“Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad” – Judges 3:31
This particular snippet from early in the biblical book of Judges seems at first sight not much more than a propaganda note about the superiority of the Israelite defenders against the bad-guy Philistine arrivals. But actually there is a lot more here than meets the eye.
A lot of the regular discussion circles around whether 600 was intended to really be a literal body count, or is simply an absurdly inflated number chosen to intimidate. And what exactly does ox-goad mean in this text? Was it literally an agricultural implement repurposed for war – something which has often happened through history – or was it a nickname for some other weapon?
There is a lot more to glean from these few words. Shamgar is not an Israelite name, nor even one drawn from the broader Semitic language family. It seems to be Hurrian in origin. If so, the original form was probably Shimigar, where Shimi was a Hurrian sun god. The Hurrians were a prominent elite group through most of the second millennium BC in the middle east, appearing as minor kings, nobility, or warrior leaders. They spread down from the north of Mesopotamia, roughly where the Kurdish lands are today, and flourished for some time before being integrated into the general population at the start of the first millennium and disappearing as a recognisable group.
So was the historical Shamgar behind our text actually an accomplished military leader, named after another nation’s god, with the 600 being killed not personally by him but rather by men under his command?
Anath (sometimes Anat) is the name of a particularly passionate and warlike Canaanite goddess, and in any event is grammatically female rather than male. Biblical commentators have noticed the oddity here – the Hebrews of this era routinely identified a person through their father, not their mother. To resolve this some have proposed that Anath was also used as a common male name, meaning something like “answered“.
There are, perhaps, easier solutions. One is to suggest that in this early stage, some groups who affiliated with the Hebrews really did identify through the mother’s line. Readers of In a Milk and Honeyed Land will know that the four towns I write about there do just this.
Another possibility arose from archaeological discoveries of Bronze Age arrowheads and javelin heads from various parts of the Levant. Many of these have names scratched into them, and “son of Anath” appears several times. (The image above of one of these arrowheads has been supplied by the Biblical Archaeology Society website). For example, we know of one “Abdi-Labit son of Anath“. The title also turns up in Ugarit and even in Egypt as well as Canaan. Now it could be, of course, that Anath was a rather common name after all, and that many ethnic groups really did count lineage through the mother.
But it seems more likely that what we see here is actually the identifying mark of a warrior class. When you had proved yourself in some way you were entitled to call yourself a son of Anath. Human nature being what it is, I am sure that if there was an original band who coined the name and were successful, others would copy it for themselves.
In The Flame Before Us I follow this line. You will meet there a certain Shimmigar, who is a member of a small band of skilled warriors responsible for protecting the northern borders of Ibriym (Hebrew) territory. Find out more in a few months’ time!
First of all, we know Shamgar was Jewish because his mother (Anat) was Jewish. (Anat is a common Jewish girl’s name.) According to the Book of Judges, there were 15 Judges who “ruled” over the Israelites, namely, Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Barak and Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samason, Eli, and Samuel.
Furthermore, the verse calls him a deliverer of Israel. The verb the Bible use for deliver “v’yosha” contains the same root as the word “Messiah”. When it comes to Israel and the Philistines, the thing you have to remember is the fight was mostly spiritual. Yes, the Philistines persecuted the Jews, but that was because the Jews were spiritually weak. When a prophet arose in Israel, like Samson or Shamgar, they were infused with a spiritual strength that was greater than mere physical strength, hence, the account of Samson pulling down the Philistine temple.
Hi Rachel, thanks for replying.
My interest is in these very early years, before the Israelites established themselves fully in the hill country. There are several individuals linked with early Israel who have non-Israelite names, even through until the lists of people linked with David. It is fair, I think, to assume that several different individuals and groups allied themselves with the emerging clans – just as the Gibeonites did. Shamgar does not have to be Israelite himself to be picked out as a leader – my guess is that in these uncertain times useful individuals would be welcomed in from outside if they showed themselves useful and loyal.
Shamgar is definitely not a name from any Semitic language. Of course you could be right in saying that an Israelite woman named her son after a Hurrian sun god, but it seems to me a more likely explanation that we have here a recognition of other people choosing to affiliate with the Israelites. Plus we have these very interesting uses of the exact same phrase occurring not only in land which was Canaanite or Israelite, but also north in Ugarit (modern Syria) and south in Egypt. Something very widespread across the region is being spoken of here, I think.
You wrote: “Shamgar does not have to be Israelite himself to be picked out as a leader.” It is categorically forbidden under Jewish law for an uncircumcised male to hold a position of leadership in a Jewish community. Even the Romans knew this. When they chose a figurehead to rule over Judea, they chose Herod, who was of Jewish origin and was most probably circumcised.
Once the ancient Israelites entered the land of Israel, they settled in the territories that were granted to each tribe and, according to G-d’s command, displaced the 7 Canaanite tribes that were already there. From the earliest days the Jews wandered over Egypt and Syria, thus explaining the mysterious “son of Anat” carvings.
The dynamic that existed between Biblical Jews and non-Jews was controlled by an intricate set of rules established in the Torah which included no sharing of dishes, no sharing of food, keeping the Sabbath, no possibility of marriage, and no participating in the non-Jewish festivals, circuses, or fairs. So even if there were some non-Jewish settlements in Israel, they would have been strictly off-limits to the ancient Israelites, i.e. if your Hittite neighbor comes over to
borrow your Cuisinart, you were categorically forbidden from doing so. If she invited you over for dinner, you would be forbidden from touching her food. In that sense, there may have been only superficial contact between the Israelites and the non-Jews in the land.
Chalila, I never said an Israelite woman named her son after a Hurrian sun god. I said the mother’s name is definitely Jewish. And with regard to the name Shamgar, I’m not sure where you’re getting your information but it is indeed Semitic. Shamgar literally means “He lived over there” in Hebrew, similar to the name Gershom, which means, “I was a stranger over there”. (The names are almost an inverse of each other!) Interestingly, there was an Israeli president with the name Meir Shamgar.
But I think you have created an interesting story-line. Good luck!
Thanks again Rachel!
We don’t know about Shamgar’s circumcision – this was not just an Israelite practice and the Hebrew Bible is careful to use “uncircumcised” quite specifically, for example of the Philistines. So even if Torah was applied in all its complexity at this early stage – which personally I doubt – then this particular regulation may not have applied.
Amongst David’s leadership we find Uriah the Hittite and a collection of other individuals whose names appear non-Israelite. My own feeling is that during the time of the Judges things were pretty slack, and capable, loyal help would have been welcomed in. I dare say that (if he was a foreigner) Shamgar would have faced a very mixed reception from the Israelites, some of whom would accept him and others not (this is part of the fictional storyline I am weaving around Shamgar).
As to where the information comes from, pretty much any linguistically focused commentary or analytic study of Judges. I myself looked into the linguistic and poetic connections between early Hebrew and New Kingdom Egyptian, and scholars whose research I trust have looked at these names a great deal in terms of ethnic origin.
It’s a great place and time to study!