![]() ![]() The shepherd drives the sheep to hillsides and valleys where there is food and water for their sustenance. So the kings of Israel were to care for people who were not their own they belonged to God. Shepherds very often cared for sheep that were not their own. ![]() There are, however, parallels that are notable. ![]() The notion that shepherds developed leadership skills that would be useful in the human community is unrealistic. Male shepherds were usually on their own, away from other human beings. Given that the occupation of shepherd was not prestigious and usually left to teenagers, the poor or the elderly, it is indeed a puzzling one to apply to rulers. The metaphor of shepherd was applied to both gods and kings in the ancient near east and Egypt before Israel emerged on the scene. Mozart's 1775 opera Il Re Pastore, "The Shepherd King." Author: The durability of this image is shown by the title of W. This image was picked up by the biblical writers and applied to God in the Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament as the true "shepherd king" of his people, and also to kings as an ideal to which they should measure up but all too often-as in Ezechiel 34-did not. 1188 for earlier discussions, see articles "Sheep" and "Shepherd" in Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible and in Harper's Bible Dictionary. Vancil writes, "Throughout Mesopotamian history, the shepherd image was commonly used to designated gods and kings and as a title for kings this use is attested from practically every period.The king as a shepherd and as a representative of the gods was expected to rule with justice and to show kindness in counseling, protecting, and guiding the people through every difficulty" (Anchor Bible Dictionary, s.v. The ideal of the good "shepherd king" is a very ancient Near Eastern concept, dating back to even before biblical times. ![]()
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