Epics of the Shepherd King

“Every sane sort of history must begin with man as man, a thing standing absolute and alone. How he came there, or indeed how any thing else came there, is a thing for theologians and philosophers and scientists and not for historians. But an excellent test case of this isolation and mystery is the matter of the impulse of art” (Chesterson).

Origin stories, the first known pieces of written artistic expression, began with the creation of man. The unformed clay of man is sculpted into the divine image or imago dei of its creator and given life by one or more divine, immortal beings. Epic stories move within the framework of the creation narratives to illuminate the life of one or more heroes for the people to follow. Among those who preserved the creation and epic stories were the Babylonians and the Hebrews for whom the material and supernatural histories were indistinguishable. Although mystical elements reside inside these stories, they are the best records we have of the distant past. These earliest epic stories have served to set the foundation for the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations in their organization of people, their land, and their laws, and influenced how they chose their leaders. Oppressive leaders tended to rise to power, yet these epic narratives show that people longed for a shepherd king to guide them to an ultimate path of peace.

The social order of the ancient Sumerians, who later became part of the Empire of Babylon, was as top down as the steps of a weather-beaten ziggurat. At the top of the power seat sat the king, with the only authority above him being the gods themselves. The next step down from the king, stood the prophets and priests, who imposed the one thing to bind the varied classes of peoples together—fear of offending the gods. Laws were developed to give protections to farmers who would grow more food than they needed to sustain those in power who grew no food. From no longer surviving to thriving, these populations grew into the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations. These people developed a society with priests whose authority only rivaled the king. To establish their dominance and hold sway over the masses, the priest class explained their version of the creation and destruction stories that wrapped their civilization around the whims of their deities, who only the religious class knew how to appease. With mercurial gods who were willing to wipe out the human race for being too noisy (Atrahasis, line 245), the priests established the necessary rules and rituals which would make crops and people reproduce and keep natural disasters like floods and droughts at bay.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, within the framework of the creation and destruction stories, gave an exemplary redemption story to the people of learned virtue and restraint to their oftentimes decadent kings. The temperamental gods, in their impulsivity and self-service, gave justification for their chosen kings to do and act as they pleased. At first, King Gilgamesh was representative of the rulers of the grand city states of his day with their imposing ziggurats, palaces, wealth, and overindulgence as stated in the Epic of Gilgamesh: ‘Gilgamesh sounds the tocsin [A type of alarm bell] for his amusement, his arrogance has no bounds by day or night. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all, even the children; yet the king should be a shepherd to his people [emphasis mine]. His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble” (arthistoryproject.com).

The people cried out to the gods in their distress over Gilgamesh’s excesses. They desired a shepherd king who was “wise, comely, and resolute” (arthistoryproject.com). The gods answered by creating Enkidu, a hairy man, mighty in strength (ancienttexts.org) to challenge Gilgamesh. The king clashed with Enkidu, who represented the rural wild countrymen made up of common farmers and shepherds. This indicated the division of rural society and their suspicions of the ruling class who easily fell into self-indulgence rather than serving and protecting the people like a shepherd.

Though enemies at first, Enkidu fought so valiantly against Gilgamesh that they became close friends as indicated in the text: “Gilgamesh bent his knees, with his other foot on the ground, his anger abated and he turned his chest away…They kissed each other and became friends” (ancienttexts.org).

When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh was completely heartbroken and fearful of his own mortality. In his despair, he set out on a journey to discover the key to eternal life, but failed. He returned home a changed man and could no longer lord it over his people. He became the shepherd king that they longed for who ruled with wisdom, compassion, and humility.

The unrest and frequent revolts of the Sumerians indicate the kings did not follow Gilgamesh’s example and were self-serving and oppressive. The kings of the city states prevailed in remaining separate from a larger empire until the military dictator, Sargon the Great rose to power, the first ruler to unify Mesopotamia. To further expand his empire, Sargon organized the first professional soldiers in history (Bauer, 102). He had no kinship to any king, but to legitimize his kingship, he was chronicled to have been uniquely chosen by the gods as stated in written tablets of clay preserved by the Babylonians: “My mother conceived me in secret, she gave birth to me in concealment. She set me in a basket of rushes, she sealed the lid with tar. She cast me into the river, but it did not rise over me” (Bauer, 95).

