The Book of Enoch, particularly in its “Animal Apocalypse” section (1 Enoch 85–90), presents a sweeping allegorical vision of the Israelite northern tribes’ history, rendered in striking symbolism. In this account, the northern tribes are represented as a flock of sheep under divine care, while the nations and angelic overseers that interact with or oppress them appear as wild beasts, birds of prey, or shepherds. A pivotal moment in this vision comes in 1 Enoch 89:59, where God entrusts His flock to a series of seventy shepherds: “And He called seventy shepherds, and cast those sheep to them that they might pasture them, and He spake to the shepherds and their companions: ‘Let each individual of you pasture the sheep henceforward, and everything that I shall command you that do ye.’” These seventy shepherds symbolize the long succession of foreign powers and spiritual rulers who would preside over the fate of the northern tribes and, by extension, the surrounding nations.
Very soon after their appointment, the shepherds begin to transgress their commission. In 1 Enoch 89:66–67, we read: “And the shepherds and their associates delivered those sheep to all the wild beasts to devour them... And each one killed and destroyed many more than was prescribed; and I began to weep and lament on account of those sheep.” This marks a descent into misrule and betrayal. The first of the shepherds sets this destructive pattern in motion. Under his watch, the birds of heaven—eagles, vultures, and kites—descend upon the sheep, gouging out their eyes and consuming their flesh. “And the sheep cried out because their flesh was being devoured by the birds, and as for me I looked and lamented in my sleep over that shepherd who pastured the sheep” (1 Enoch 89:70). The shepherd not only fails to protect them but effectively permits their brutalization.
This scene aligns closely with the prophetic warnings found in the Book of Hosea, particularly those concerning the northern kingdom of the Israelites (often referred to as Ephraim). After its political and religious split from Judah and the Temple, the northern tribes erected alternative shrines and plunged into idolatry. Hosea repeatedly condemns this departure from the covenant. “They have set up kings, but not by Me: they have made princes, and I knew it not” (Hosea 8:4), and again, “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone” (Hosea 4:17). As a result of this apostasy, God declares that foreign domination will follow: “He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return” (Hosea 11:5). This judgment corresponds to the appearance of the first shepherd in Enoch, whose oversight coincides with the brutal incursions of Assyria, including the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE.
The seventy shepherds in Enoch do not merely preside over a brief span of biblical history; they represent a long continuum of foreign dominion and spiritual disinheritance. The text describes them acting in succession, each according to his allotted time, with the cumulative result being catastrophic for the sheep. Enoch watches as the destruction far exceeds what was ordained, and he appeals to the divine scribe who records each offense. Ultimately, the shepherds themselves are judged, but not until a long period of oppression has unfolded. If the first shepherd represents Assyrian domination in the 8th century BCE, and if each shepherd symbolizes a phase or power extending this disciplinary oversight, then their rule could plausibly be traced forward through empires and hegemonies—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Caliphates, European colonialism, and modern powers. In such a reading, the final shepherds might still be active today.
In this light, the suffering of oppressed peoples across the world—those enduring displacement, war, and systemic injustice—can be seen as the enduring cry of the sheep under the yoke of the last shepherds. The situations in current war-torn areas of the Middle East, for instance, where ordinary people are caught in cycles of violence and geopolitical manipulation, might resonate with the lament of the sheep whose flesh was devoured and eyes plucked out. Even further afield, communities struggling under unjust governance or marginalization echo the plight described in Enoch. If this vision encompasses a timespan of seventy terms each forty years long, (which fits well with known facts), stretching from the Assyrian invasions to our present global era, then the world today may still be under the shadow of that apocalyptic drama—awaiting the final reckoning, the judgment of the shepherds, and the promised restoration. (The present time might actually be in the last of these seventy forty-year terms, if they started soon after 740 BCE.)
Such a reading does not merely offer a historical or spiritual interpretation; it places ongoing human suffering within a vast prophetic framework. The cry of the sheep is not forgotten. In the vision, the scroll is opened, and each unjust act is accounted for. The hope remains that justice will come—not just as a final reckoning, but as a restoration of vision, dignity, and divine care to all those who have been scattered, blinded, and consumed.
Stephen D Green, with ChatGPT, April 2025
