Abimelech the manly man? Judges 9.1-57 and the performance of hegemonic masculinity

Abstract

Feminist readings have long noted the gender anxiety present in the closing portion of Judges 9.1-57 where, in his last moments, Abimelech implores his armor bearer to cut him down lest he be remembered as a man killed by a woman. Utilizing Abimelech’s dying, gendered fear as a point of departure, the present study undertakes a ‘masculinist’ reading of Judges 9.1-57, exploring the ways in which Abimelech’s anxiety regarding his status as a ‘true man’ are present in the narrative. Adopting a model of idealized Hebrew masculinity derived from David Clines’ seminal work on David and augmented by recent scholarship on masculinity readings and the Hebrew Bible, the analysis demonstrates that Abimelech is a ‘subordinate’ male desperately seeking to act as a ‘hegemonic’ male. Ultimately, however, Abimelech’s performance of idealized masculinity falls short as he fails in the categories of martial prowess, wise and persuasive speech, and peer to peer bonding.