Got My Goad

O. T. # 513  "Got My Goad"
May 7, 2015
Judges 3-Part 4
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad and he also delivered Israel.  Judges 3:31

LET IT GLOW

There are times when the cattle are in the coral for their vaccinations or whatever that we have to use an instrument to prod them along into the shut. They don't want to move. Sometimes it is a hand slapping the hip, a stick whacking the rear, or a shocker to the behind. Whatever is used, it usually gets that stubborn cow to move in the right direction. Aren't we like that? Did you know that God used a goad by a farmer to accomplish His will?
Are you curious now? Read on...

One little verse tells it all, summarizes the life of one man-Shamgar. That is why there are so many opinions about him. So many questions are unanswered about him. This ordinary man did an extraordinary feat in his life, accomplished more than what most in his day did not.
Who was this Shamgar?

• He lived during Judge Ehud's day.
• He probably was not a judge himself.
• He possibly was not an Israelite but a Hittite, from his name's origin.
• He may have lived during a time of Israel's sin and stray from God, which led to judgment.
• During this time, there is no reference to the Philistines oppression on Israel, in his lifetime.
• Perhaps he was a farmer and a warrior.
• Debra's song concerning the victory over the Philistines mentions Shamgar in 5:6.
• He is described as a non-Israelite deliverer. (Falwell)
• An unlikely deliverer described Shamgar.
• In his time the highways were unoccupied and travelers walked through byways. These were major trade routes occupied by the Philistines and Canaanites. It was unsafe for anyone to travel on these highways.

That is not much of a background on a person mentioned in the Bible, but that is all God had to say about him and for us to know.
How much is being said about you? Do people talk about your faith, your witness for the Lord? Or is it a totally different opinion of you out there in the world?

The Philistines were descendants of Ham. They occupied the Coastal Plain on the southwest border of Canaan. The word "Palastine" is derived from them. (Halley's Bible Handbook)

LET IT GROW

What was it that this Shamgar accomplished in his life? What is he remembered for having done?
Look at verse 31 for the answer. He slew 600 Philistine men using an ox goad and delivered Israel.
Isn't that enough for us to know?

God is able to use even the most foolish weapons, even an ox goad. (Wiersbe)

What's an ox goad? It is a stout stick about 8-10 feet long and 6 inches around, with a sharp metal tip to prod or turn oxen. The other end was a flat, curved blade for cleaning a plow.  (MacArthur)

An oxgoad was a long stick with a small flat piece of iron on one side and a sharp point on the other. The sharp side was used to drive the oxen during the times of plowing, and the flat end was used to clean the mud off the plow. Eight-foot-long ancient oxgoads have been found. In times of crisis they could easily have been used as spears, as in Shamgar's case. Oxgoads are still used in the Middle East to drive oxen.(Life Application Study Bible)

As I understand it, a goad was attached as part of the plow device, behind the oxen. A stubborn ox, which did not want to go the direction that its master wanted, would  kicked against the goad. The hoof would hurt whenever it encountered the sharp point on the goad.  The result was  the ox obeying its master. It would go the direction and the way which its master wanted it to go.
How much are we like that ox, friends? We rebel, get stubborn, disobey God's directions for us, wanting to go our own way. Guilty! There have been times God let me go my own way, only for me to very much regret it later. Aren't there times He uses an unusual goad in our life? We certainly remember those times of our rebellion, too, and what God used to bring us back to surrender to Him.

Well, back to the story. Shamgar killed how many Philistine men with an ox goad? 600
We aren't told if this was done at one time, or over his lifetime. Guess it doesn't matter or we would have been told.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible says:

It is probable that he was himself following the plough, when the Philistines made an inroad upon the country to ravage it, and God put it into his heart to oppose them: the impulse being sudden and strong, and having neither sword or spear to do execution with, he took the instrument that was next at hand, some of the tools of his plough, and with that killed as many hundred men, and came off unhurt.

What can we learn from this?
God can make those eminently serviceable to His glory and His church's good, whose extraction, education, and employment, are very mean and obscure. It is no matter how weak the weapon is, if God directs and strengthens the arm. and sometimes He chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God. (Henry)

When Saul encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road, Jesus told him in Acts 9:6, ...it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

We know what a great man of faith Saul who became Paul was for Jesus, as He lived and wrote so much of the New Testament.

Are we kicking against the pricks, the goad, being stubborn and not obeying what God wants us to do? Does God have to get our goad to make us move in His direction? His mercy is waiting, dear ones. When God speaks, I obey. That has been the theme of our revival services.

LET IT GO

Stop kicking, just surrender to Jesus.

Remember my sore feet of rebellion and don't repeat it.

Just do it.

Life joyfully for Jesus. (His ways are best anyway.)