The oak of the pillar at Shechem was a famous pillar. At this exact place, at the end of his military campaigns, Joshua gathered all the tribes together to renew the covenant with the Lord. Joshua 24:25–27 says, Joshua “put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, 'Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.'” That pillar was a permanent reminder of Israel’s covenant with the Lord. They were supposed to remember God’s law, and how they swore never to follow other gods, but to serve the Lord alone. But they did not remember.1 The stone was a witness against them. In an act of perversion, they crowned a power-hungry murderer to be their king. Israel has become like the nations.
6 And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.