Shamgar:
God's Unknown Warrior
from sermon series
“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”
by
Pastor Dave Strem
Used by
permission
Sometimes Christians read the
Bible and come away feeling admiration for the
characters they read about, but feel detached from them
as people they can relate to. These characters are seen
as special, God-blessed individuals who have done
extraordinary things for God. And in some cases they
are special. God called Jeremiah from the womb: “The
Lord gave me a message, He said, ‘I knew you before I
formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born
I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the
world’” (Jeremiah 1:4). This same thing can be said of
David and John the Baptist. These giants of God are
seen as almost other-worldly, not like us. But a
thorough reading of the Scriptures reveals that not all
of God’s giants are big and popular like Jeremiah,
David, or John. Scripture is filled with references to
ordinary men and women who did extraordinary things.
This paper is about such an individual. This paper is
about an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing
because He and God partnered together to fight against a
common enemy.
After the generation that left Egypt died in the
wilderness, except for Joshua and Caleb, Israel was
ready to enter the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. The land was already possessed by peoples
that God characterized as corrupt and unworthy of
maintaining occupation of the land. He wanted to give
it to a new people, a people that would worship Him, a
people whom He could bless with all the benefits
inherent in this rich and fertile land. But in order
for this to become a reality God commanded Israel to
completely remove the prior occupants of the land, or
else their idolatrous practices would cause Israel to
forsake the very first commandment, “To have no other
Gods before Me,” and that this religious forsaking would
lead to social corruption. God directly told them, “As
for the towns of the nations the Lord your God is giving
you as a special possession, destroy every living thing
in them. You must completely destroy the Hittites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
just as the Lord your God has commanded you. This will
keep the people of the land from teaching you their
detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which
would cause you to sin deeply against your God”
(Deuteronomy 20:16-18). This time in Israel’s history
is known as the Era of Conquest and lasted a little over
400 years.
The book of Judges is concerned with the developments
that took place after the death of Joshua. Schultz says
this: “Although Joshua had defeated the main forces of
opposition as he led Israel into Canaan and divided the
land to the various tribes, many locales remained in the
hands of the Canaanites and other inhabitants. In his
final word to the Israelites Joshua warned the people
not to mix or intermarry with the local inhabitants who
remained but admonished them to drive out the idolatrous
people and occupy their land. Further attempts were
made to dislodge these peoples, but the record clearly
indicates that the Israelites were only partially
obedient” (1980, pp. 105-106). Because of Israel’s
widespread disobedience, the surrounding peoples were a
continually reoccurring thorn in their side. These 400+
years were characterized not by continual blessing but
by a reoccurring pattern of Israel’s sinking into social
and religious apostasy and idolatry, followed by God’s
judgment in the form of oppression at the hands of the
very peoples they were supposed to remove from the land,
followed by repentance and return to God and His ways,
followed by God’s blessing of peace and prosperity in
the land. The book of Judges records seven periods of
apostasy and oppression and seven corresponding periods
of deliverance. The subject of this paper lived during
the period of the second apostasy and was instrumental
in Israel’s second deliverance (Unger, 1984, p. 132).
His name is Shamgar.
Judges 3:12-31 records the second apostasy and second
deliverance. “Once again the Israelites did what was
evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord gave King Eglon of
Moab control over Israel. Together with the Ammonites
and Amalekites, Eglon attacked Israel and took
possession of Jericho. And the Israelites were subject
to Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. But when Israel
cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a man
to rescue them. His name is Ehud son of Gera, of the
tribe of Benjamin, who was left-handed…. So Moab was
conquered by Israel that day, and the land was at peace
for eighty years” (3:12-30). Notice that Ehud was the
main deliverer during the second deliverance. The
Moabites lived east of the Dead Sea. They threatened
Israelite territory from the east and from the
importance given to the judgeship of Ehud they seemed to
be the main threat toward Israel during the second
apostasy-oppression. But according to Judges 3:31, Moab
was not the only threat. The Philistines, who lived
along the Mediterranean Sea coast, threatened Israel
from the west. As a contemporary, or near contemporary,
of Ehud, Shamgar was the one God used to repel the
Philistines.
Shamgar is an interesting figure. Only one verse
acknowledges Shamgar’s role in the history of Israel:
“After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He
killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad” (3:31).
While Ehud seems to be the national judge that God
called to bring peace to Israel, Shamgar seems to have
been a local judge (Schultz, p. 104) that organized a
successful resistance to a Philistine invasion. Other
judges recorded in the book of Judges were also local—Tola,
Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (Schultz, p. 104). While
the better-known judges-–Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and
Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson—had a wider sphere
of influence, the local judges, or deliverers, had
narrower spheres of influence.
Shamgar is an example of a man who was willing to be
used by God for the purpose God designed for him. For
the place and time God had for him. Shamgar was ready
when God needed him. And that is the main lesson we
learn from Shamgar. We have no idea what Shamgar did
for a living prior to his battle with the Philistines,
or after that battle. Shamgar could have been in any
occupation. It is unlikely that he had a full-time
spiritual ministry, like a pastor or religious
schoolteacher. He was most likely an ordinary Israelite
who responded to an extraordinary threat from one of
God’s enemies. Shamgar did not wait for a spiritual
leader to take care of the Philistines. He became that
leader. God sent His spirit to search out someone who
would respond to this particular need. And He found
that man in Shamgar. By his valiant fight against the
Philistines, he inspired others to fight. Shamgar
showed up when God needed him. And so did all those
other fighters who fought with Shamgar, whose names only
God knows. The world may have forgotten who these
people are but God remembers. And if God remembers what
a person has done for His kingdom, it does not matter if
the whole world forgets. God’s opinion is the only one
that ultimately matters.
