Abimelech

Abimelech , in the Bible. 1 Name or title of a king of Gerar who had various dealings with Abraham and Isaac. 2 See Ahimelech 1. 3 Son of Gideon. He murdered his 70 brothers, except Jotham, and became "king."

Abimelech (12th cent. BCE). In the Jewish scriptures, the son of Gideon by his Shechemite concubine (Judges 8. 31). He slaughtered sixty-nine of the seventy sons of Gideon and became ruler of the city of Shechem (Judges 9. 1–5). Subsequently he destroyed the city, but was mortally wounded during the siege of Thebez (Judges 9. 39–54). Although Abimelech is not counted as one of the judges, his story may reflect the changing attitude of Israelites towards the institution of monarchy at that time.

Neighbor Jackwood, antislavery novel by J.T. Trowbridge, published in 1856 and revised in 1895. It was dramatized by the author (1857).

Camille (“Milly”) Delisard, daughter of a French merchant and a nearly white slave, after her father's death is sold into slavery by his legitimate wife. Her mother dies of grief and maltreatment, and the girl passes through various distressing adventures until she is rescued by a Northerner, Robert Greenwich, who helps her to reach Vermont by way of the Underground Railroad. Befriended by Abimelech Jackwood, a benevolent Green Mountain man, she calls herself Charlotte Woods, and becomes a servant of the Dunbury family. When Hector Dunbury asks her to marry him, she reveals her history. At first repelled, he later returns to marry her. Greenwich, moved by an uncontrollable passion, now seeks to claim Camille as a fugitive slave. She is forced to hide, but Greenwich recovers his sense of moral values and rescues her from a slave hunt that he himself originated. Tormented by conscience, he commits suicide, after which Camille and Hector are brought together and their marriage is approved by his parents.