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A Bone of Contention

Judges 3:31
After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

Shamgar sounds like the name of a caveman from a cartoon, doesn’t it? It’s precisely the sort of name we’d expect for a guy running into battle with nothing but a bone in his hand. In fact, if Hollywood were to make a version of Judges 3:31 today, they’d make Shamgar a burly, apish figure, with boulder-like shoulders and hunched back, pounding his chest with one arm and making guttural grunts as he rages down from his cave to protect his primitive way of life from the more modern cavaliers below. It’d be a fable against industrialization, about how men destroy the climate, or a trite and tired referendum on the evils of conquistadors over native peoples. It’d be a parable of a wild and free humanity against a warmongering one. Now, of course secularists today don’t literally place the story of Judges 3 in the so- called stone ages. But that’s how they think of Shamgar and these biblical heroes nonetheless.

Oh, but Shamgar is an Adamic man, not a Darwinian ape. He’s a strong man—a reasonable man—a faithful man. We may not know anything about him outside his unbelievable feat in this particular battle, but what we know is pivotal. When the moment arose, when the Philistine goliaths came storming all around, he was there to meet their tide with a steel they couldn’t match. Perhaps the Philistine garrisons swarmed into Shamgar’s town without warning, tearing down buildings and tents as they galloped through, setting the fields on fire, and caught Shamgar by surprise. Maybe it happened so quickly that he didn’t have time to go down to the creek to gather five smooth stones. Instead, he just picked up whatever tool his hand could find, mustered a quick prayer to Heaven for help, and stood his ground against the onrushing devils till he was the last man standing.

Friend, God will use whatever you’ve got in your hand today, too. Your testimony is a mighty weapon in the hand of Almighty God. So stand firm as the nihilists call you a cave man for trusting the LORD and clinging to His Word. Hold your ground as the devils mock your little ox goad. God will give you to victory!

 

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