Later, when King Hammurabi ruled over the people of Mesopotamia, he developed a unified code that was thought to be divine, and implemented over the entire extent of his empire. This law, along with a unified religious system and a strong ruler, kept the people in order. Harsh consequences for law-breakers such as death for robbery, kidnapping, or aiding an escaped slave, kept people in fear of the ruling authorities (Bauer, 175). When Hammurabi died, cities revolted from within and warring tribes attacked from outside, weakening the empire’s power. Though the Epic of Gilgamesh called for a ruler who governed like a shepherd, the people relied on the common belief that without a strong, oppressive ruler, only rivaled in power by the gods, not even a codified law and uniform religious system could ensure stability in the land. Consequently, they continued to pay homage to these tyrant kings and lost hope of ever living under the reign of a benevolent shepherd king.

The language of the Sumerian people was built on one-syllable words, but dozens of words having to do with farming, occupations, and the name of the city Eridu itself finds its roots in the double-syllable system of the Semitic language (Bauer, 6). This is proof that the Sumerian culture contained some diversity. Oddly enough, in the grand epic of the Hebrews, in Genesis of the Bible, one Semite living in Mesopotamia rejected the Sumerian origin story told by the ruling religious authorities—Abram, a shepherd, lived on the southern plain, in “Ur of the Chaldeans” (Genesis 11:28-31). His name later became Abraham, which means father of many nations, a prophetic designation for the people groups that would descend from him (Genesis 17:5). Despite being brought up learning the Sumerian origin story, Abraham claimed to have heard a divine voice distinct and separate from the Sumerian gods, a voice that claimed to be the one true God. In the Genesis account, the voice Abraham heard claimed to be the one and only true and holy God and told Abraham he must separate himself from the Mesopotamian peoples and found a new land with a new way of living (Genesis 12:1-3). God directed Abraham to travel to Canaan, which is modern day Palestine and Israel.

The people of Abraham have been called by many names: Semites, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. Each name indicates four historical time periods for these people. As Semites, the people of Abraham were said to have descended from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah, who survived the Great Flood (Genesis 11:10-26). Abraham’s people were called Hebrews because he had later settled in Hebron in Canaan (Genesis 13:14-18).

Abraham was prophesied to be the father of many nations but his wife, Sarah could not produce children. Sarah thought she could help the prophecy along by giving her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham as a concubine. Hagar conceived by Abraham and gave birth to Ishmael. Abraham heard the voice of God once again tell him he would be the father of many nations and shortly afterward, his wife Sarah indeed became pregnant by him. Sarah gave birth to Isaac, whose name means laughter because she thought everyone would laugh at an old woman, who was a mother to a baby.

As Isaac grew, Sarah and Hagar grew in their dislike of one another. Sarah convinced Abraham to exile Hagar from their community to find her way in the desert alone with her son, Ishmael. Abraham heard from the Lord that Ishmael would still be blessed and that he would flourish in the desert and father his own people. Yet, Isaac was the child of the promise, so he would stay with Abraham and become the next leader of their tribe (Genesis 21:11-13).

From Isaac came Jacob and his many sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s name changed to Israel when he wrestled with God and prevailed though not without injury to his hip (Genesis 32:28). So, the name of the people of Abraham became the Israelites.

During a famine, one of the children of Jacob, whose name was Joseph, was sold by his brothers to the Egyptians. Joseph, who was favored by the Lord and because he was given the divine ability to interpret dreams, rose to power as second in command to Pharaoh himself. The people of Israel, seeking food, traveled to Egypt and Joseph forgave his brothers for their treachery and gave his people the best of the land (Genesis 49: 5-10; 50:15-20).

Eventually, the rulers of Egypt forgot about Joseph and grew suspicious of the Hebrews and enslaved them. Fearful that if their population grew any larger, they would revolt, the new pharaoh ordered all the midwives to kill the Hebrew babies when they were born. The midwives feared the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and did not obey the decree of Pharoah. Soldiers were dispatched to find any Hebrew babies and ordered to throw them into the Nile River. One Hebrew mother hid her child in a basket, much like the well-known story of Sargon the Great and let the basket float in the Nile. An Egyptian princess found the baby and named him Moses. His own mother became his wet nurse (Exodus 2:1-10).

