the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Shamgar
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or 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.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Shamgar'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/s/shamgar.html.
