SAMGAR (Heb. Samgar). - Judge of Israel. The only information about him is found in Indc. 3, 31, where it is said that “he came after Aod” (v.), the second Israelite judge, and that he “struck down 600 Philistines with an ox-goad” and thus “saved Israel”; further mention occurs in the Song of Deborah (ibid. 5, 6).
The fact that, in the sequence of the Book of Judges, immediately after the aforementioned notice concerning S., the narrative resumes with the second judge Aod, is one of the proofs of the certain fact that some judges did not exercise permanent and long-lasting authority over the whole of Israel. In this particular case, it is possible that this was an incidental episode: for example, that S. was at his work and defended himself against a “raid” (a reconnaissance raid by the Philistines?) with the only means at his disposal.
The name S. appears to be Hurrian: in the age of the Judges, the Hurrians ruled in Āram Nahārajim, whence they made incursions as far as Canaan (cf. Indc. 3, 8).
(photo Fide)