Shamgar

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Son of Anath, judge of Israel after Ehud, and immediately before Barak ( Judges 5:6;  Judges 5:8;  Judges 3:31). Probably a Naphtalite, as Beth Anath was of Naphtali. This tribe took a foremost part in the war with Jabin ( Judges 4:6;  Judges 4:10;  Judges 5:18). The tributary Canaanites ( Judges 1:33) combined with the Philistines against Israel, rendering the highways unsafe and forcing Israelite travelers into byways to escape notice. The villages were forsaken, and as in later times the oppressors disarmed Israel of all swords and spears ( Judges 4:3;  1 Samuel 13:19;  1 Samuel 13:22). With an ox goad, his only weapon (Compare  Judges 15:15-16 , An Undesigned Coincidence Marking Genuineness;  1 Samuel 17:47 ;  1 Samuel 17:50 ; Spiritually  2 Corinthians 10:4 ;  1 Corinthians 1:27 ) he slew 600 Philistines, thereby giving Israel deliverance from oppressors for a time. So he prepared the way for Deborah and Barak's more decisive blow. The inadequacy of the instrument renders Jehovah's might the more evident.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Shamgar smote 600 Philistines with an ox-goad (  Judges 3:31 ). There is no mention of his judging Israel, or of the duration of his influence. The exploit belongs to the latest redaction of the book;   Judges 4:1 continues the story of   Judges 3:30 . Nothing is known of any Philistine dominion at so early a period, and in some Gr. MSS the verse follows   Judges 16:31 . His exploit resembles that of Shammah in   2 Samuel 23:11 (cf.   2 Samuel 21:16-22 ), and may have been attached to him as an expansion of the reference in the song of Deborah (  Judges 5:6 ). There, however, he appears to be a foreign oppressor, and the connexion of the two passages is obscure, the song having to do with Canaanite oppression in the North. The name is foreign, Hittite or Assyrian. He is the ‘son of Anath .’ Anati occurs in the Tell el-Amarna tablets, and Anatu is an Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] goddess, traces of whose worship are found in Egypt, PhÅ“nicia, and Syria (cf. place-names Beth-anath [  Judges 1:33 ], Beth-anoth [  Joshua 15:59 ]). The names are important as showing Babylonian influence after the period of the Tell-el-Amarna tablets.

C. W. Emmet.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Sham'gar. (Sword). Son of Anath, judge of Israel. When Israel was in a most depressed condition, Shamgar was raised up to be a deliverer. With no arms in his hand, but an ox-goad,  Judges 3:31, compare  1 Samuel 13:21, he made a desperate assault upon the Philistines, and slew 600 of them. (B.C. about 1290).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Son of Anath, the third judge of Israel, after Ehud and shortly before Barak, in a time of great insecurity and distress,  Judges 3:31   5:6 . Scripture only says he defended Israel, and killed six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. See Plough .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Son of Anath and a judge in Israel: he slew six hundred men with an ox-goad, and delivered Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.  Judges 3:31;  Judges 5:6 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Son of Anath: he was: one of the Judges in Israel. ( Judges 3:31) His name seems to be derived from Shem, name—and Ger, stranger.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Judges 3:31 Judges 5:1Anath

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Judges 3:31 5:6

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Shamnar', שִׁמְגִּר , possibly Sword [comp. Samgar ]; Sept. Σαμεγάρ , Josephus Σανάγαρος ) , son of Anath, and third judge of Israel. B.C. 1429. It is possible, from his patronymic, that Shamgar may have been of the tribe of Naphtali, since Bethanath is in that tribe ( Judges 1:33). Ewald conjectures that he was of Dan — an opinion in which Bertheau (On  Judges 3:31) does not coincide. Since the tribe of Naphtali bore a chief part in the war against Jabin and Sisera ( Judges 4:6;  Judges 4:10;  Judges 5:18), we seem to have a point of contact between Shamgar and Barak. It is not known whether the only exploit recorded of him was that by which his authority was acquired. It is said that he "slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad" ( Judges 3:31). It is supposed that he was laboring in the field, without any other weapon than the long staff armed with a strong point used in urging and guiding the cattle yoked in the plough, (See Goad), when he perceived a party of the Philistines, whom, with the aid of the husbandmen and neighbors, he repulsed with much slaughter.

