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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Shamgar
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Son of Anath, judge of Israel after Ehud, and immediately before Barak (; ; ). Probably a Naphtalite, as Beth Anath was of Naphtali. This tribe took a foremost part in the war with Jabin (; ; ). The tributary Canaanites () 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 (; ; ). With an ox goad, his only weapon (compare -16, an undesigned coincidence marking genuineness; ; ; spiritually ; ) 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.