Shamgar, son of Anath ( Šamgar), is the name of one or possibly two individuals named in the Book of Judges. The name occurs twice:
- at the first mention, Shamgar is identified as a man who repelled Philistine incursions into Israelite regions, and slaughtered 600 of the invaders with an ox goad (Judges 3:31);
- the other mention is within the Song of Deborah, where Shamgar is described as having been one of the prior rulers, in whose days roads were abandoned, with travelers taking winding paths, and village life collapsing (Judges 5:6).
Unlike the descriptions of Biblical Judges, the first reference to Shamgar has no introduction, conclusion, or reference to the length of reign, and it is not said that he judged Israel. The subsequent text follows on directly from the previous narrative. In several ancient manuscripts this reference to Shamgar occurs after the accounts of Samson rather than immediately after the account of Ehud, in a way that is more narratively consistent; some scholars believe that this latter position is more likely to be the passage's original location. Scholars are not certain as to whether the same individual was originally meant, and that the passage in the book of Judges was later moved to its present location, or whether each of the two figures were different heroes.
The Bible also indicates that he was the "son" of Anath (the name of a Canaanite deity). In recent years, arrowheads bearing the names ben-anat and Aramaic bar anat, dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC, have been discovered. This has led several recent scholars to theorize that the expression "son of Anath" probably designates a warrior title.
See also
- Gershom