Jul. 22nd, 2007
When I was at my parents a couple of weeks ago I attended church, and the pastor build a lesson/sermon around the acts of one of the judges of Isreal in the old testament book of Judges. I believe the lesson was about Ehud. I don't remember that much from the sermon but at some point I had one of the pew Bibles opened to Judges, and I read the next story after Ehud's, which is:
"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." (Judges 3:31 KJV)
I was kind of struck by how little information there was here about this man Shamgar. He killed 600 bad guys and saved Isreal. End of story. Is that really all the author had to say about him? Why even mention it if there's no more to the story than that?
I was curious about it so I did some web research, and based on the article in Wikipedia, it seems that there's confusion about our friend Shamgar. His act of heroism may have been inserted in the wrong part of the book (several ancient texts mention him after the account of Samson at the end of Judges in fact, rather than after the story of Ehud, and scholars tend to think that makes more narrative sense). His name may have been Shammar. In fact, the story of Deborah that follows that of Ehud (and the misplaced brief mention of Shamgar) mentions Shamgar as a previous ruler, but scholars think that Shammar's name was confused with this Shamgar, and then his story was moved in order to take place before the story of Deborah, which takes place after the time of the actual Shamgar. Also a Shammah, son of Agee is mentioned in the appendix to the book of Samuel, and scholars think this is meant to be the same person, the judge who delivered Isreal.
What we know of the Shamgar mentioned in the story of Deborah is that he was a prior ruler and that during his time roads were abandoned and village life collapsed. Scholars suspect, in fact, that this Shamgar wasn't an Isreali ruler at all, but a foreign oppressor, possibly Hittite. Shamgar is similar to the name of the Hittite king Sangara, Anath is the name of a Canaanite diety, and son of Anath would thus be merely a royal title. Shamgar may, in fact, have been the father of Sisera, an enemy of Isreal.
So I had thought that poor Shamgar was getting some shabby treatment as a hero of Isreal, being given only one line to describe his entire story. But it's much worse than that. His real name is Shammah, he's been confused with an enemy of the Isrealies, and his story's been placed completely out of context.
Makes you wonder if it was worth saving his people in the first place. He may not have been promised fame and fortune, but when you save your people you should expect they'll remember your name and when it happened.
"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." (Judges 3:31 KJV)
I was kind of struck by how little information there was here about this man Shamgar. He killed 600 bad guys and saved Isreal. End of story. Is that really all the author had to say about him? Why even mention it if there's no more to the story than that?
I was curious about it so I did some web research, and based on the article in Wikipedia, it seems that there's confusion about our friend Shamgar. His act of heroism may have been inserted in the wrong part of the book (several ancient texts mention him after the account of Samson at the end of Judges in fact, rather than after the story of Ehud, and scholars tend to think that makes more narrative sense). His name may have been Shammar. In fact, the story of Deborah that follows that of Ehud (and the misplaced brief mention of Shamgar) mentions Shamgar as a previous ruler, but scholars think that Shammar's name was confused with this Shamgar, and then his story was moved in order to take place before the story of Deborah, which takes place after the time of the actual Shamgar. Also a Shammah, son of Agee is mentioned in the appendix to the book of Samuel, and scholars think this is meant to be the same person, the judge who delivered Isreal.
What we know of the Shamgar mentioned in the story of Deborah is that he was a prior ruler and that during his time roads were abandoned and village life collapsed. Scholars suspect, in fact, that this Shamgar wasn't an Isreali ruler at all, but a foreign oppressor, possibly Hittite. Shamgar is similar to the name of the Hittite king Sangara, Anath is the name of a Canaanite diety, and son of Anath would thus be merely a royal title. Shamgar may, in fact, have been the father of Sisera, an enemy of Isreal.
So I had thought that poor Shamgar was getting some shabby treatment as a hero of Isreal, being given only one line to describe his entire story. But it's much worse than that. His real name is Shammah, he's been confused with an enemy of the Isrealies, and his story's been placed completely out of context.
Makes you wonder if it was worth saving his people in the first place. He may not have been promised fame and fortune, but when you save your people you should expect they'll remember your name and when it happened.