This is the 6th in a short series focusing what Israel’s earliest leaders, the judges, have to teach us. Today’s leadership lesson comes from a little-known judge of Israel, Shamgar son of Anath . . .
“After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.” (Judges 3:31).
Shamgar the son of Anath. We don’t know where he was from, how many children he had, or even how long he judged Israel; but we DO know what his distinguishing lifework was! He “slew 600 Philistines with an oxgoad”, and in so doing, he “too saved Israel” (Judges 3:31). Other than this being a rather unlikely weapon, what lesson is there in these short verses???
I puzzled over this all morning and I still hadn’t heard God’s voice telling me what it meant when my husband and I left to do some shopping. We hadn’t planned to be away for more than an hour, for we knew our 9 and 11 year-old boys weren’t comfortable staying alone longer than that; but with their Christmas shopping nearly finished, we couldn’t stop ourselves from going to those two last stores.
While we were pushing bulging shopping carts through crowded aisles, however, two lonely boys began imagining trouble. First they smelled gas. They did all the things they knew to do. They checked to see that the pilot was still lit in the gas fireplace, they moved our four pet birds to the basement where the air was still “fresh”, and finally they went outside themselves. But when they got tired of being outside and ventured back in, they heard footsteps in the attic. Together they went together upstairs and checked the only opening they knew of into the attic. When it was still covered with cobwebs (I just can’t seem to keep them under control!), they reassured themselves that they were only hearing things. Needless to say, they were VERY HAPPY to see us when we finally arrived.
An hour went by before I found the Bibles on the couch-four of them! “Why are the Bibles out?” I asked.
I don’t know what kind of an answer I was expecting, but certainly not the one I received: “Well, um . . .” Faltered my youngest. “Do you remember that we told you we heard footsteps upstairs?”
I stopped what I was doing. What possible connection could there be between the imagined footsteps and FOUR Bibles??? “Yes?” I answered cautiously.
“Well, um . . . We didn’t have any other weapons in the house, so we took the Bibles!”
You could have knocked me over with a feather. My two boys understood something that many mature Christians still don’t understand! They understood that with God on their side, with His Word in their hand, they could overcome ANY evil that might befall them!
Suddenly I remembered Shamgar and his oxgoad. Such a strange choice of weapons . . . Or was it? Phil 4:13 says that we can do ALL things through Christ. Shamgar must have known this, for he took up his oxgoad and saved Israel! Well, why not? If we can do ALL things through Christ, then why not slay 600 Philistines? And if Shamgar could deliver Israel with an oxgoad, then why can’t my boys face a possible burglar with four Bibles? And why can’t WE rely on GOD to do ALL things?
Got your “oxgoad” in hand, my friends? What about your Bible? Remember, with God on your side, you can do ALL things!
“I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength.” (Php 4:13)
Please see next Tuesday’s edition of The Nugget for the next lesson in leadership, brought to us by a better-known Judge of Israel, Samson . . .
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org
(To access the entire “Lessons in Leadership” mini-series, please click here.)