I received the following question:
What is an ox goad in Judges 3:31?
31. After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.
An ox goad was usually a pointed stick, often quite large, which was used to poke the ox and goad it into moving when you wanted it to move. The back often had a shovel-like instrument used to clean the plow. Since the goad was only meant to annoy the ox, not actually injure it, it probably would not have been all that sharp. It was not really supposed to be dangerous. Therefore, this was an odd weapon to use, and one that normally would not have been very effective, though I suppose that in the hands of a strong man, it might have made a better weapon than a simple club. Still, the fact that he killed this many Philistines with one indicates how much the LORD must have been helping him.
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November 11, 2011 at 1:52 am
Daniel Beard
Our Bible class on Thursday November 10, 2011 Pastor Paul Upshaw taught about harvest and bring a farmer. The significance of this man Shamgar is that he was not a soldier or a warrior but GOD had him to use a tool that he was already comfortable with as a wroon was very unconventional! What this story teaches is that we already have the the arsenal to defeat our enemy in our possession.
December 8, 2011 at 7:23 pm
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Daniel Beard,
The lesson your pastor taught is an interesting one. I would say that Shamgar probably used an ox goad since that is what he had at hand. As for us already having what we need in our possession, I would say that what Shamgar already had was the LORD. It was not the ox goad that he needed to defeat six hundred Philistines. It is probably not possible that an ox goad could ever do that on its own! What gave Shamgar the victory was the LORD. He was the One Who enabled Shamgar, using this most unlikely of instruments, to win this great victory. If we have the LORD, we already have what we need as well. If we don’t have the LORD, no amount of ox goads or swords or spears, or even guns or missiles, is going to do the job.
Nathan
August 9, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Christian Jan Junio Eclipse
awesome!!!!!!! there reason Shamgar defeated 600 men it’s because of the Lord .. .. God can use you no matter how small you are in the eyes of man.. =)……………….
September 24, 2012 at 6:38 pm
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Christian Jan Junio Eclipse,
Very true that the Lord can give victory and defeat as He wills. Shamgar’s success was not due to his own physical prowess or the superiority of the weapon he used, but to the hand of the LORD upon him.
And God can certainly use anyone, no matter how small they may seem, to do His will. He often did that very thing, using the small and unimportant and making them important by His favor, in Bible times. And He still is able to use anyone today who submits himself to Him.
As for Shamgar, he is one of the judges whose careers are not recorded in any detail in the Scriptures. While he is small in number of verses devoted to him, we have no real way of knowing if he was small in real life in his day. It may be that he was quite famous. It is just today most tend to not know who he was. Yet without the Bible telling us, there is just no way for us to know the truth of this.
Keep studying the Word!
Nathan
September 9, 2012 at 12:59 am
Dan
Nathan, you are right, Daniel you are also right. You See Shamgar just needed the Lord to win this battle, and it is because of his faith and trust in the Lord that he succeeded. But the great thing about God is that He knows us right where we are, and thought the battle was won in the spiritual realm because of Gods divine intervention allowing one man to defeat 600, in the physical Shamgar needed a weapon, and I am sure that through life experience he had used that ox goad as a weapon, or even played with it like one as boys, and men do. So he was comfortable with it and God being who he is always looking out for us as His children allowed him to use what he had, and what he would be comfortable using, as well as to show us all that without Him nothing is possible. Just like David. No armour,sward, or spear, just a sling and a stone, facing a giant. He new with God he would defeat the giant, just as Shamgar did with an ox Goad. Truly our God is AWESOME.
October 17, 2012 at 6:10 pm
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Dan,
Very interesting thoughts. You are right that Shamgar was probably very familiar with an ox goad, and had probably used one much of his life. And you make an interesting comparison with David and his sling. Yes, it is true that when the Lord inspires actions, He often does so with the very things with which one is familiar. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Keep studying the Word!
Nathan
February 3, 2013 at 6:13 pm
Jeremy Browne
Was looking for the definition of oxgoad and came across your site.thanks.Its referenced in Ecclesiastes 12:11 as part of our watchtower study today..interestingly I was reading some comments from readers about “shamgar” and how he killed a great number of men with an oxgoad but of course with help from God.Reminds me of the story of David and Goliath the philistine.Of course it was Davids brave demeanor that helped him but he only won the battle with help from Jehovah God
March 15, 2013 at 7:32 pm
Precepts
Jeremy Browne,
You are welcome for the definition. I think part of the confusion is that the word “goad” is one that is not used very often in modern English. It means to encourage or impel someone to perform a certain action, such as a wife goading her husband to ask his boss for a raise. Oxen are goaded with sharp sticks. People are usually goaded by more subtle means, like nagging.