The date and duration of his government are not stated in Scripture (Josephus [ Ant. 5, 4, 3] says it lasted less than one year), but may be probably assigned to the end of that long period of repose which followed the deliverance under Ehud. He is not expressly called a judge, nor does he appear to have effected more than a very partial and transient relaxation of the Philistine oppression under which Israel groaned; and the next period of Israel's declension is dated, not from Shamgar's, but from Ehud's ascendency ( Judges 4:1); as if the agency of Shamgar were too occasional to form an epoch in the history. The heroic deed recorded of him was probably a solitary effort, prompted by a kind of inspiration at the moment, and failing of any permanent result from not being followed up either on his own part or that of his countrymen. In Shamgar's time, as the Song of Deborah informs us (5:6), the condition of the people was so deplorably insecure that the highways were forsaken, and travelers went through by ways, and, for the same reason, the villages were abandoned for the walled towns. Their arms were apparently taken from them, by the same policy as was adopted later by the same people (3:31; 5, 8; comp. with  1 Samuel 13:19-22). From the position of "the Philistines" in  1 Samuel 12:9, between "Moab" and "Hazor," the allusion seems to be to the time of Shamgar. (See Judges).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sham´gar ( שׁמגּר , shamgar ):

1. Biblical Account:

One of the judges, son of Anath ( ‛ănāth ), in whose days, which preceded the time of Deborah (  Judges 5:6 ,  Judges 5:7 ) and followed those of Ehud, Israel's subjugation was so complete that "the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through byways." The government had become thoroughly disorganized, and apparently, as in the days of Deborah, the people were entirely unprepared for war. Shamgar's improvised weapon with which he helped to "save Israel" is spoken of as an oxgoad. With this he smote of the Philistines 600 men. This is the first mention of the Philistines as troublesome neighbors of the Israelites ( Judges 3:31 ). According to a tradition represented in Josephus ( Ant. , V, iv, 3), Shamgar died in the year he became judge.

2. Critical Hypotheses:

Several writers have challenged the Biblical account on the following grounds: that in  Judges 5 no mention is made of any deliverance; that the name "Shamgar" resembles the name of a Hittite king and the name "Anath" that of a Syrian goddess; that the deed recorded in   Judges 3:31 is analogous to that of Samson (  Judges 15:15 ), and that of Shammah, son of Agee ( 2 Samuel 23:11 f); and lastly, that in a group of Greek manuscripts and other versions this verse is inserted after the account of Samson's exploits. None of these is necessarily inconsistent with the traditional account. Neverthelesss, they have been used as a basis not only for overthrowing the tradition, but also for constructive theories such as that which makes Shamgar a foreign oppressor and not a judge, and even the father of Sisera. There is, of course, no limit to which this kind of interesting speculation cannot lead.

(For a complete account of these views see Moore, "Judges," in Icc , 1895,104 f, and same author in Journal of the American Oriental Society , Xix , 2,159-60.)

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Sham´gar, son of Anath, and third judge of Israel. It is not known whether the only exploit recorded of him was that by which his authority was acquired. It is said that he 'slew of the Philistines 600 men with an ox-goad' . It is supposed that he was laboring in the field, without any other weapon than the long staff armed with a strong point, used in urging and guiding the cattle yoked to the plow, when he perceived a party of the Philistines, whom, with the aid of the husbandmen and neighbors, he repulsed with much slaughter. The date and duration of his government are unknown, but may be probably assigned to the end of that long period of repose which, followed the deliverance under Ehud. In Shamgar's time, as the song of Deborah informs us , the condition of the people was so deplorably insecure, that the highways were forsaken, and travelers went through byways, and, for the same reason, the villages were abandoned for the walled towns.