Shamgar

Shamgar

Shamgar, son of Anath (Hebrew שמגר בן־ענת) is the name of one or possibly two individuals named in the Book of Judges. The name occurs twice; at the first mention [] follows on directly from the previous narrative.JewishEncyclopedia|article=Shamgar|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=546&letter=S|author=Emil G. Hirsch, George A. Barton] In several ancient manuscripts this reference to Shamgar occurs after the accounts of Samson rather than immediately after the account of Ehud, in a way that is more narratively consistent; scholars believe that this latter position is more likely to be the passage's original location.

The act of this Shamgar is evidently similar to that of "Shammah, son of Agee", mentioned in the "appendix" of the Books of Samuel as being one of "The Three", a distinct group of warriors associated with King David; scholars believe that the same individual is meant, and that the passage in the book of Judges moved to its present location as a result of the mention of a Shamgar in the subsequent (to the present position) Song of Deborah. Scholars also believe that the name of the individual may originally have been "Shammah", and became corrupted under the influence of the "Shamgar" in the Song of Deborah. The term translated as "oxgoad" is a biblical hapax legomenon, the translation into English being made on the basis of the Septuagint's translation into Greek.

The other mention of Shamgar, that in the Song of Deborah, connects Shamgar with a low period of Israelite society, and thus some scholars suspect him to have been a foreigner causing the oppression of Israelite society, rather than an Israelite ruler. From the form of the name, it is suspected that Shamgar may actually have been a Hittite, a similar name occurring with Sangara, a Hittite king of Carchemish; it is also the case that "Anath" is the name of a Canaanite deity, and "son of Anath" is thus merely a royal title. Additionally, there is reason to suspect that far from being an Israelite hero, Shamgar may actually have been the father of Sisera.

See also

*Biblical judges
*Book of Judges

References and citations


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