Sheep and Goats
A Mingled Flock
Stephen Broyles
Sheep and goats easily mingle together in the same
flock.
Sheep and goats were tamed very early in the Near East. In one of the
earliest episodes of the Bible, Cain became a tiller of the soil,
whereas Abel became a keeper of the flock (Genesis 4:2).
The flock, here and elsewhere in the Bible, can be composed of either
sheep or goats, or of both together. The mosaic panel called the
Standard of Ur—centuries old and buried underground already by the time
Abraham was born—shows sheep and goats being driven together. A slate
votive tablet from Nippur shows the same animals driven by two men, one
with a staff in his hand, the other with a milk pail on his head. Man
and flock go back together a very long time.
In Hebrew life the flocks of sheep and goats had many uses. Both
animals were a source of milk, meat, and fabrics (Isaiah 7:21-22;
Proverbs 27:27; Deuteronomy 14:4; Leviticus 13:47; Exodus 25:4). The
sheep provided wool for garments to keep out chilly nights and windy
days. The goat provided bottles in which to store liquids. The uncut
hide of either animal might have been the wineskin of Jesus’ parable
(Mark 2:22 = Matthew 9:17 = Luke 5:37-38).
These and other commodities taken from the flock were so important to
early Hebrew pastoral economy that to have a large flock of sheep and
goats was a sign of wealth. Jacob was described as an exceedingly rich
man because he possessed “large flocks, maidservants and menservants,
and camels and asses” (Genesis 30:43). In the case of the rich man Nabal
we find statistics: “He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats”
(1 Samuel 25:2).
In Hebrew law we find the prohibition against boiling a kid in its
own mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21). People have
given various explanations of the intent of this ruling. From rabbinic
times Orthodox Jews have observed this law by not serving meat and milk
dishes together (Mishnah Hullin 8:4). Philo of Alexandria (first century
a.d.) taught that the law
must have something to do with the affront to natural affection between
the mother goat and her kid: Israel was to show mercy in their treatment
of animals as well as of each other (On the Virtues 125-44). Still
others have imagined that the law was a prohibition against pagan
ritual. Among the texts from ancient Ugarit is what appears to be a rite
insuring abundant milk from the goddess Athirat-and-Rachmay: “Over the
fire seven times the sacrificers cook a kid in milk and mint in butter
and over the cauldron seven times fresh water is poured.” But this is
not close enough to be proof, since what we need is a ritual in which
the kid is cooked in its own mother’s milk, and this text does not say
that. (The text is in G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends,
Old Testament Studies No. 3 [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1956], 121. See
also p. 22.) Until something better turns up, I will stick with Philo.
The center of gravity of the Hebrew religious calendar is the annual
Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Among the sacrifices on this day in
ancient Israel, two goats played an especially important role. First the
priest offered a bull and with its blood atoned for his own sins and the
sins of his family. Then he selected one of the goats by lot and
with its blood atoned for the sins of the people. He sent the other goat
away into the wilderness, symbolizing that the sins of the people were
carried far from them. A later development of this practice is detailed
in the Mishnah: to keep the symbolic goat from coming back into town,
bringing the sins of the people with it, a man was hired to lead it to a
ravine outside Jerusalem and push the goat over a cliff (Mishnah Yoma
5.3-6).
By the first century, Palestine was more like what we would recognize
as a money economy. The rich man was known by his imported Egyptian
underwear or by the money he gave into the temple treasury (Luke 16:19;
21:1). But flocks and shepherds were still a part of the Judean way of
life and provided familiar materials for many of Jesus’ parables.
One of the best known of these is Jesus’ teaching about the judging
of the nations (Matthew 25:31-46). The peoples will be gathered before
the Son of Man, and he will separate them “one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Since at least the time of
John Chrysostom (ca. 344/354-407), commentators have sought to explain
why the goats should stand for the rejected on Judgment Day. One says it
is because of the goat’s unruly nature, another because of his lust and
bad smell. But the image of sheep versus goat is possibly not as
complicated as that. Both animals mingle together in the same herd—just
as righteous people and otherwise mingle together in the world—but the
great Shepherd and Judge can easily tell the difference.
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