Today’s
Scripture Reading (January 28, 2019): Judges 3
Winston Churchill once remarked, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” If
only it worked that way. History tends to change with the whims of those who
follow us. I have always been intrigued by the role of King John of England,
also known as John Lackland. But part of my interest in the ancient king arises
out of the Robin Hood stories, in which King John is painted as the villain of the story. Over the centuries since
his reign (1199-1216 C.E.), we have seen the ebb and flow of John’s reputation.
At first, the legacy of the monarch was fairly negative, but it had grown more
positive by the 1600s before it took
another dip into the negative once again. The general impression of John
Lackland today is that he was largely an unsuccessful monarch for England, but
that his failings have been exaggerated by historians, especially those who
wrote in the century after his death. Maybe the unanswerable question is simply
this; how much of John’s negative reputation is actually due to the fictional
representation of him that exists in the Robin Hood stories – or the Rocket
Robin Hood cartoon I used to enjoy watching as a child. None of us write our
histories. That task is often left to
those who follow us, and the accuracy with which we are remembered depends on the story that those historians wish to
tell.
The story of Shamgar, the son of Anath, presents us
with a bit of a historical puzzle. In the case of Shamgar, it is not so much a
legacy question as it is a placement question. The problem is that the entire story of Shamgar is found in one line of text. We have no start date, length of
term, or conclusion to the story. Just a comment that Shamgar existed and
defeated 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Complicating the story of Shamgar is
the fact that the story is found in two
very different places in existing manuscripts. Some place the story here, while
other manuscripts place the story after the story of Samson, which
chronologically is likely the last tale to be told in the book of Judges. To
some degree, this short statement fits better after the tale of Samson. There
we would have Samson’s death while destroying of the Philistine temple with the
people and the rulers of the Philistines caught inside, which would then be
followed by this note about Shamgar killing of 600 Philistine men.
Another complication to the story of Shamgar is that
Shamgar’s story also resembles the story of Shammah, one of David’s mighty men.
Shammah stood his ground in the middle of a field of lentils, while the rest of
Israel retreated, killing many Philistines. Some have wondered if it might be
possible that this short comment about Shamgar is actually a mention of David’s mighty man who would have appeared on
the scene of Israel a couple of
generations after Samson. The short statement here about Shamgar is a note to
readers that Samson killed Philistines just like Shammah or Shamgar, who would have
been more contemporary examples, killed Philistines.
But regardless of whether Shamgar lived after the
reign of Ehud or after the death Samson, or whether Shamgar and Shammah are the
same individual or two different people, with the help of God, Shamgar did
great things in defense of Israel. And he
is worthy of his one-line of history that he receives here.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Judges 4
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