Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?

I rember as a Kid watching the original Batman and thinking that I wanted to be like that I wanted to save the world.

Today we are going to look at a real life superhero

You ask today who is this real life superhero?

It is the Judge Sgamgar.

Before we look at sgamgar lets remind our selves of the Background of the Judges

Who wrote it?

THe book never attributes itself to a particular author, however Jewish triddition attributes it to Samuel.

jowever it is more lickly that the author lived in a time later than the time of Samuel.

Theme: and fetures

The book of Judges is part of a collection of OT books which are the books of History.

Judges took place before the period of Kings.

The

Remember Isriel did not have a king until king Solomn some time down the road.

and we all know how the kings worked out.

During the piriod of The Judges there King was God but before God gave them an earthly king he sent them Judges who were God’s rulers.

we see twelve differnt Judges in the book of Judges

Othniel (40 years

Ehud (80 years)

Shamgar (uknown)

Debrah (40 years)

Gideon (40 years)

Abimelech (3 years)

Tola (23 years)

Jair (22 years)

Jephthah (6 years)

Ibzan (7 years)

Elon (10 years)

Abdon (8 years)

The cycle of each Judge was the same.

The nation turned away from God

God sent an apppresser

The nation cried to God for help

God sent a Judge to Diliver them.

And so the Cycle went over and over and over again.

You say this morning, but preacher how rediculous, didn’t they learn?

we would never do that.

Are you sure?

We do all the time we:

turn away from the path we ought to be walking

God chassens us

we call upon God for forgivness

God restores us.

Question: So who is Shamgar?

Answer: Shamgar was the third Judge of Isriel Whose action of heroics led to peace in Isriel for an unspecified amount of time.

Please turn in your coppy of God’s Word to

We do not know much about Shamgar, but lets set the background here.

The book of Judges obviously gives us record of the Judges there was a cycle of each Isriel lived for God, then they fell into sin, then God sent them a Judge, then they returned to God and the cycle begain again.

I. Setting

The first question we must ask is what was the setting that required Shamgar.

notice what is said in verse 30

So what does this verse tell us? it tells us that before Shamgar there was a period of 80 years of peace.

So for 80 years Isriel had had it pretty Good, can you imagine that 80 years with little no no issues.

This was due do the absolute anialation of the moibites led to this, notice what the text says “so Moab was subdued” which links to “and the land had rest for eighty years” this 80 years was unprecedented and was the longest period of peace in all of the Judges.

but after theese 80 years of peace we see vers 31

There is verry little that we are told in scripture about Him we only are told the folowing:

His Judgeship followed Ehud

He was the son of Anath

He killed 600 Phikisteens with ab oxhead

He saved Isriel

Shamgar was the thied Judge he killed 600 Philisteens with an Oxgoad.

Shamgars name occurs twice in scripture, here and in

Lets observe what chapter five verse six says

His full identety is unknown, Some have sugusted that Shamgar was Ben-anath, a sea captin from syria and the son in law of Rameses II. or that the oxgard described in the event was the name of a ship, however both of theeses therious seem to be veery unprobible.

Still others argued that he was not an isrilite because his name was Hurrian.

Who were the Hurrians?

non semitic people who invated northern mesopotamia in the sixteenth centery.

and soon spread deeply into cannon (Palistine)

However, it is more likly that it was simply Hurrian influence on His parents.

Not that he himself was not an Isrilite.

It is most licklty that He was indeed Isrilite

The Philisteens were from the maritime plain and had made progress into the hebrew upland for the puropse of plunder.

The most famous philisteene in The Bible was Galioth but that was some years later.

but in this instence in scripture we are told that shamgar slew 600 philisteens to free the land from opposition.

He slew all them with an oxgard.

What is an oxgard

it would have been a long sharp interment 8-10 feet long it was normally used to direct animals and the sharp side had a blade used for a plow

How exactly shamgar used the oxgard to kill them is not specificly stated, however it is most lickly that it was used as a spear.

and this lickly took place early in the settlement of the phillistines in cannon.