Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
7/22 Reading Portions: Judges 5; Acts 9; Jeremiah 18; Mark 4
Judges 5:6
“In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.”
LEADER
Shamgar was one of the obscure champions of Israel in the time of the Judges. Were it not for Deborah’s song, all we would know of Shamgar is the singular verse from the third chapter:
After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel. Judges 3:31
Some, like the 19th century University of Cambridge scholars, suggest that this verse, and Deborah’s, are out of place because there is, according to them, no evidence that the Philistines directly opposed Israel until the days of Saul, son of Kish (Palestinian sympathy was alive and well even then). Yet if we trust that a sovereign and omnipotent God can preserve His holy Word, we will find that the everlasting gospel was His will all along. Therefore, Shamgar becomes a type and foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the high and exalted way to heaven could not be traveled upon by men because of sin, the highways were abandoned because of those who opposed YHVH God. It took nothing less than an anointed servant to miraculously dispatch 600 Philistines to open the highways, just as it took nothing less than Jesus Messiah to be virgin-born in the fullness of time and made under the law (Gal 4:4); and to be lifted high upon a cross to be the high, glorious, and singular way to heaven (John 12:32; 14:6). Moreover, having been raised from the dead and ascended to His throne in heaven, the travelers and sojourners in Christ, which we are on earth until He returns, now go out to the highways, and byways, and hedges to compel others to come into Christ’s wedding feast (Luke 14:23).
A true leader in Christ’s kingdom and economy is not necessarily one celebrated in great detail by feats of daring-do, but one whose life simply testifies that there is one Lord, King, and Messiah of all— Jesus of Nazareth. If your life in Christ, or mine, is reduced to a mere sentence or two, if it testifies of our Lord Jesus, it is eternally glorious. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Shamgar may not have been
A David or a Paul;
Yet since his faith by God was seen,
Its glory standeth tall.