The Role of Abimelech’s Arms Bearer: A Biblical Acceptance of Assisted Dying?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Judges 9 tells the story of the rise and demise of Abimelech. He assumes leadership of the region around Shechem by slaughtering his rival stepbrothers and dies in an assault on the town of Thebez when a woman throws a millstone from a tower which crushes his skull. He calls on his arms bearer to kill him who does so. It is unclear whether the certain woman or the arms bearer is the central figure in this denouement, but in either scenario, assisted dying is accepted. Abimelech’s story ends in verses 55-57 with the lessons to be drawn from his death, but that conclusion does not include condemnation of the manner of his death. This paper concludes that this absence of condemnation is significant, and the Abimelech story is an acceptance of assisted dying.