Judges 9:4 And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.
Gideon has died. The people immediately stopped doing right and began worshipping Baal. They had forgotten God. They didnt honor the family of Gideon though he had been greatly used of God.
Abimelech went to his family and got them to agree to follow him. They followed him because of their family relationship. To get a following he had to pay worthless people who had no real goal in life.
He got the money to hire them from Baal berith, a pagan god. This god was a Canaanite fertility god.
I can’t imagine being so vile that you have to hire shiftless people to follow you. It would seem that his message, his goals, his purpose would have been motivation enough, but it wasn’t.
Are you leading people to serve and honor God. Do you have enough heart and life given to God to motivate others to want to do something for God.