{"id":78351,"date":"2020-08-02T17:35:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T14:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78351"},"modified":"2020-08-02T17:35:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T14:35:14","slug":"the-seven-shepherds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-seven-shepherds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Seven Shepherds"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78351","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"537","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Methuselah, the Messiah and the Rock of Ages\r\n\r\n","content":"

In the continuation of the assurances of consolation that begin in Chapter 4, Micah promised: \u201cAnd that shall afford safety. Should Assyria invade our land and tread upon our fortresses, we will set up over it seven shepherds, eight princes of men\u201d (5:4). First, to the meaning of the verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud reports: \u201cWho are the seven shepherds? David is in the middle. Adam, Seth, and Methuselah are to his right, and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses are to his left. Who are the eight princes of men? Adam, Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, the Messiah, and Elijah\u201d (Sukkah 52b). If you are unable to figure out the rationale behind these lists, you are in the company of Rashi, whose commentary to our verse reads: \u201cOur rabbis listed their names in Tractate Sukkah, but I have no idea where they obtained it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Citing Ecclesiastes 11:2: \u201cDistribute portions to seven or even to eight,\u201d Ibn Ezra and Eliezer of Beaugency conclude that the numbers are imprecise. Modern scholarship calls such numbers \u201ctypological,\u201d with seven symbolizing the natural order and eight representing its transcendence.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Maharsha (Shlomo Eidels, 1555-1632), in his talmudic commentary, had a theory about the shepherds:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shepherds are the leaders of a generation of whom there will be seven, with David in the middle, like the seven planets with the sun in the middle. It was said of the Davidic monarchy that it would stand \u201clike the sun\u201d and like it states explicitly above: \u201cYou, Bethlehem of Efrat\u2026 from one shall come forth to rule Israel for Me (5:1),\u201d which indicates that David will be the core of these leaders\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

He also pointed out that David, Jacob, and Moses were shepherds, and Seth replaced Abel who was also a shepherd.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Hanukah lights are kindled, it is customary in many homes to sing the hymn <\/span>Ma`oz Tzur<\/em> <\/span>(Rock of Ages), whose final stanza (according to the correct version) ends with the words: \u201cRaise up for us the seven shepherds\u201d (<\/span>hakim lanu ro`im shiv`ah<\/span><\/em>), a plea for the renewal of the Davidic monarchy just as promised by Micah.<\/span><\/p>\n

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