Judges 3:26-31 - The land had peace for eighty years

3:26-30

In the meantime Ehud escaped to Seirah. He then issued a rallying call to Israel by blowing a trumpet in the country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came down from the hills to join him. He declared that the Lord had now given Moab into their hands. So Israel attacked Moab, stringing down ten thousand Moabites. So Moab became subject to Israel, rather than the other way round. The land had peace for eighty years.

3:31

We now come to the shortest account, a mere single verse. There is no mention of the Israelites doing evil. We are just told that Shamgar came after Ehud, and that he “struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad”. It also says “he too saved Israel”, so perhaps it is implied that Israel had gone through the usual cycle of doing evil, groaning, and then being rescued. Shamgar is mentioned in Judges 5:6. It may be that “son of Anath” implies that Shamgar was not an Israelite. Conversely, Anath may be related to Beth Anath, which was in the region assigned to Naphtali (Wood).