Ecclesiastes 12 is a very interesting and important chapter. Many have trouble with the truth it contains, and try to explain it away. Yet if we let them, these words are wise words to goad us on to finding the truth. I am glad you are studying it.
My original questioner above asked about the ox goad because of Shamgar, referencing Judges 3:31, thus sparking the discussion about him. These discussions can sometimes run far afield of what the original article was about!
Yet, it is like the story of David and Goliath. This is the most famous story of its kind, yet the Bible contains many others. Most don’t realize that after David killed Goliath, four of his men were courageous enough to do the same thing and kill other giants. Two of them were David’s relatives. Shamgar is another example of this kind of activity. Some of David’s mighty men did feats similar to Shamgar’s, as well. According to Zechariah 12:8, God’s people and the house of David will be empowered to perform such feats once again in the future when they are battling the army of the man of sin.
David’s bravery came from his trust in God, as did his strength to win the battle. David was all about faith, and his faith in the living God did not fail him.
Thanks for reading. Keep studying the Word!
Nathan
February 6, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Kenneth Ogolla
Hi nice to see your discussion here. I saw a movie called “The Sword of Islam” that was all the rage in my muslim dominated college a long while ago about a muslim guy called Ahmed Didat whose sole aim was to tear the bible to pieces with what he called evidence. He ridiculed many aspects of the bible many of which I have since found answers to. Of note was the use of an ox goad in Judges. He showed a picture of an ox goad and anybody watching would have found it equally ridiculous. So today as I was reading the book of Judges I came across the story and decided to do some research on what exactly an ox goad is hence my stumbling upon your. Website. The explanation is very good especially that GOD would use anybody or anything to carry out his will. Thank you very much and GOD bless you
Ken Ogolla
March 15, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Precepts
Kenneth Ogolla,
You are welcome for the article.
I looked up the man you mentioned, and found that he is a Muslim apologist who ridicules Christianity, as you said. It is interesting that he tears the Bible apart, as you say, since Muslims are apparently supposed to acknowledge the Bible as also being a holy book, just not as holy as the Koran.
It is true that the important point of Shamgar’s feat is that it was God Who empowered him, not the utility of using an ox goad as a weapon. God often did similar things, such as forbidding Israel to have horses so that they would be at a military disadvantage compared to their neighbors. The point He wanted them to learn is that He was their weapon and protection. The story of Shamgar illustrates the truth of this. To get caught up in the ox goad is to miss the point: that what he needed was God on his side, not the most advanced or effective weapon possible.
Thank you for your kind words. Keep studying the Word!
Nathan
February 11, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Matthew smith
So….to put it in terms a modern teenager can understand…;God helped Shamgar to be a badass with a staff?
March 7, 2014 at 8:35 pm
Precepts
Matthew smith,
So, are you a modern teenager?
That is one way to put it, but I doubt most staffs would have a pointed end like an ox goad would. He probably did significant damage with that that would not have been possible with just a staff.
Keep studying the Word!
Nathan
September 28, 2015 at 5:59 am
Roger
We assume that Shamgar killed 600 in a pitched battle which would have been the kind familiar to the Philistines. But suppose that Shamgar killed 600 using stealth and surprise, killing a few at a time over a period of time. That tactic would have sown fear and panic into the Philistines throwing their hostile intentions toward Israel into disarray. He also may have used his time while herding oxen over the years to practice ninja-like moves with his ox goad, making him the butt of jokes among his fellow herdsmen, because it was such “weird” thing to do. All comments above are correct. It was the Lord who enabled Shamgar to accomplish something that saved Israel. It may have also been that the Lord had prepared Shamgar for this by inspiring his “Ninja” practice and given him the wisdom to fight the Philistines on his terms rather than on their terms.
October 9, 2015 at 7:28 pm
Precepts
Roger,
You have stated some interesting thoughts here. Thank you.
You are quite right that we cannot assume that these 600 Philistines slain with an ox goad was a pitched battle with two lines drawn up against each other and all Shamgar was equipped with was an ox goad. There were times when Israel was oppressed by foreign invaders who took their weapons away in order to try to keep them down, so it could be that the farmers of the land came together and fought with farming implements like ox goads. However, it seems to me just as likely that Shamgar is plowing in his field when suddenly an alarm rings out…the Philistines are invading the land!…and the Spirit of the LORD comes on him. Holding firmly to his ox goad, he runs to meet the company of raiders and opposes them, using nothing to fight with but this farming tool. With God’s help, he almost single-handedly drives off the invaders after slaying 600 of them. His feat becomes famous, the LORD is with him, and he becomes their judge. If we are going to imagine scenarios, not really knowing what the truth is, this is what I would imagine.
