Abimelek – egy habiru vezér a Bírák könyvében?
Abimelech – an Habiru Leader in the Book of Judges?

Summary/Abstract: The story of Abimelech in the ninth chapter of the Book of Judges underwent several revisions before it reached its current form. One of the most significant of these was the Deuteronomic redaction in the 6th century BC. But as a major part of the story predates this, it can be used in an examination of the conquest of the Israeli tribes and the establishment of the ancient Israeli kingdom. The environs of Sichem must have been an especially difficult place in the process of the conquest where the tribes of Isreal were to experience annoying frustrations. On the one hand, the conflict of Abimelech and Sichem preserved the memory of these. On the other, Abimelech’s story can be seen from the perspective of the Habiru phenomenon known from the Amarna letters, and it helps us integrate certain elements of the tribes’ conquest into the information collected from other sources. Inserted in its current place and in the context of Abimelech’s story at a later date, Jotham’s tale is a piece from the monarchy criticism of the Northern political elite, which had been driven out of power by the time of David. After the fall of the kingdom, during the Babylonian Captivity the deuteronomic redactor inserted the story in its current place to provide an explanation for the traumatic experiences of the Davidic dynasty’s fall.

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