Royal Illness in the Bible and the Ancient Near East
September 2021 | Vol. 9.9
By Isabel Cranz
Royal illness presents a serious issue in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East. Kings are reported to have suffered from ailments such as old age, mental illness, or disorders affecting the feet, skin or intestines. We also learn that kings could suffer injuries that ultimately led to their death. In some cases, illness and injuries could be caused by divine intervention.
Nevertheless, in many cases the source of illness is not disclosed. Both biblical and ancient Near Eastern sources use royal illness as a rhetorical device to condemn dynasties and individual kings. Yet only in the Hebrew Bible is this motif integrated into a broader rhetorical network that chronicles the failure of kingship and the demise of a nation.
To begin, I will turn to ancient Near Eastern kings whose lives predate the Bible by several centuries, if not millennia. In these sources, royal illness is typically tied to the failure of individual kings and their dynasties. The Neo-Babylonian Chronicle of Early Kings, for example, suggests that Shulgi of Ur (reigned 2029-1982 BCE) took away the property of the temple Esagil and Babylon. Shulgi was consequently punished by the wasting away of his mind and body. According to the Babylonian Weidner Chronicle, a similar fate awaited Shulgi’s son, Amar-Sin (reigned 1981-1973 BCE). After changing the sacrificial order of Marduk’s cult at Esagi, Amar-Sin succumbed to gangrene, as is indicated by the statement that he died from a “bite of the shoe.”
Bronze foundation figurine of Shulgi from the Temple of Dimtabba at Ur, now in British Musuem. Photo: CC0 1.0.
Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal. Receipt of goats, ca. 2040 BC, year 7 of Amar-Sin. Neo-Sumerian. Metropolitan Museum of Art 57.16.3. Public Domain.
Royal illness is not only an issue at Ur, but also affects the legendary king Kirta. Similar to Shulgi or Amar-Sin, Kirta may have fallen ill because of sacrilege. However, in the Ugaritic Kirta Epic, an additional dimension of meaning is added to the king’s illness. As Kirta is wasting away on his sickbed, his children raise the question of how a king can partake in divine qualities when he is also subject to mortality.
These examples show how ancient Near Eastern sources use the motif of royal illness to condemn dynasties and raise questions about the institution of kingship. The same tendencies can be identified in the historiographic books of the Hebrew Bible. However, due to the unique nature of the biblical sources, the motif is expanded to include a complex critique of kingship that ties the ailing royal body to the demise and destruction of the nation.
In the Books of Samuel and Kings, we encounter several instances of royal illness. After losing divine support, King Saul is possessed by an evil spirit (1 Sam 16:14-23; 18:10; 19:9). Saul’s disorder serves several ends. For one, the evil spirit allows for the introduction of David, whose playing of the lyre is supposed to soothe the king’s distraught mind. Secondly, Saul’s disorder points to a problem inherent in kingship. Although Saul is now unfit for office, he cannot be deposed, because a ruler who is “anointed by YHWH” is under lifelong divine protection.
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David playing the lyre, Nikolai Mikhailovich Plyusnin (1848-1920). Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts.
The instance of Saul, therefore, raises the problem of how to deal with a ruler who has become unable to fulfill his leadership role. The issues of leadership, illness and royal abuse re-emerge with the kingship of David. The first son of David and Bathsheba falls ill because of David’s guilt in taking advantage of Bathsheba and killing her husband (2 Sam 12:14). Likewise, the problem presented by an ailing ruler is demonstrated toward the end of David’s reign (1 Kgs 1:1-4). David’s physical and mental deterioration allows for Nathan and Bathsheba to manipulate the king into appointing Solomon as his successor and enables the execution of Solomon’s rival Adonijah.
Abishag at the bed of David, with Bathsheba, Solomon, and Nathan from a bible historiale (The Hague, MMW, 10 A 19, fol. 33r), c. 1435.
In the remainder of the Book of Kings, royal illness is used to condemn or affirm dynasties and to anticipate the destruction of the nation. This tendency can be detected in the stories surrounding the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The injury and illness of Ahaziah in 2 Kgs 1 is taken as opportunity to criticize the cultic policies of the Omride dynasty. When Ahaziah turns to Baal-Zebub instead of YHWH, Elijah makes the following declaration: “Is there no god in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron! Therefore, thus speaks YHWH: From the bed you have ascended you will not descend, for you will die!”
The illness and death of Ben-Hadad is another example of royal illness being taken as opportunity to criticize the Omride support of Baal-worship. In 2 Kgs 8, Elisha uses Ben-Hadad’s illness as opportunity to announce the rise of Hazael, who will bring pain and suffering to the Israelite people and can be linked to the Israelite worship of Baal (1 Kings 19:17-18).
Condemnation stands at the center of Abijah’s fatal illness (1 Kgs 14). Abijah is Jeroboam’s son. When his son falls ill, Jeroboam sends to the prophet Ahijah to inquire about his chance of recovery. The prophet announces that the king’s son will die, and ties this message to the impending destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty and the eventual demise of Israel. Things go a bit better for Hezekiah some generations later (2 Kgs 20). When he inquires of the state of his health, the prophet Isaiah announces that Hezekiah will die. Unwilling to accept this fate, the king prays, and God responds by extending Hezekiah’s life and saving Jerusalem from the Assyrians for the sake of David and his dynasty. However, all is not well that ends well. After having heard of Hezekiah’s illness, the Babylonians send an envoy and Hezekiah all too happily shows them all of his property. The prophet Isaiah takes this as a sign that Judah will eventually be destroyed by the Babylonians, who will carry off the riches that Hezekiah has shown to them. In the long run, therefore, Hezekiah’s illness is tied to the destruction of the nation and the end of his dynasty.
Hezekiah’s Seal. Photo: Ouria Tadmor, © Eilat Mazar.
Royal illness is also an issue in the Book of Chronicles. King Asa, for instance, suffers from a disorder in his feet, which provides an opportunity to criticize his self-reliance. In his illness, Asa disregarded the prophets and preferred the help of the physicians rather than turning to God (2 Chr 16). King Jehoram figures as one of the most sinful kings in the history of Judah and is punished by a bowel disease that caused his intestines to exit his body (2 Chr 21). Similarly, Uzziah is reported to have been struck by a skin disease after committing sacrilege at the temple (2 Chr 26). These instances may well be understood as cautionary tales, as we learn how the rulers’ arrogance and abuse of power led to their eventual demise. Yet, on an additional level, the Chronicler lists disrespect for prophets, sacrilege and sin as the cause for Judah’s eventual destruction (2 Chr 36:16). As such, the behavior that led to the demise of individual kings corresponds to the behavior that caused the destruction of the nation.
The above examples show how royal illness is frequently tied to sacrilege, the demise of dynasties and the problematic nature of kingship. However, only in biblical sources are these factors systematically integrated into an account of the nation’s eventual destruction and the permanent annihilation of native kingship.
Isabel Cranz is the author of Royal Illness and Kingship Ideology in the Hebrew Bible (2020).
How to cite this article:
Cranz, I. 2021. “Royal Illness in the Bible and the Ancient Near East.” The Ancient Near East Today 9.9. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/royal-illness-bible/.
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