Shamgar

Sham´gahr

A mighty warrior in Israel in the premonarchical period. He was famed for killing a total of six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad (Judg 3:31). Bearing a non-Semitic name, he is identified as the “Anathite” (lit., “a son of [the goddess] Anath”). He was probably a mercenary who changed sides in the era of Deborah, collaborating with Jael (Judg 5:6-7) in disruption of caravan trade, to Israel’s great advantage.