Shamgar, son of Anath, in the Josephus Flavius’ “Antiquitates Judaicae”

Abstract

Although Shamgar is described as deliverer of Israel in Judg 3:31, all the regular elements in the description of the work of Israel’s judges seems to be lacking there (for example, the official titles שפט or מושיע). In this context the tradition of Josephus (Antiquities 5:197) is instructive here: Σανάγαρος ὁ Ἀνάθου παῖς αἱρεθεὶς ἄρχειν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔτει κατέστρεψε τὸν βίον (“Sanagaros, the Anath’s son, having been chosen to rule, in the first year of his rule lost his life”). If Josephus’ biblical source was basically the same as the Masoretic Text, he seems to understood the lexeme הבקר of Judg 3:31 as a passive verbal form from the root בקר, in the sense attested in the Qumran scrolls, where the term מבקר means “supervisor, inspector.” Therefore, although the standard formula of assuming the rule is missing there, the consonantal Hebrew text permits one to recognize Shamgar as chief and deliverer of Israelites. He “has been appointed” (הֻבְקַר) to be a “supervisor, chief” (compare αἱρεθεὶς ἄρχειν in Josephus) of Israel.