Way before Disney and Broadways’ enduring tale of the Lion King, lions and their pride have featured as regal beasts in many world cultures. They were also the traditional state symbol of both the Assyrian Empire - and the Kingdom of Judah. Not clear which of the nations adopted the lions first.
When Nahum wants to illustrate the sorry state of the Assyrian future he uses the lions -- no longer the feared beast of the east but now a shackled and humiliated victim - how the mighty has fallen:
אַיֵּה֙ מְע֣וֹן אֲרָי֔וֹת וּמִרְעֶ֥ה ה֖וּא לַכְּפִרִ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָלַךְ֩ אַרְיֵ֨ה לָבִ֥יא שָׁ֛ם גּ֥וּר אַרְיֵ֖ה וְאֵ֥ין מַחֲרִֽיד׃
אַרְיֵ֤ה טֹרֵף֙ בְּדֵ֣י גֹרוֹתָ֔יו וּמְחַנֵּ֖ק לְלִבְאֹתָ֑יו וַיְמַלֵּא־טֶ֣רֶף חֹרָ֔יו וּמְעֹנֹתָ֖יו טְרֵפָֽה׃
“What has become of that lions’ den,
That pasture of great beasts,
Where lion walked with cubs
And none to disturb them?
Where is the lion that tore victims for its cubs
And strangled for the lionesses,
And filled its lairs with prey
And its dens with mangled flesh?”
Nahum 2:12-13
It’s unlikely that Nahum saw them with his own eyes but the great walls of the city of Nineveh were carved with large reliefs that portrayed scenes of the Assyrian kings hunting lions, as a way of demonstrating the kings’ ferocity and courage.
Pauline Albenda, who studies Ancient Near Eastern Art wrote that “The visual arts of Assyria contain depictions of the royal hunt of wild animals. The most ferocious and challenging adversary for the Assyrian king was the lion. The chase of the lion—from the chariot, on horseback, or on foot—and its ultimate dispatch with bow, spear, or dagger demonstrated the royal individual’s exceptional bravery and skill.”
Nahum ridicules the feared lion-like kings, as today’s artists imagine tyrants behind bars.
The lion symbol intrigued other readers as well, and an obscure scroll reveals more about this metaphor
The Nahum Commentary or Pesher Nahum, labeled 4QpNah or 4Q169, was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls in cave 4 of Qumran in August 1952.
The text includes the text of Nahum, mostly as we have it, along with comments and notes reflecting the historical realities of the 1st century BCE.
The most clearly historical references in the text can be found in Fragments 3-4 Column 1, which cites the verse from chapter 2 "Where lion walked with cubs.." and adds this commentary:
"This lion refers to Demetrius, king of Greece, who sought to enter Jerusalem through the counsel of the Flattery-Seekers; but it never fell into the power of the kings of Greece from Antiochus until the appearance of the rulers of the Kuttites.”
According to scholars, the king named Demetrius mentioned in this text is Demetrius III Eucaerus (95-88 BCE), the Seleucid king who defeated Alexander Jannaeus in battle, but was forced to withdraw back to Syria. Accordingly, by "the Flattery-Seekers", the writers of this scroll probably meant the Pharisees - who were their rivals.
By the time the rabbis who edited the Talmud and Midrash got around to this prophecy of Nahum they did not want to leave the lion imagery in the Assyrian rubble or connected to the Greek kings. They reframed the lion as the symbol of Judah and as an enduring image of God - even after Jerusalem is in ruin and the temple is no more.
“The Temple is called a lion…The monarchy of David is called a lion…Israel is called a lion… Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is also called a lion. He destroyed the Temple and took the monarchy of David and exiled Israel, and so God says, “Where is the home of the lions,” where are My children? And then God roars with grief for God’s sacred home.”
Noble lions, keepers of thresholds of power, will keep roaring, howling, representing kingdoms and nations, gods and legends, victories and yearnings -- -- humbling us human, even today.
The prophetic call to justice, speaking truth to power even at a price is at the core of Jewish meaning. But who listens to these old prophets now, mid-war, and who are the new ones?
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