7. Staying on Higher Ground: Shamgar – With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible

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Hymns: 444 Hold the Fort 445 O Master Let Me Walk with Thee 446 Lord, Speak to Me

Judges 3:31

Judges 3:31 (KJV) 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.

Shamgar – With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible

OUTLINE

  • With God
  • Nothing Shall Be Impossible

INTRODUCTION

In the gospel of Luke and chapter 1 and verses 26-38, was recorded the message of the angel Gabriel to an unknown, humble, obscure girl called Mary living in Israel residing in a town in Galilee called Nazareth, a wile town where vices filled the streets, that God would give her a child, this child that will be conceived in her womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS, He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

The angel furthered revealed to her concerning her virgin conception, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.[1]

Mary believed God and it was counted unto her righteousness. She would in time carry the holy child, the Son of God in her womb.

Later on, Jesus Himself would declare in Luke 18:27 (KJV) And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Mark 10:27 (KJV) And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

A man surrendered and yielded to God is a mighty instrument for His glory. Shamgar was such a man. Although, the Bible barely mentioned in just one verse in Judges 3:31. It was enough to be placed as an eternal tribute to the glory of God – Psalm 119:89 (KJV) LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

To the church in Colosse, the Apostle Paul said, in Colossians 1:21-29 (KJV) And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

The mighty work of redemption was entrusted to a man, a most unlikely candidate, for he was a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, Jesus came to him by a great light from heaven in Acts 26:14 (KJV) And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks[2].  

The word “pricks” there describes a prodding instrument, a goad. A goad is a 6-to-8-foot-long stick with a pointed end. This instrument was used by farmers to train their oxen to move in a straight line. The goad poked the shoulder, not hurting the animal, but showing them the way. And it is placed at the back of the feet of the ox, so that when it resisted, and kicked back, the goad pricks its feet, causing it not to resist by submit and move in the right direction to make the plow. For the Apostle Paul, it was God’s way of arresting him to turn him around to be the great champion for the gospel!

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 12:11 (KJV) The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

Shamgar the Judge of Israel, had a most unlikely weapon for warfare, he was able to use it with distinction to defeat a great army of 600 men in an open field combat.

  • With God 

Judges 3:31 (KJV) And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath … 

God will raise Shamgar to be the next Judge of Israel after Ehud.

Judges 3:26-30 (KJV) And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

After Moses, God raised Joshua to follow the train, after coming out of Egypt, to conquer the Promised Land. After Paul came Timothy and Titus and many others.

2 Timothy 2:1-3 (KJV) Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

After Ehud, came Shamgar. He stood in the gap. Although there is little information recorded concerning this man’s pedigree, there was nothing great to be noted about him or his upbringing or ancestry, we are told he was the son of Anath. 

Shamgar was a humble labouring man, who worked in the field when men feared to labour lest the enemy come and take the spoil. He bravely plodded on to plow the land, though there were plunders that raids and spoils the land.

Judges 5:6 (KJV) In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. 

Words descriptive of a state of weakness and fear, so that Israel could not frequent the highways. It is a graphic description of a country occupied by an enemy. [Barnes]

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 (KJV) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

There was no glory in the man that we can speak of except that God was with him to appoint him to be the Judge of Israel. The name “Shamgar” means “sword”. He was a sword of the Lord to defeat the enemies of God. As for his father, very little is known about Anath except that he was the father of Shamgar (v31 cf. 5:6).

He was useful for the Lord for who he was. God used him in the course of his daily labour when it was interrupted by intruders. 

It is well observed in the Biblical Illustrator, “God never selects a lazy, idle man, when He is going to choose a person to do some noble work. He promotes none but busy men. Shamgar was ploughing when the Philistines came upon him. It speaks well for him that he had heart to plough at such a time, for the whole country was thrown into great fear and discouragement. Few men, I am inclined to think, had courage enough just then to plough. Such men are an inspiration and a blessing to any community.”

He was doing his daily duty and the Lord used him for His glory in the course of his duty.

God can use us in the course of our daily life when we diligently labour for Him in the things that he put our hands to do. He was an available and willing instrument in the hands of God. The Lord did not even have to describe the Spirit of God filling him and using him but just his exploits which attest to God being with this man.

  • Nothing Shall Be Impossible 

… which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

His weapon was simply a long stick 6-8 feet long with its end pointed. Not even a weapon, but an instrument to enable him to direct the ox to make a straight plow. 

It may be observed, “The fact of their deliverer having no better weapon enhances his faith, and the power of his divine helper. At the same time, it shows how low the men of Judah were brought at this time, being disarmed by their oppressors Judges 5:8, as was also the case later 1 Samuel 13:19.”

Judges 5:8 (KJV) They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

1 Samuel 13:19 (KJV) Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:

The Philistines did not want Israel to have weapons to revolt against their rule. For Shamgar to defeat 600 men, it was a micaculous and unparalleled victory. Samson killed 1,000 men by wielding the jawbone of an ass. But Samson was supernaturally endowed with great strength. It was not mentioned the same for Shamgar. 

David had but a sling and stone. He was but a young man but the spirit of God was with him. 

Some times we think what wonders we could do if we had better instruments. If only we had better resources, we would have accomplished much more. It was not so with Shamgar. So, it was with the fishermen who God chose to be fishers of men. They were but unlearned men yet, when the spirit of God came, many were ushered into the kingdom of God.

Indeed, it is as one writer said, it is poor logic to throw the blame on our instruments or surroundings – “The workman is more than his tools. The spirit and skill of the worker tower above his surroundings, and give value and significance to the instruments he wields. Shamgar fought this battle with an ox goad. However discouraging your circumstances, if you give yourself fully to God, and walk in the full honours of uprightness before Him, the great Captain of our salvation will not only give you blessed foretastes of the “rest that remaineth for the people of God,” but He will also enable you to cut your way to victory through all the spiritual Philistines that may confront you, even though your instruments may be as insignificant as those of Shamgar.”

In our life work, we should be natural and use the instruments we know best how to handle, so Shamgar found with the ex-goad – “He knew so well how to handle it that, at close range, it was a terrible weapon to come in contact with. He knew the spring and feel of it so perfectly that every stroke brought two or three Philistines to the ground. What we want in order to our greatest possible efficiency is, not somebody else’s way of doing things, but our own, trained and sanctified by the grace of God. No two persons are exactly alike; and so, there are phases of work which each individual is constitutionally fitted to do which no other person can ever do quite as well.” 

CONCLUSION

Let us not despise the day of small beginnings. Amen.

[1] Luke 1:26-38 (KJV) And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

[2] κέντρον, ου, τό a sharp, pointed instrument used for piercing to hurt or kill; (1) literally, of insects with a poisonous tip stinger (Rev. 9:10); figuratively, of death power to hurt (1Cor. 15:55); (2) literally, of prodding instruments goad, spur; proverbially, of a driving or impelling force that is hurtful to resist strong conviction, emotional pain (Acts 26:14).