Fighting Fire with Fire (Judges 9)
Jotham’s curse in Judges 9 is that fire will go out from Abimelech to Shechem and from Shechem to Abimelech. Both are brambles; both are fire-hazards.
It’s pretty easy to see how fire goes out from Abimelech to consume Shechem, given that Abimelech burns down the stronghold of El-Berith in Shechem. Not only that, but he sows Shechem with salt, and in the Bible salt is crystal fire.
But how does fire come forth from Shechem and consume Abimelech? It doesn’t in any literal sense, though one can point to various metaphorical fires. But maybe there’s something more going on too.
Jan Fokkelman raises the question and suggests an answer: “How about the fire in v. 20de that is to consume Abimelech? The answer given by the narrator is a pun.”
In v. 49, we have ish (man), esh (fire), and ishah (woman). Then in v. 51b, we hear about man and woman again and we’re told that Abimelech is going to destroy the stronghold of Thebez with fire (esh). But then a woman (ishah) drops a millstone on him.
Fighting fire with fire: What overcomes Abimelech’s fire (esh) is a woman (ishah). Abimelech’s flame destroys Shechem, but Thebez’s Flamette destroys Abimelech.