After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: and he also saved Israel.
Peter Craigie believed that Shamgar may have been a Hurrian mercenary soldier rather than a Hebrew. His name "ben (son of) Anath" suggests that he might have been a religious Canaanite since Anath was a Canaanite goddess. [Note: Peter Craigie, "A Reconsideration of Shamgar ben Anath (Judges 3:31 and 5:6)," Journal of Biblical Literature 91:2 (1972):239-30.] It seems unlikely, however, that he was a religious Canaanite because the writer identified him as a hero through whom God delivered His people. Another suggestion is that "son of Anath" indicated that Shamgar was like Anath, namely, of a warlike character. [Note: Cyrus Gordon, The Ancient Near East, p. 151.] Shamgar could have been the son of a mixed marriage or even a foreigner whom God used. Perhaps he was a proselyte to Yahweh worship. Whatever his background and whomever he may have served, his destruction of 600 Philistines accomplished God’s will, specifically the destruction of the non-Israelite occupants of the land.