Mar. 15 - Judges 9-10

Abimelech - a name I wasn't familiar with.  Apparently, he is a man that thought he was all that and a bag of chips.  He was next in line to rule the land and thought he could do it all on his own.  He killed seventy of his brothers (this excluded the youngest, Jotham, as he hid from him).  Jotham didn't like this and went up to the top of Mount Gerizim and gave a very symbolic speech asking the people if they believe they have acted honorably.  He then fled the land and found a new place to reside because he feared his own brother. 
Abimelech governed Israel for three years until God sent an evil spirit among Abimelech.  Soon enough, Gaal moved into town.  He had quite the rapport with the citizens and tried to persuade them to follow him.  Once the governor of the city, Zebul caught wind of this, he sent people to report to Abimelech.  Abimelech and his followers went to attack Gaal and his followers, eventually killing many people and driving Gaal and his brothers out of the city of Shechem.  He continued to try to kill all of the Israelites that were against him, until he was hit on the head with a rock, which happened to be thrown by a woman.  Hmmm....Abimelech told one of his own soldiers to kill him with a sword so that no one would be able to say that he was killed by a woman.  Interesting.  The Israelites now returned home.
The Israelites were then led by Tola, who served 23 years, followed by Jair, who served 22 years.  After Jair's tenure, the Israelites continued to worship false idols and do things the Lord didn't approve of.  God became very angry and sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites.  After 18 years of living in less than desirable circumstances, the Israelites cried out to God asking for forgiveness.  God told them to go and worship their false idols and ask them for help.  They hadn't followed God all this time, so why should He help them now?  The Israelites destroyed all of their false idols and began to serve the Lord.