‘After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel (Judges 3:31).

 When we come to verse 31 at the end of Judges chapter 3 it’s a case of ‘blink and you’re miss him’ as we are introduced to the Judge with the most fleeting references in all of scripture. Shamgar is only mentioned twice in the book of Judges, and then only very briefly. Obviously, he’s mentioned here and that gives us an understanding of how he delivered Israel. But he’s also mentioned in 5:6 in the victory song of Deborah and Barak where he’s mentioned alongside Jael who was a contemporary of Deborah and Barak. So this strongly suggests that the Lord was raising up Judges to deal with different issues in different parts of Israel throughout this troubled time. But what do we know about the man who has the two most fleeting references in the book of Judges?

The answer is, not surprisingly, not very much. I was very surprised to find out that some commentators don’t even include this verse in their  commentaries! But what we do know is very interesting. The first thing to note is rather surprising. His father’s name: ‘Anath’ is not an Israelite name and may mean: ‘son (worshipper) of the Canaanite goddess Anath.’[1] So this strongly suggests that this is someone who’s family may have almost certainly come from outside the covenant community of Israel, and was brought in by some means as others like Rahab, Ruth and others were (see Joshua 2 and 6:22-23, the Book of Ruth and the numerous references to foreigners and there are also references to their protection under the Law). So once again, this is a very unlikely Judge! The second thing to note, is the method of his deliverance of Israel. We know that at some point  during the reign of Saul, he and his son Jonathan were the only ones with swords in Israel, the rank and file of the army having to make do with anything that they could lay their hands on (1 Samuel 13:22). It seems very likely that a similar situation existed in Shamgar’s time as that would explain a lot when we come to his choice of weapon!

An ox goad was a farm implement that consisted of a piece of wood about 8 foot long with a circumference that was easy enough to get your hand round. On one end of it would be a spike, presumably to encourage the oxen to go in the right direction, as they wouldn’t much like getting prodded by it. On the other end would be the equivalent of a small spade, presumably to clean out the earth from the plough from time to time. All in all, it’s an interesting choice of weapon, but one can see how it would be a very effective one when it came to a fight (let’s face it, you’d certainly know about it if you were on the wrong end of it)! Anyway, there’s no doubt that Shamgar was more than adept at handling it when it came to battle. Whether he killed 600 Philistines in one encounter or whether it was over a period of time we don’t know. What we do know is: ‘he also saved Israel.’

So, once again, this verse impresses upon us that God uses the most unlikely people and the most unlikely methods to fulfil his purposes. Shamgar’s background makes him an outsider and, as such, he looks a very unlikely saviour of Israel. But he’s raised up by the Lord for that very purpose (2:16). Once again, like Ehud, he’s someone who shows ingenuity in using whatever is at hand for the Lord’s work. But, an important thing to note, is that each character, we encounter in this chapter, in their own way is raised up by the Lord to be a saviour of his people Israel.

How much more should this give us confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf. He was not recognised as a saviour as he was not recognised by the religious leaders of the day. However, the amazing thing is that he calls the most unlikely people to him. Just think of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and how that led to many converts within the despised Samaritan community. ‘And many more believed because of his (Jesus’) word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe. for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world” (John 4:41-42).

[1] Dale Ralph Davis, Judges, Such a Great Salvation (Fearn, Christian Focus Publications, 2000) 65.