Grab Your Oxgoad!

My favorite book of the Bible has always been Judges in the Old Testament - it's jam-packed with warriors, beheadings, viscious slaughter, and manly poetry.  Heroes like Samson, Gideon, Ehud - all kicking the Gentile out of the Gentiles!

Can you imagine what a pop-up book of Judges would be like?!

Anyhow, I came across a little verse this morning that grabbed my attention and did a word study.  It's Judges 3.31:

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.  He too saved Israel.

That's it.  One verse is all Shamgar gets in Scripture.  But check out what this man does - he takes on 600 sworn enemies.  Crazy odds:  600-to-1. 

And remember, the Philistines at this time hate every Israelite and are focused like a laser on eliminating them.  You would think these armed warriors could have taken Shamgar!

Shamgar's name literally means, "sword."  But he didn't have one.  Nope, just a simple farmer's tool used for nudging oxen along in the fields.  He took what he had, seized a God-ordained opportunity, and overcame a tremendous obstacle.  With an oxgoad.

Shamgar didn't wait for the money to come in to afford battle armor.  He didn't sit around waiting for back-up to arrive.  And he certainly didn't resign himself to defeat in the face of 600 battle-scarred men.  Nope.  He sucked it up like a man, charged the overwhelmingly large army with his dinky oxgoad, and went Ultimate Fighter Shamgar on them!

The result?  He saved Israel.  They probably named a freakin' holiday after him for his courageous act in the face of overwhelming odds.

How often do we allow our present circumstances to paralyze us with fear, to second-guess, to not charge ahead?  We need more Shamgars.  We need more men and women of God who will rise up, grab their oxgoads, and swiftly move ahead into the unknown.

Grab your oxgoad!

Comments

[Danny]

very timely post.

thanks.

[dan]

this is one of my fav old testament stories...his family was in danger along with the land he owned and he depended upon the holy spirit to fight off this army. It's inspiring to read when men do not rely only on their own power to get things done. chasing daylight!

[Don From Rock Crusher Church of God]

My wife and I are in our first year of a two year Bethal Bible Study. We are loving the scripture and I can't imagine now, why I waited so many years.
Searching for the defiition of oxgoad lead me straight to your site. Thank-you for taking the time to post your page and fueling the commitment to the Word of our Savior.