A SHEPHERD — the ordinary word for someone who keeps sheep, and the Bible's standard picture of a ruler. ⭐ The phrase ka-tzon asher ein lahem ro'eh, 'like sheep that have no shepherd', stands in exactly two verses of the Hebrew Bible. Numbers 27:17 is Moses asking for a successor so that the congregation will not become that; 1 Kings 22:17 is the prophet Micaiah telling Ahab he has seen all Israel scattered on the mountains in exactly those words — said to a king who rides out and is killed in the same chapter. ⚠ So the image's two Hebrew owners are a leader arranging his replacement and a prophet informing a king he is not one. It has since become a commonplace, which is precisely what it was not. → first discussed at Num 27:17