Ark of the Covenant - Bible History Online
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shamgar Summary and Overview

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shamgar in Easton's Bible Dictionary

The Philistines from the maritime plain had made incursions into the Hebrew upland for the purposes of plunder, when one of this name, the son of Anath, otherwise unknown, headed a rising for the purpose of freeing the land from this oppression. He repelled the invasion, slaying 600 men with an "ox goad" (q.v.). The goad was a formidable sharpointed instrument, sometimes ten feet long. He was probably contemporary for a time with Deborah and Barak (Judg. 3:31; 5:6).

shamgar in Smith's Bible Dictionary

(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, #Jud 3:31| comp. 1Sam 13:21 he made a desperate assault upon the Philistines, and slew 600 of them. (B.C. about 1290.)

shamgar in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

SHAM'GAR (cup-bearer ?), a judge of Israel of whom it is related that he slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad and delivered Israel. Jud 3:31.

shamgar in 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.