HERDS AND FLOCKS. From the earliest times the Hebrews were a pastoral people. Abra ham and his sons were masters of herds and flocks, and were regulated in their movements very much by a regard to the necessities of their cattle, in which their wealth almost entirely consisted. In Egypt the Israelites were known as keepers of cattle. When they left Egypt they, notwithstand ing the oppressions to which they had been sub jected, took with them flocks and herds, even very much cattle ' (Exod. xii. 38) ; and though during their wanderings in the wilderness their stock was in all probability greatly reduced, before they entered Canaan they had so replenished it by their conquests in the pastoral regions beyond Jordan that they took with them a goodly number of animals wherewith to begin their new life in the land that had been promised them. Of that land large tracts were suited for pasturage ; certain of the tribes were almost exclusively devoted to pas toral occupations ; and traces of a nomadic life among other tribes than those settled on the east of the Jordan are found even as late as the time of the monarchy (comp. Chron. iv. 38-43).
The pastoral life has always had a charm for the Semitic peoples ; and among them, as well as among other nations, it has always been held in honour. In the open and spacious fields border ing on the Jordan and in the hill country of Pales tine, it is a life of comparative ease and of great inde pendence even in the present day ; men possessed of flocks and herds bccome quietly and gradually rich without any severe exertion or anxiety ; and but for feuds among themselves, the oppression of superiors, and the predatory tendencies of their less respectable neighbours, their life might flow on in an almost unbroken tranquillity. The wealth of Sheykhs and Emirs is measured chiefly by the number of their flocks and herds ; and men who would count it an intolerable indignity to be constrained to engage in any handicraft occupation, or even in mercantile adventure, fulfil with pride and satisfaction the duties which their pastoral life imposes upon them.
It was the same in ancient times. Job's substance consisted chiefly of cattle, his wealth in which made him the greatest of all the men of the east (i. 3). The first two kings of Ismel, Saul and David, came from following the herd' to ascend the throne (I Sam. ix. ; xi. 5 • Ps. lxxviii. 7o). Men very great,' like Nabal, derived their riches from their flocks, and themselves superintended the operations connected with the care of them (I Sam. xxv. 2, ff.) Absalom, the prince of Israel, had a sheep-farm, and personally occupied himself with its duties (2 Sam. xiii. 23). Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheepmaster' 2 Kings iii. 4). The daughters of chiefs and wealthy proprietors did not think it beneath them to tend the flocks and herds of their family (Gen. xxix. 9 [comp. xxiv. 15, 19] ; Exod. 16 ; comp. Hom. //. 423 ; Odys. xii. 121; Xiii. 221; Varro, De Re Rust.
r). Thc proudest title of the kings of Israel was that of shepherds of the people (Jct. xxiii. 4 ; Ezek. mociv. 2, etc. ; comp. roy.aves Tgei'm in Homer and Hesiod, passim, and Plato, De Re,b. iv. 15, p. 44o, D.), and God himself condescended to be addressed as the Shepherd of Israel (Ps. lxxx. r), and was trusted in by his pious servants as their shepherd (Ps. xxiii. I). In later times the title of shepherd was given to the teachers and leaders of the synagogues, wbo were called n+opt (Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. in Matt. iv. 23); but this was unknown to the times before Christ.
By the wealthier proprietors their flocks and herds were placed under the charge of servants, who bore the designation of m.pp iky Npt ipv, or n'Tt. These were armed some times with weapons, to protect themselves and their charge from robbers or wild beasts ; though, if we may judge from the case of David, their furniture in this respect was of the simplest description.