2. The son of Mahli and father of Bani, of the tribe of Levi (1 Chron. vi, 46). B.C. perhaps cir. 1658.
Sham'gar (Heb. Shamgur', ^5^1^, possibly sword [comp. Samgar'] ; Sept. 2a/(fynp, Josephus '2ai'uya- poQ), son of Anath, and third judge of Israel. B.C. 1429. It is possible, from his patronymic, that Sham- gar may have been of the tribe of Naphtali, since Beth- anath is in that tribe (Judg. i, 33). Ewald conjectures that he was of Dan — an opinion in which Bertheau {On Judg. in, 31) does not coincide. Since the tribe of Naphtali bore a chief part in the war against Jabin and Sisera (Judg. iv, 6, 10; v, 18), we seem to have a point of contact between Shamgar and Barak. It is not known whether the only exploit recorded of him was that by which his authority was acquired. It is said that he "slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad" (iii, 31). It is supposed that he was labor- ing in the field, without any other weapon than the long staff armed WMth a strong point used in urging and guiding the cattle yoked in the plough [see Goad], when he perceived a party of the Philistines, whom, with the aid of the husbandmen and neighbors, he re- pulsed with much slaughter. The date and duration of his government are not stated in Scripture (Jose- phus [.4?;/. V, 4, 3] says it lasted less than one year), but may be probably assigned to the end of that long period of repose which followed the deliverance under Ehud. He is not expressly called a judge, nor does he appear to have effected more than a very partial and transient relaxation of the Philistine oppression under which Israel groaned; and the next period of Israel's declension is dated, not from Shamgar's, but from Ehud's ascendency (Judg. iv, 1); as if the agency of Shamgar were too occasional to form an epoch in the history. The heroic deed recorded of him was probably a solitary effort, prompted by a kind of inspiration at the moment, and failing of any permanent result from not being fol- lowed up either on his own part or that of his country- men. In Shamgar's time, as the Song of Deborah in- forms us (v, 6), the condition of the people was so de- plorably insecure that the highway's were forsaken, and travellers went through by-ways, and. for the same reason, the villages were abandoned for the walled towns. Their arms were apparently taken from them, by the same policy as was adopted later by the same people (iii, 31; v, 8; comp. with 1 Sam. xiii, 19-22). From the position of" the Philistines" in 1 Sam. xii, 9, between " Moab" and " Hazor,'' the allusion seems to be to the time of Shamgar. See Judges.
Shanihusai, in Hindu mythology, is an angel who resisted the creation of man, and was therefore cast out from God.
Sham'huth (Heb. Shamhuth', riin?:'^, prob. des- olatinn ; Sept. 'Sa/.iawi v. r. ^aXawB ; Vidg. Samaolh), the fifth captain for the fifth month in David's arrange- ment of his army (1 Chron. xxvii, 8). B.C. 1020. His designation nTi*n, hay-yizrdch, i. e. the Yizrach, is perhaps for ''n'^if^, haz-zarchi, the Zarhite, or descend- ant of Zerah, the son of Judah. From a comparison of the lists in 1 Chron. xi, xxvii, it would seem that Sham- huth is the same as Shammoth (q. v.) the Harorite. — Smith.
Shamir. See Brier; Diamond.
Sha'mir (Heb. Shamir', T'^',^, a sharp ;wz«/, as of
SHAMIR
615
SHAMMAH
a tliorn [text in Chron. Shamur', '^^'Ci'^i}, tried'] ; Sept. "Zafiip, V. r. [in Josh.] ^a<})dp, [in Jiidg.] Sojtiapfio, [in Chron.] ^afi))p), the name of two places and of a man.
1. A town in the mountain district of Jiidah (.Tosh. XV, 48), where it is named in connection with .Jattir and iSocoh, in the group in the extreme south of the tribe, west of south from Hebron. Keil {Comment, ad loo.) suggests that it may be the ruined site Um. Shmimeruh mentioned by Robinson {Bib. Res. 1st ed. iii, Append, p. 115), which is perhaps the Somerah suggested by Lieut. Conder {Tent Work in Palestine, ii, 339), although the position of neither is exactly indicated. We venture to suggest its possible identity with the ruined village Simieh south-west of Hebron (Robinson, ibid. p. 11<>), and in the immediate vicinity required, being three miles west of Juttah.
2. A place in jMount Ephraim, the residence and burial-place of Tola the judge (Judg. x, 1, 2). It is singular that this judge, a man of Issachar, should have taken up his official residence out of his own tribe. We maj' account for it by supposing that the plain of Es- draelon, which formed the greater part of the territory of Issachar, was overrun, as in Gideon's time, by the Ca- naanites or other marauders, of whose incursions noth- ing whatever is told us — though their existence is cer- tain— driving Tola to the more secure mountains of Ephraim. Or, as Manasseh had certain cities out of Issachar allotted to him, so Issachar, on the other hand, may have possessed some towns in the mountains of Ephraim. Both these suppositions, however, are but conjecture, and have no corroboration in any statement of the records.
Shamir is not mentioned by the ancient topographers. Schwarz {Palest, p. 151) proposes to identify it with Sa- nur, a place of great natural strength (wiiich has some claims to be Bei;hulia), situated in the mountains) half way between Samaria and Jenin, about eight miles from each. Van de Yelde {Memoir, p. 348) proposes Khir- bet Summer, a ruined site in the mountains overlooking the .Jordan valley, ten miles east-southeast of Nablus. There is no connection between the names Shamir and Samaria, as proposed in the Alex. Sept. (see above), be- yond the accidental one which arises from the inaccurate form of the latter in that version and in our own, it be- ing correctly Shomron. — Smith.