In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. – Judges 5:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2019): Judges 5

Have you ever googled your name? It is always an interesting experience. I have googled mine. And when I do, the first person to come up is a Freddie Mercury Tribute singer in the United Kingdom; his band is called “Gary Mullen and the Works.” (His twitter name is @realGaryMullen, which always makes me feel like the rest of us are fakes.) Gary Mullen is also a former American Football player who had short stints with the Detroit Lions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Chicago Bears. Of course, neither of them are me. I distinguish myself by having two rs in my name which, for some reason, make people question how to pronounce it. (Hint: Garry sounds exactly like Gary and rhymes with Barry, which also has two rs.) I am sure history will struggle to try to figure out who is who. Or maybe we will become one super person; Garry (Gary) Mullen was a pastor who plays American football and sings “Queen” songs with a healthy British Accent on the side. Welcome to future history.

I wanted to finish the uncomfortable saga of Shamgar, the son of Anath. We have a short statement about Shamgar at the end of Judges 3. But this passage at the end of Judges 3 feels strangely out of place. Judges 4 picks up the story referring back to what had happened previously before the Shamgar verse and ignores the passage about Shamgar completely. In discussing that passage, it feels like maybe the short stub of a verse would belong better placed at the chronological end of Judges, after the story of Samson.

However, the reason the verse about Shamgar is placed where it is in our Bibles is likely because of this verse in Judges 5, which seems to refer to the same person: Shamgar, the son of Anath — confused yet? That’s okay, so are the rest of us. But the problem of Shamgar, the son of Anath, deepens here because it does not seem to be the same person. In Judges 3, Shamgar is an Israelite hero who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. The story sounds suspiciously like that of Shammah, the son of Agee, who fought the Philistines during the time of King David.

In Chapter 5, Shamgar, the Son of Anath, sounds more like a foreign oppressor of Israel. It has been suggested that this Shamgar might be the Hittite King, Sangara, although the time frame does not fit. But one thing that we do know is that it does not make sense that the Israelite hero of Judges 3 could be the oppressor of Israel that we find in Judges 5. Here we have two Shamgar’s, both are called the Son of Anath, and both are very real and very different people. Or maybe the real Shamgar, the son of Anath, is found here in Judges 5, and the mention that we have in Judges 3 is really an allusion to Shammah, the son of Agee, and at some time in ancient history the two got confused, as many who have the same name get confused today.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 6