebal, was the site where the Israelites, under Joshua's command, proclaimed the blessings and curses of the Law after entering the Promised Land (Joshua 8:33-35). By standing here, Jotham was invoking the very foundations of their covenant with God.
Strategic Positioning
Geographically, Gerizim offered a commanding view and excellent acoustics. The narrow valley between Gerizim and Ebal would have amplified Jotham's voice, allowing his urgent message to reach the leaders of Shechem gathered below. He strategically positioned himself to be heard, ensuring his words would not be easily ignored.
Jotham's opening line is jarringly direct: 'Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you.' What's the profound connection he's drawing between human attention and divine favor?
Jotham’s immediate linkage of the Shechemites' attention to his words with God’s attention to their prayers is a powerful theological statement.
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The Gravity of Attention
He doesn't just ask them to listen; he frames it as a prerequisite for God listening to them. This highlights a core biblical principle: our obedience and responsiveness to God’s messengers and His Word directly impact our relationship with Him.
A Divine Challenge
By invoking God in this way, Jotham is issuing a solemn challenge. He’s implying that their current path – elevating the treacherous Abimelech – is contrary to God's will. Their willingness (or unwillingness) to hear Jotham is a test of their loyalty to the true King, the Lord himself. If they ignore His voice speaking through Jotham, how can they expect God to hear their cries later?
Understand the original words
Elohim · Hebrew Noun
The Hebrew word for the Almighty Creator, the Covenant God of Israel. It emphasizes His power, sovereignty, and role as the ultimate Judge and hearer of prayer.
Jotham's powerful parable, delivered from the heights of Mount Gerizim, serves as a divine judgment and a prophetic warning against the treachery and ambition that marked the rise and fall of Abimelech and the compromised citizens of Shechem.
c. 11th century BC
Gideon Rules Israel
Gideon, a judge of Israel, leads the people to victory against the Midianites. He refuses offers to be king, stating the LORD is their king.
c. 1070 BC
Gideon's Death and Abimelech's Rise
After Gideon's death, his son Abimelech, born to a concubine in Shechem, murders his 70 half-brothers and seizes control of the city, becoming its ruler.
c. 1070 BC— this verse
Jotham's Curse and Escape
Jotham, Gideon's only surviving son, delivers a scathing parable from Mount Gerizim, denouncing the men of Shechem and Abimelech, before fleeing.
c. 1067 BC
Shechem Rebels Against Abimelech
Three years later, the men of Shechem rebel against Abimelech's rule. Abimelech brutally crushes the rebellion, destroys the city, and sows it with salt.
c. 1067 BC
Abimelech's Death
Abimelech is killed by a woman's millstone thrown from the tower of Thebez. He asks his armor-bearer to kill him to avoid shame, but the man refuses.
This passage describes Moses instructing the Israelites to proclaim blessings from Mount Gerizim and curses from Mount Ebal, setting the stage for Jotham's strategic use of the same location to deliver his message.
1 Samuel 12:24Just as Samuel urged the Israelites to 'consider what great things God has done for you,' Jotham's plea for the men of Shechem to 'listen' implies a call to remember God's past dealings and act wisely.
Proverbs 1:20-33This passage speaks of Wisdom crying out in the streets, warning of consequences for ignoring her call, much like Jotham's prophetic warning delivered from a high place about the foolishness of their choice.
Jeremiah 7:29The prophet Jeremiah calls out the people for rejecting God's call, comparing it to shaving off hair in grief, echoing Jotham's public denouncement of the Shechemites' unfaithfulness to Gideon's lineage.
Luke 19:37-40When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Pharisees told him to silence his disciples, but Jesus stated that if they were silent, the very stones would cry out, highlighting the powerful, almost inevitable nature of divine truth being proclaimed, similar to Jotham's voice from the mountain.
gillJudges 9:7: "And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you."
And when they told it to Jotham,.... Or when it was told him that Abimelech was made king in Shechem by some of his friends: he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim; a mount near Shechem; it hung over the city, as Josephus says (c), and so a very proper place to stand on and…
pulpitJudges 9:7: "And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you."
Verse 7. - On the top of Mount Gerizim. Mount Gerizim rises on the south-west side of Samaria or Shechem as a sheer rock about 800 feet in height, facing Mount Ebal, which is separated from it by the narrow valley, "some 500 yards wide," in which Samaria, now Nablus, is built. It w…
Jotham's opening line isn't just a call for attention; it's a profound spiritual warning. By linking their listening to him with God's potential listening to them, he’s implying their current choices might be severing their connection with God. He uses this privileged vantage point not just to be heard, but to frame their immediate political decision within the eternal framework of divine judgment.
Having just learned that his half-brother Abimelech was made king by the men of Shechem, Jotham, the only surviving son of Gideon, takes a strategic position on Mount Gerizim overlooking the city. From this vantage point, he publicly delivers a parable to the assembled Shechemites, rebuking their choice of leader and warning them of the destructive consequences of their actions. This act of defiance sets the stage for the ensuing conflict and divine judgment upon both Abimelech and the city.
Having just learned that his half-brother Abimelech was made king by the men of Shechem, Jotham, the only surviving son of Gideon, takes a strategic position on Mount Gerizim overlooking the city. From this vantage point, he publicly delivers a parable to the assembled Shechemites, rebuking their choice of leader and warning them of the destructive consequences of their actions. This act of defiance sets the stage for the ensuing conflict and divine judgment upon both Abimelech and the city.
"When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you." — Jotham's opening line isn't just a call for attention; it's a profound spiritual warning. By linking their listening to him with God's potential listening to them, he’s implying their current choices…
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Last reviewed October 2026