62
HEBREW LIFE AND CUSTOM
Young boys and girls were employed to overlook flocks
in their pasture-ground and to lead them to the watering
place.1 In the wilderness pasture-grounds folds2 were
constructed, into which the sheep could be gathered for
counting 3 or other purposes, and we read also of towers +
as a protection for the shepherds.
There was, however, much to be done in a shepherd’s
life beyond taking care that his sheep should not stray and
bringing them to the watering : as a matter of fact a
shepherd’s life was a hard and strenuous one. He had to
guard not only his sheep, but also himself from raiders who
sought to take possession of his flocks/ For this purpose,
in addition to the staff" (matte)f> which served as an alpen-
stock, he carried a club (shebety as a means of defence
against both man and beast. Sheep dogs are not mentioned
till the Greek period,8 nor indeed in pre-exilic times is
there any hint of domestic dogs. We have in later literature
mention of watch dogs,9 which were evidently sheep dogs.
Shepherding involved watching in the cold of the night and
in the heat of the day.10 The shepherd was held responsible
for keeping the flock intact,11 so that he would attack in
defence of the sheep not only the lion,12 but also the still
more dreaded bear.13 He has to take care that the flocks
were not overdriven,14 and frequently to carry the lambs.15
The occasion of merry-making in the pastoral life, which
ɪ Gen. xxiv. 13-20, xxix. 6 ff. ; Exod. ii. 16 ; ɪ Sam. xvi. ιι.
2 Zeph. ii. 6. 3 Jer. xxxiii. 12, 13.
4 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. 5 Cf. Job i. 17. 6 Gen. xxxviii. 18.
7 This when used as part of the insignia of royalty is commonly
rendered sceptre. A better translation, however, would be mace, e.g.
Ps. xlv. 6.
8 Job xxx. I ; cf. Tobit v. 16, xi. 4.
9 Isa. lvi. ɪo, it. 20 Gen. xxxi. 40.
ɪɪ Exod. xxii. 13 ; cf. Gen. xxxi. 38.
ɪ2 Amos iii. 12 ; ɪ Sam. xvii. 34.
ŋ Amos v. 19, which gives the Hebrew equivalent for ‘ out of the
frying-pan into the fire ’.
ɪ4 Gen. xxxiii. 13. ɪ5 Isa. xl. ιι.
SHEPHERDS, HUNTERS 63
corresponds to the harvest or vintage in that of the hus-
bandman, was shearing-time.1 Incidentally it may be
noticed that the value of sheep lay in their wool2 rather
than in their flesh, though the latter was not despised.
Wool was in great request for clothing.3 The warm gar-
ments made of the yarn spun by the great lady of the
house and her maidens were evidently woollen ;4 and the
express prohibition of wool in the garments of the priests5
is a clear indication that it was normally worn by others.
HUNTING
To a certain extent, and in certain districts, hunting was
a necessity, not merely for the sake of obtaining food, but
also in order to keep down the number of beasts of prey.
The hot valley through which the Jordan flows with its
thickets afforded cover to lions6 and other wild beasts. It
would seem that noxious beasts, such as lions, were either
caught in pits 7 or ensnared in nets.8 Incredible as it may
appear to those acquainted with the African lion, lions
and the still more dreaded bear were sometimes attacked
and killed with a club.9 Occasionally, but by no means
always,10 a lion might be scared away with shouts. A bear
robbed of her whelps is an example of the fiercest of living
creatures.11 Leopardsappear to have been as much, if not
more, feared than lions,12 and wolves were evidently a con-
tinually recurring scourge.13 There is no certain evidence
that hyenas existed in Palestine in Old Testament times,
though the Septuagint translators found a reference to them
in Jer. xii. 9. That they did once exist there, however,
' I Sam. XXV. 4, 8. 2 2 Kings iii. 4.
3 Job xxxi. 20 ; Prov. xxvii. 26. 4 Prov. xxxi. 21.
5 Ezek. xliv. 17. 6 Jer. xlix. ɪg, 1. 44.
7 2 Sam. xxiii. 20 ; Ezek. xix. 4 ; cf. Jer. xviii. 20 ; Ps. xxxv. 7, &c.
8 Ezek. xix. 8; cf. xii. 13.
9 I Sam. xvii. 34 f. 10 Isa. xxxi. 4.
ɪɪ 2 Sam. xvii. 8; Hos. xiii. 8; Prov. xvii. 12.
,1 Hos. xiii. 7 ; Jer. v. 6 ; Hab. i. 8.
ɪ3 Jer. v. 8 ; Hab. i. 6 ; Zeph. iiɪ. 3.