daily java

Daily Java:

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. (Judges 3:31)

How will people remember you?

The people of Israel had a tumultuous relationship with God. He told them that as long as they followed him and obeyed him, he would keep them safe and give them everything they wanted.

Instead they went on their own way and refused to accept him.

But every few years, things would get so bad that they would call on him to save them from some persecution or oppression. And he would send a deliverer, one he called a judge, to lead them back to safety.

Each judge was different, just like regular people, and each had a different characteristic. One judge was Ehud, who was left handed. One was Deborah, who was a woman. One was Samson, who possessed superhuman strength.

And one was Shamgar, whose sole recorded exploit was the fact that he killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad, whatever that was. Probably one those pointed stick things that you stuck the ox with to make him move forward.

We know nothing else of him except that he was handy with a club and that he rescued Israel from the Philistines.

Maybe that ox goad was his weapon of choice. Maybe he was like Buford Pusser in the Walking Tall movies who carried a baseball bat around with him. Or Captain America, who fought with his shield, throwing it around like a discus. Maybe the Israelites could see him all the time, walking around with his ox goad in his hand, ready to help people who needed it.

It is funny what people are remembered for. There are people in your past that you remember for one particular thing. There was a guy in Junior High that I remember for no other reason than that he had a duck tail haircut. That would have been on the tail end (wink, wink) of the fad.

Or another guy I knew who had an orange 1969 Plymouth Road Runner with the 383 engine. I think that’s right. But man, that car could go.

Or one guy who rode a motorcycle, or another who had a fondness for ruffled shirts (this was back in the 1960’s when they were popular for a while). Or the guy who carried a little monkey around with him.

You remember people for what it was that stuck out at you at the time. That, of course, was not all they did or had, but it is what you remembered.

Preachers are that same way. One preacher I remember because he wore iridescent suits (this was back again in the mid 1960’s when they were popular – I wanted one when I grew up), another who wore a hat all the time, it seemed. There was another who wore nothing but black suits and white shirts with black ties. There was another who drove a Corvette. And another with a British accent.

They were all different with one thing or another that stood out, but they all had the work of preaching the gospel and as such, had the power of God on them.

I wonder what went on in Shamgar’s life. He was probably married, had kids, liked his lamb stew with extra rosemary, enjoyed zither music or something like that, was a real man with real likes and dislikes.

But we remember him for just two things: his deliverance of Israel and the fact that he was a mean motor-scooter with an ox goad. Oh, and he didn’t like Philistines much, either. But nobody much liked them. They were mean.

One thing I do remember about all of the judges, though. They were nobody to mess around with. They had the power of God, albeit temporarily, on them.