Shamgar

The story of Shamgar is one of my son's favorite stories. This is how it appears in the Bible:

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

And this is how Brother Branham tells it:

I seen in the day of judges, a little old fellow named Shamgar. It's found over in the Book of Judges. And the Philistines would come in and take off everything that they had. Every time they'd raise a crop, then the Philistines would come in and get what they had and take it off. Oh, what a time, robbing them.
Just like it is today. About every time you get your church built up, first thing you know, somebody comes along and says, "Oh, the day of miracles is passed." About time that body begins, you begin to feel the moving of the spirit, and you're getting a little better, somebody said, "Now, that's just... See? That's just psychology. You're not any better." That's the old devil that's coming in to rob you. When you got your faith placed in God, leave it there. That's right.

And these Philistines, about time the Israelites didn't have any king then. And just about the time that they'd get their crops all raised and harvest, all the hard work done, in would come the Philistines, take what they had, and go back. They'd starve to death.
So one day, this little old fellow by the name of Shamgar stood out there. I just like that little guy. He was standing there in his barn. He said, "Well, I suppose maybe we'll have enough grain to feed the family this year." He happened to listen. Trump, trump, trump, up the road come about six hundred Philistines, all in armor, big spears, trump, trump, trump, coming to get his crop. My, after all the harvest, after all the trying, after all the effort, and here come six hundred armed Philistines to take away what he had.

I see him look down at his little old wife, her ragged sleeve, about naked. He looked at his little children; their faces were pale, starved to death. Now these big old, husky Philistines come in and take what they have got, they'll sure starve through the winter.
It's about like the little church today, brother, pale, anemia. What we need is the courage and the Word of God. Stand out there, let them old robbers come up, run them away.
Now, Shamgar said, "Now looky here, I know I'm not a warrior, I can't fight, and there's six hundred men. What am I going to do?" I can see him pace back and forth. He didn't know what to do. Coming closer, tromp tromp, tromp... A few minutes all of his oats would be gone; all the wheat and corn would be gone, everything he had laid up. His family would be starved. Everything he had done would been taken off over into that big enemy country there, given away to the enemy.

Then the first thing you know, God begin to move on him. I like that. He begin to get angry. My, he looked around, he thought, "Oh, my. I'm an Israelite. I'm circumcised, and that's an uncircumcised Philistine coming up there. I'm not a soldier. I ain't got time to go out here and take some lessons and learn how to duel, and how to fight. But I tell you, God's my god. So he just reached up there and got an old ox-goad. You know what an ox-goad is? A little old thing had a brass knob on the end of it, you beat the cattle through the corral with. He reached up there and got that ox-goad. He didn't have time to train to be some kind of a fighter. The emergency was at hand; he had to do it then.

And brother, we ain't got time all through schools, and around through this way, and teach this way, and that way. The time's at hand. Rise, take what is given to you. Let's go. Men and women are dying everywhere.
He grabbed that ox-goad, and jumped out there, and slew six hundred Philistines. Hallelujah. Why? He had the courage to trust God and step out there. "Not till I learn go off and learn how to do it." Oh, my. God is your teacher. Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost will back up God's Word every time. Right.
I ain't got time to learn about it. He just jumped out there and knocked down six hundred Philistines. His kids stayed fat that year. Amen.
If there ever was a time that we ought to stand and defy the devil, it's now my brother. That's right.

God Commissioning Moses
Jonesboro, AR
Friday 53-0508