THE JUDGES OF ISRAEL. 107

Ehud did, and have said that God had appointed him
to do it.

Grandfather. You do not seem disposed to think
favourably of Ehud, Marianne. We are sure that his
“ message” was no pretence, from the blessings that his
administration brought to the people of Israel. While
he lived the land had rest, and it was not till Ehud was
dead that his brethren again forsook the Lord. For eighty
years there was peace in Israel. There was another
judge in Canaan who was cotemporary with Ehud.
While the territories lying near the Jordan were subject
to the Moabites, those on the west of Canaan were
annoyed by the Philistines. Shamgar, the son of Anath,
from following the plough, rose up to be the avenger of
his country’s wrongs. With his ox goad for a weapon,
he slew six hundred of the Philistines, and delivered his
own people.

Johnnie. What is an ox goad, grandfather ?

Grandfather. I have seen it described as an instru-
ment about eight feet long, with a sharp prickle at one
end, and at the other a small iron spade. They are
not all alike; many are smaller than that, and have
no spade at the end; but it is probable that the
one with which Shamgar did such execution was of
the largest and most formidable kind.

Johnnie. But what is the use of them ?

Grandfather. They are for urging on the oxen when
they are in the plough; and when the same man holds
the plough and manages the oxen, he uses the sharp