Being educated by the Egyptians and growing up among the elite class, Moses grew in wisdom and stature and became the leader of the Hebrews during their time of exodus from Egypt. God, who spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, shared with Moses that the Hebrew people were to call Him, Yahweh. He told Moses to face the wrath of Pharoah and demand for His people to be released from slavery. Through the ten deadly plagues, the wonders of God, with the last being the death of the firstborn son, the Israelites left Egypt during their first Passover in a mass exodus. In the wilderness, Moses received two tablets from God containing the ten commandments, the first codified law of the Hebrew people (Exodus 19:25). Under the direction of the Spirit of God, Moses perfected the Hebrew written language and wrote the five books of the Torah—Genesis through Deuteronomy—which included the creation and destruction stories of the Hebrew people, the story of Abraham and his ancestors, and their laws.

The descendants of Shem, son of Noah, would have a priestly ruler who followed God’s directives, but they were not to choose a king. In the Book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for rebelling against God and following the directions of the serpent, God cursed the serpent, Adam, and Eve. The destructive flood in the Genesis account was not destined to be the final judgement because Noah and his family found favor in the eyes of God (Genesis 6:8). Also, a prophesy had been given about the serpent and a promised anointed one, divine king, or Messiah. This prophesy would be fulfilled when the divine king would come to right all that went wrong in the Garden of Eden. During Noah’s time, the Messiah had not come. In the Genesis account, God said to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel’” (Genesis 3:15).

The prophesy mapped out what would happen to the serpent and his kind; they would ultimately be destroyed. The offspring of the woman, the promised Messiah, would be injured on the heel by the serpent’s descendants. Christians attribute this wounding to the crucifixion of Jesus, whom they say is the promised Messiah.

After the days of Moses, the people of Israel grew jealous of the surrounding people with their kings who possessed strong empires. Despite the Genesis account’s directive of looking to God as their king and waiting for the divine king whom God would provide, the Israelites demanded their own human king. Saul rose to power as king over Israel, yet he disobeyed God, turned to witchcraft, and was rejected. The prophet Samuel, at God’s leading, anointed the young shepherd, David, and he was chosen to be the next king. The Israelites loved King David. He was a ruler who looked to God as the ultimate shepherd. He wrote many psalms, poems set to music to worship God, including the Shepherd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd [Yahweh Raah]; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul...,” (Psalm 23:1-2).

King David was known to also prophesy, as in Psalm 22, when he foretold of the coming Messiah or divine shepherd king who would suffer death for his people: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death…a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots…” (Psalm 22:1-31). Christians view Psalm 22 as revealing the future crucifixion of Jesus and another proof that he is the Messiah.

Even King David failed to rule as a shepherd king when he committed adultery and murdered his mistress’s husband in attempt to keep his secret hidden. David’s son, Solomon made the land of Israel the richest of his time, with a grand palace and a temple for God. He was able to achieve peace and stability through intermarrying with the surrounding nations. Solomon’s harem was said to house 700 wives and 300 concubines. The prophets of God pronounced Israel’s division and captivity to Assyria and Babylon due to Solomon’s spiritual infidelity. He had begun to worship the gods of his Egyptian wife. Israel divided into northern and southern kingdoms. The northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah, where the name Jews is derived.

King David failed to rule like a shepherd king by committing adultery and murder to cover it up. His descendants each failed to exhibit true righteousness and goodwill toward the people. The nation of Israel still waits for God to fulfill His promise in sending a Shepherd King who would right all that went wrong in the Garden of Eden.

The creation and epic narratives of the Babylonians and Hebrews, in their accounts between the divine and humankind reveal what cultivated their societies and how they chose their kings. These stories are still relevant to us today. The people of the world still long for a leader who would shepherd the people and lead them to peace, rather than a dictatorial strong man who rules through fear and intimidation.

Works Cited

Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. W.W. Norton, 2007.

“The Book of Exodus.” The ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2008.

“The Book of Genesis.” The ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2008.

“The Book of Psalms.” The ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Carnahan, Wolf. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet II, www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab2.htm. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.

Carnahan, Wolf. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XI, www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab2.htm. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.

“The Coming of Enkidu.” Obelisk Art History, www.arthistoryproject.com/timeline/the-ancient-world/mesopotamia/the-epic-of-gilgamesh/gilgamesh-1-the-coming-of-enkidu/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.

“The Epic of Atraḥasis.” Livius, www.livius.org/sources/content/anet/104-106-the-epic-of-atrahasis/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.

“The Everlasting Man.” The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Everlasting Man, by G. K. Chesterton., www.gutenberg.org/files/65688/65688-h/65688-h.htm. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.