The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-12-29

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them, nor bow down to their gods, nor
even mention the name Of their gods.
But Israel did not obey, and the
steps of their downfall are recorded
in this chapter; they did not drive out
their enemies, they took their daugh-
tiers to be their wives, they dwelt
among the Canaanites. they served
their gods, they forgot the Lord their
God, and he sold them into the hand
of the enemy.
The book of Judges is u sad, sad
story of disloyalty, defeat and bond
age, frightened now and then by
description of some noble man or
woman whom God raised up to defend
his honor, and to deliver Israel from
her sad condition.
Among the heroes whom God used
for this purpose no name shines out
more signally than that Of Shamgar.
of whom it is said that he slew six
hundred men single-handed with an
OK goad. And that is all that we know
about him. To my mind this is a strik-
ing proof of the inspiration Of the
Scriptures. If the Bible had been
ulaae by man, he would surely have
devoted whole chapter to such re-
markable achievement, but the Holy
Spirit for reasons best known to him
self gives only &c words to it. The in
spiration of the Scriptures is proved
as conclusively by their silence as by
what they say.
Sl,amgar is good type of the per-
sonal worker. We need many like him
today. We have men enough to COM
plain and criticize, but not enough
of those who are willing to grapple
with the problems Of life, and attempt
to solve them. e he had been like
some men he would have called con-
vention to discuss the state of religion
in Israel, PASSED resolutions, appointed
q committee to report and returned
home. Shamgar was not that kind
of q man. He believed in personal
work, and so he took hold of the mat
ter himself, and 10, the whole prob
lem was solved.
Furthermore, he was not trained
worker. In these days we have schools
to instruct workers in the best meth
DDS, but Shamgar had received no
training at all. He knew nothing about
war, and he had no weapons except
an OK goad. 1t is not likely that he
killed those Philistines just as scien--
titically as some might have done it,.
but he did it just as effectually for he
left them dead.
There is large place for unframed
workers in our day. There is always
something that anyone can do, who
really wishes to help, and in the doing
Of it he gets certain training.
Where did Mr.. Moody get his train
ing? Or Uncle John Vassar, Mel Trot-
ter or host of others who have been
signally successful in winning souls to
Christ? t.-.
Shamgar had faith in God. He was
familiar with his Bible, and he remem-
bered that God had promised Moses
and Joshua that one should chase
1000, and two put 10000 to fight.
Here were only 800 Philistines, and if
Gods promises were reliable, that was
an easy job.
suppose it came about in this way ::
The Philistines had raided the country
so often that the people were intimidat-
ed. We read in Judges SO that the
highways were unoccupied and the peo-
pie travelled in the byways. In the
spring of the year the frightened Is
raelites crept out into their fields and
sowed them. During the summer theil
enemies left them unmolested, but
when the crops began to ripen, the!
raided them constantly and carried of
the harvest.
One day a band of Philistines came
down upon Shamgar's field. Some men
would have run away, but not so
Shamgar. He said: This thing has
gone far enough. 1t is disgrace to
our nation and to Jehovah as well.
If no one else will resist them, must.
and may as we'll begin now as ever
Accordingly he attacked the 600 men
with nothing but an OK goad. God hon
ored his faith and gave him the vic
tory. This put fresh courage into faint
ing hearts. When they saw what Goo
and one brave man could do, they raj
lied as a nation and soon threw off
the yoke of the enemy.
Observe, too, that Shamgar was jeal-
Gus for Gods honor. 1t was not the
loss of his own crop or even his neigh
bors' crops which led him to enter
such an unequal contest. He felt that
Gods honor was at stake, and he could
not bear to have the Philistines despise
Jehovah or his people. And so he was
willing to run some risk, if indeed
there was any risk, in trusting Gods
promises.
Jonathan did the same thing, as we
read in 1 Sam. 4:6, and Nehemiah
also. and God honored their faith in a
similar way. God needs more Sham
CARS in our day-men who are willing
TO work for him in small way, and
work alone, and work with what they
have. Will you be one?