Shamgar
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Shamgar
Shamgar
What do we know about him, from this verse?
farmer, has oxen, plow, strong, alone in battle,
willing to stand alone with God
The Ox Goad
The Ox Goad
8’ long to a point
The Ox goad
The Ox goad
a
a tool, like a jawbone of a donkey
one weapon insignificant
David and Goliath
Boy giving his fish and bread to feed a multitude
our weapon
Sword of the Spirit
The Victory
The Victory
And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.
2
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
Judges
out plowing thinking....... about the oppression
maybe a godly man thinking about the land
here come the philistine.... enough is enough
if I die, I die
But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.
2 sam
He used what he had at hand
did not say I don't have the right weapons
God uses people who step out in faith and trust Him
courage to take a risk / let God work out the consequenses
The Incredible Story of Telemachus
In the 4th Century a monk named Telemachus wanted to live his life in pursuit of God, so he lived alone in the desert praying, fasting, and meditating. One day as he prayed, he realized his life was based on a selfish love of God, not self-less. If he were to serve God, he must serve men. He decided to return to the city were there was sin and need so he headed for Rome. He arrived at a time when the Roman general Stilicho, had won a great victory over the Goths. Since Rome was officially Christian, triumph brought people pouring into the churches. But one pagan practice still lingered in "Christian" Rome -- gladiator games. While Christians were not thrown to the lions, prisoners of war were cast into the arena to fight and kill each other. Spectators roared with blood lust as the gladiators battled. Telemachus arrived on the day of the games. Following the noise, he made his way to the arena where 80,000 people had gathered to celebrate. The fights began and Telemachus stood aghast. Men for whom Christ had died were about to kill each other to amuse a supposedly Christian populace.
Telemachus jumped the wall and in a moment stood between 2 gladiators. For an instant they stopped but the crowd screamed "Let the games go on." So they pushed the old man in monk's robes aside. Again he came between the gladiators. The crowd hurled stones at him; they urged the gladiators to kill him and get him out of the way. The commander of the games gave the order - a sword flashed and Telemachus lay dead.
Suddenly the crowd hushed silent, shocked that a holy man had been killed. The games ended abruptly that day -- and were never resumed again. Telemachus by dying had ended them. As historian Edward Gibbon observed
"His death was more useful to mankind than his life."!