Man living before Israel's Monarchy
Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, was the only one to escape when Abimelech killed his seventy brothers.
🗺 Places mentioned alongside Jotham on the map →
Jotham was the youngest of Gideon's seventy sons (Jdg.9.5). After Gideon's death, Abimelech, another of Gideon's sons, conspired to become king and killed his seventy brothers on one stone (Jdg.9.5). However, Jotham escaped by hiding (Jdg.9.5).
Jotham went to Mount Gerizim and delivered a parable to the men of Shechem, warning them of the consequences of their actions in supporting Abimelech (Jdg.9.7-21). In the parable, the trees sought to anoint a king over them, but the worthy trees (olive, fig, and vine) refused, while the bramble accepted and threatened to devour the cedars of Lebanon (Jdg.9.8-15). Jotham then fled to Beer and remained there, fearing Abimelech (Jdg.9.21).
Later, God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, causing them to turn against each other (Jdg.9.22-25). This ultimately led to Abimelech's downfall and death, which was seen as a fulfillment of Jotham's curse (Jdg.9.57).
More background: search Wikipedia ↗
JO'THAM (Jehovah is upright). The youngest son of Jerubbaal, or Gideon, the only one who escaped from the massacre at Ophrah, Jud 9:5; and this he did by concealing himself. See Abimelech. The son and successor of Uzziah, or Azariah, king of Judah. 2 Kgs 15:32. He actually reigned 23 years, being associated with his father for 7 years before his death. His sole administration of the government was only for 16 years, b.c. 758-741. Comp. 2 Kgs 15:30, 2 Kgs 15:32-33. His example was holy; his reign was peaceful and prosperous, and of course beneficial to the kingdom. 2 Chr 27:2-6. One of Judah's descendants. 1 Chr 2:47.
JO'THAM (Jehovah is upright). The youngest son of Jerubbaal, or Gideon, the only one who escaped from the massacre at Ophrah, Jud 9:5; and this he did by concealing himself. See Abimelech. The son and successor of Uzziah, or Azariah, king of Judah. 2 Kgs 15:32. He actually reigned 23 years, being associated with his father for 7 years before his death. His sole administration of the government was only for 16 years, b.c. 758-741. Comp. 2 Kgs 15:30, 2 Kgs 15:32-33. His example was holy; his reign was peaceful and prosperous, and of course beneficial to the kingdom. 2 Chr 27:2-6. One of Judah's descendants. 1 Chr 2:47.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
4 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H3147
He went to his fatherʼs house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.
Then Jotham ran away, escaping to Beer, and he lived there for fear of his brother Abimelech.
And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.