However, you are right that we are not told that the 600 were all at once. It is possible that this is the total after multiple battles. If so, however, my first speculation must be true: Israel was ill-supplied with weapons, and so he had to use whatever was available.
Assassinating people from the shadows would be a practice set forth nowhere else in the Bible, and seems unlikely for the way God conducts warfare. The only similar example we have would be Moses secretly killing the oppressive Egyptian, and that hardly worked out well for Moses, nor does the LORD ever sanction (nor, it is true, condemn) his actions. An actual Biblical parallel would be Judges 15:15, speaking of Samson, “He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.” This would seem much more likely as an example of what this is talking about.
I do not know about ninja-like moves. Many shepherds in David’s day would practice with a sling while they were in the fields, and for one in practice it could be a really deadly and accurate weapon. I would not say that David was simply given the ability to sling when he killed Goliath. He probably already had that ability. He had already used that ability to kill lions and bears, I Samuel 17:34-35. So it is possible that Shamgar already had some ability.
Probably the ability would be more likely that he was trained as a spear-man. An ox goad would be much like a downgraded spear. If he had practiced with it, it would probably have been with the intention of keeping his skill with a spear, not with the intention of actually using an ox goad in a battle. Yet if he did not have a spear, he may have had that idea. I believe that is where the idea of the ninja and the samurai came from: when an oppressed people had their weapons taken away, they learned how to use other, non-weapons as weapons.
The LORD can, as He wishes, use already existing abilities, or else grant abilities from scratch. When He gave the gift of speaking in tongues, for example, He granted the complete knowledge of a language never learned. When He inspired prophets to speak in their own, Hebrew language, however, He inspired them using the language skills they already knew. He can do either one.
Thanks for the great comments. Keep studying the Word.
Nathan
May 4, 2020 at 1:34 pm
lesliejswilson
I enjoyed reading this article and interesting comments here yesterday 🙂 As I was reading the excellent Psalm 16 and dear Alexander MacLaren’s Expository on this beautiful Psalm this morning, it reminded me of this conversation, so I thought I’d share:
“Thou art Thyself both my heritage and the guardian of my heritage. He that possesses God, says the text, by implication, is lifted above all fear and chance of change.
The land, the partition of which amongst the tribes lies at the bottom of the allusive metaphor of my text, was given to them under the sanction of a supernatural defence; and the law of their continuance in it was that they should trust and serve the unseen King. It was He, according to the theocratic theory of the Old Testament, and not chariots and horses, their own arm and their own sword, that kept them safe, though the enemies on the north and the enemies on the south were big enough to swallow up the little kingdom at a mouthful.
And so, says the Psalmist allusively, in a similar manner, the Divine Power surrounds the man who chooses God for his heritage, and nothing shall take that heritage from him.”
What a wonderful truth for all believers in the LORD Jesus Christ!
Thanks for your site!
July 1, 2020 at 7:33 pm
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lesliejswilson,
I am glad you enjoyed the article and comments. Thanks for writing.
Mr. MacLaren’s Expository comments that you quoted are indeed interesting. As I have said many times, Israel was supposed to understand that the LORD Himself was their “secret weapon,” their military advantage, and their guarantee of success in warfare. That is, He was these things as long as they obeyed and served Him. Israel were often outnumbered and saddled with inferior military equipment. “Saddled” being an ironical term to use, since they were forbidden from using horses, a great advantage in warfare for the nations around them. Without the Lord’s help, they would have been wiped out long before they actually were.
I agree that we too have God with us and nothing can take away our heritage. Yet our heritage is one of a gospel and of faith, a heritage of promise and salvation, and not a heritage of a land and military help to retain it. God’s power might surround us, but that power is to bring about an internal reality, not guaranteed success in our external campaigns.
Shamgar’s great victory was in line with what God was doing in his day. So today God’s power is at work in the ways He is in action today. As Ephesians 1:19-20 states, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead is at work today in those of us who are believing. What does it take to raise a heart of faith out of a poor, dead sinner? What does it take to redeem one who is corrupted and lost? The same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead! We are people of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ because of His mighty, resurrection power.
Thanks for writing. You are welcome for the site. Keep studying the Word!
Nathan