("the father is king" or "Melech is father")
1. King of Gerar. When Abraham and Sarah settled for a time in Gerar, Abimelech, mistaking the couple for brother and sister, took Sarah but did not touch her. Warned by the Lord in a dream that she was Abraham's wife, he restored Sarah to her husband (Gen 20:1-18). A similar incident is related in connection with Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 26:1-11). Later, Abimelech concluded covenants of peace with Abraham and with Isaac at Beersheba (Gen 21:27-32; 26:28-33). Possibly the reference is to two kings bearing the same name, although in both cases the king is accompanied by his military commander who is named as Phichol (Gen 21:22, 32; 26:26).
2. The son of Gideon born to his Shechemite concubine (Judg 8:30-31). After Gideon's death, Abimelech sought to make himself ruler of Shechem, although his father had 70 sons from his various wives. With the support of his mother's family and the local inhabitants Abimelech hired "worthless and reckless men". He then went to his father's house at Ophrah and murdered all but one of his half-brothers in order to eliminate any rival claim to power over Shechem. Jotham, the youngest, escaped the slaughter (Judg 9:1-5). After Abimelech had ruled for three years, "God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem". The latter conspired with Gaal the son of Ebed, but Abimelech set up an ambush for Gaal and his men outside the city and crushed the revolt. Abimelech took the city, killing its inhabitants, and devastating it; finally he "sowed it with salt" (Judg 9:22-45). He set fire to the temple of the god Berith, killing about a thousand men and women (Judg 9:46-49). He then attacked the nearby town of Thebez. From the city tower a woman hurled down a millstone on his head. Fatally wounded, Abimelech asked his armor-bearer to slay him lest it be said that he had been killed by a woman (Judg 9:53-54).
3. A Philistine king of Gath in David's time, mentioned in the title of Psalm 34. It has been suggested that this refers to Achish.
4. See AHIMELECH No. 3 (given as Abimelech in I Chr 18:16).