Shamgar is a little known figure of whom most people
have never heard. The story of Shamgar has little, if
any, influence on their lives or consciousness. But God
saw to it that what Shamgar did for Him would never be
forgotten by acknowledging him in His Word. There are
other ‘Shamgars’. Little known but valuable in their
service to God. Some, God allowed to be victorious in
their decisive battles with the enemy. Some, He did
not. Some ‘Shamgars’ suffered greatly for their faith.
Have you ever heard of Thomas Mann or Anne Askew?
Probably not, but God knows them and is proud of them.
The following is written about Thomas Mann in Foxe’s
Book of Martyrs (p. 314-315): “Thomas Mann was
apprehended for the profession of Christ’s Gospel. He
had spoken against auricular confession, and denied the
corporal presence of Christ’s body in the sacrament of
the altar; he believed that images ought not be
worshipped, and neither believed in the crucifix, nor
yet would worship it. For such like matters was he a
long time imprisoned, and at last, through fear of
death, was content to abjure and yield himself unto the
judgment of the Romish church…. But within few years
after, he was accused of relapse, apprehended and
brought before the Bishop of London. But because he
would seem to do all things by order of justice, and
nothing against the law, he therefore appointed unto the
said Thomas Mann certain doctors and advocates of the
Arches, as his counselors to plead in his behalf. He
was condemned as a heretic, and delivered to the sheriff
of London sitting on horseback in Paternosterrow, before
the bishop’s door (A. D. 1518). The sheriff immediately
carried him to Smithfield, and there, the same day in
the forenoon, caused him to be ‘put into God’s angel,’
1518.” You may have never heard of Thomas Mann, but he
is a man who put his life on the line as Shamgar did.
Shamgar was successful because God needed for him to be
successful. Thomas Mann died a martyr because God
needed martyrs to pave the way for widespread change in
the European religious scene. Thomas Mann was no less a
success than Shamgar. Thomas did not deny his Lord
before persecutors.
Not all heroes are men. Anne Askew was a hero and a
martyr, a female ‘Shamgar’. Foxe records her personal
testimony and story: ‘“Christopher Dare examined me at
Sadler’s hall, and asked me, wherefore I said, I had
rather to read five lines in the Bible, than to hear
five masses in the temple. I confessed that I said no
less; not for the dispraise of either the epistle or the
Gospel, but because the one greatly edify me, and the
other nothing at all…. Then the bishop’s chancellor
rebuked me, and said that I was much to blame for
uttering the Scriptures. For St. Paul, he said, forbade
women to speak or to talk of the Words of God. I
answered him that I knew Paul’s meaning as well as he,
which is, in 1 Cor. xiv, that a woman ought not to speak
in the congregation by the way of teaching: and then I
asked him how many women he had seen go into the pulpit
and preach? He said he never saw any. Then I said, he
ought to find no fault in poor women, except they had
offended the law…. Then my Lord Chancellor asked my
opinion in the sacrament. My answer was this, ‘I
believe that so oft as I, in a Christian congregation,
do receive the bread in remembrance of Christ’s death,
and with thanksgiving, according to His holy
institution, I receive therewith the fruits also, of His
most glorious passion…. Then the Bishop said I should be
burned. I answered, that I have searched all the
Scriptures, yet could I never find that either Christ,
or His apostles, put any creature to death. “Well,
well,’ said I, ‘God will laugh your threatenings to
scorn.’ Then I was sent to Newgate…. Then they put me on
the rack, because I confessed no ladies or gentlewomen
to be of my opinion, and thereon they kept me a long
time; and because I lay still, and did not cry, my Lord
Chancellor and Master Rich took pains to rack me with
their own hands, till I was nigh dead…. Then was I
brought to a house, and laid in a bed, with as weary and
painful bones as ever had patient Job; I thank my Lord
God therefore. Then my Lord Chancellor sent me word, if
I would leave my opinion, I should want nothing; if I
would not, I should forthwith to Newgate, and so be
burned. I sent him again word, that I would rather die
than break my faith.’ The day of her execution being
appointed, this good woman was brought into Smithfield
in a chair, because she could not go on her feet, by
means of her great torments. When she was brought unto
the stake, she was tied with a chain, that held up her
body…. Then Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, offered Anne
Askew the King’s pardon if she would recant; who made
this answer, that she came not thither to deny her Lord
and Master. And thus the good Anne Askew, being
compassed in with flames of fire, as a blessed sacrifice
unto God, slept in the Lord A. D. 1546, leaving behind
her a singular example of Christian constancy for all
men to follow.” Is Anne Askew any less of a hero than
Shamgar? Was she any less brave? Shamgar fought with
an ox goad. Anne fought with her words and her flesh.
Shamgar looked across and saw an enemy with weapons to
slay him. Anne looked down and saw flames ready to
devour her. Shamgar did not retreat. And neither did
Anne Askew.
No Christian should belittle him-or-herself as
insignificant in God’s sight. Challenges will come
the Christian’s way. God is glorified and
justified before His condemners, His adversaries, when
His children endure suffering for His sake.
Shamgar, Thomas Mann, and Anne Askew are examples of
little known individuals who did extraordinary things.
Not everyone can be an Isaiah or John the Baptist or
Apostle Paul because these were specially chosen
servants of God, but all Christians can be a ‘Shamgar’
if they respond to a tough situation with faith and
courage, if they confront the local enemy that threatens
God’s people, God’s ways, and God’s Word.
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