Shepherds part 5

We continue looking at Philo's philosophical discussion of shepherds. We are in section XIV where Philo has just finished telling us something about the character of prosperous Egyptians. Then he goes on to say that people may ask those who claim to be of the shepherding mindset why they would live in Egypt, "the country of the body and the passions."The answer is that they are just sojourners, not inhabitants, because "the soul of every wise man has heaven for its home." According to Philo, wisdom is the true home of the soul, this body is just a place to hang out for a while. Philo appears to be a mind-body dualist.

Pause.

I am not a cursing person, but if I was ever tempted to curse it would be after hearing one of these "this world is not my home" statements. Folks, this world is darn well every person's home. It's the only home we have, and the only home we or our descendants will ever have, if we don't destroy it first. Learn to accept it. Find a way to love the only life you have.

Unpause.

Philo ends this extended metaphor by comparing shepherds, those who rule the flock of their soul well, with kings. He compares keepers of sheep, those who are sluggish and indulgent, with bakers,  who supply the means of gluttony to those who wish to gorge themselves.

After that, Philo continues his philosophising with another metaphor about true horsemen and mere riders. I point this out to remind us that Philo's intent in all these metaphors is to extrapolate a spiritual message, not to explore the actual sociological function of shepherds. Nevertheless, we are given glimpses of the standing of shepherds in Egyptian society.

Note that we are not talking about first century Israelite society, which has a distinctly different culture. The original argument was that shepherds were despised, lowly, and unclean in that culture. We certainly do see disdain for sheep tenders by rich Egyptians. I would guess that Egyptians did not make Philo's philosophical distinction between sheep tenders and shepherds. The book of Genesis, chapters 46 and 47, is where Philo decides a distintinction is made between those who tend livestock and shepherds. In 46:2 Joseph says, "the men are shepherds, they tend livestock," making no distinction between the two occupations. It is all in Philo's philosophy. However, the distinction of shepherd and sheep keeper is an interesting one, and before we are done we will encounter it again in a different manner.