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Last week, on December 17th, the "Great Successor" to North Korea, Kim Jong Un took over. His grandfather, Kim Il Sung, made a hand grenade from a pine cone once, and blew up an American tank. His father, Kim Jong Il, could control the weather: he was born under a rainbow in heavy thunder, and died after a snowstorm stopped in its tracks.
Like the 2 Kims before him, North Korea's third leader has been media spun. He is "a gifted person of military strategy and unrivalled genius;" he started target practice at the age of 3, and after age 9 never missed. "When he steps vigorously, all the people follow," says a song in his honor; like his father and grandfather, he is becoming "a great person born of heaven."
There have been other divine kings. 'Tis the season to remember a few who were revered in the Near East.
Roughly 2000 years ago, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Wise men traveled west, and asked: "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2). They fell down on their knees and offered gifts -- myrrh, gold and frankincense.
Jesus' ancestors were kings in Jerusalem for generations before him, but none of them was worshipped. In a republic, leaders are generally warned to defer to a higher God. They're told to stop being selfish and promiscuous, and to be good to their subjects. If not, they risk losing their offices.
Roughly 3000 years ago, after the people had asked for a leader, the prophet Samuel raised up the first king of Israel, Saul. But another prophet took that kingdom away and gave it to Jesus' ancestor, David -- because Saul had disobeyed his God. As Nathan put it to David, "You are the man. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul; and I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom." Afterwards, David and his descendants were admonished to keep the commandments. If not, their kingdoms, and their wives and children, would be lost. As Nathan elaborated: "Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun" (2 Samuel 12:7-11).
That would happen again and again. Jesus' ancestor and David's descendant, Hezekiah, was spared after Sennacherib's Assyrian raid, and the remnant of his house bore fruit -- because, said the prophet Isaiah, his adversaries had "raged" against their creator (Isaiah 37:29). But when Nebuchadnezzar II sent an army into Jerusalem, he captured Jehoiachin, and brought the king's mother and the king's wives back to Babylon -- because, said the prophet Ezekiel, they were "a nation of rebels" (Ezekiel 2:3).
There was less resistance against the Roman emperor, Augustus. Jesus was born in a Roman province; and like other Roman subjects, he and his parents owed their emperor reverence. In an empire, subjects tend to be told that their leaders are gods. They're expected to worship those emperors, and their families, and to encourage their fertility. If not, they risk being turned into human torches.
On a pair of bronze pillars outside the mausoleum he had built in Rome, Augustus inscribed his Res Gestae, or History of his Reign. The first emperor was proud to be remembered for having served as a senator and as a censor, but may have been proudest of the last accomplishment he put on his list -- having been voted pater patriae, or Father of his Country. Under the republic, Romans had always made sacrifices to the genius, or generative power, of the heads of their families, or gens. Under the empire, they made the same sacrifices to their heads of state. When a farmer came home from his field to dinner, he invoked Augustus along with his household Lares, or gods, and offered the emperor prayers.
Later emperors were less benign. Caligula, who was Augustus' great-grandson, had subjects boxed up in small cages, or sawn in half, for failing to swear by his generative power. And Nero, who was Augustus' great-great-grandson, started the persecution against Christians. They were thrown to wild beasts in the circus, or consumed by fire, for failing to swear by the genius of Caesar.
Something remotely like that happens in naked mole-rats. When nonbreeding workers -- the vast majority in any mole-rat society -- come across the breeding queen, they double up on their backs with their legs in the air and don't move. Tetany is a response to being shoved, or open-mouth-gaped-at, by the dominant, as mole-rat ethologists have pointed out.
They got nothin' on social insects. Ants, bees and wasps fight to the death to become dominant; then the winners walk all over their subordinates, who prostrate themselves.
When I was a kid at Christmas, I loved to listen to Nat King Cole. Adeste Fideles can still bring tears to my eyes. But the words leave me a little concerned. Venite adoremus, venite adoremus, venite adoremus, Dominum.
Soundtrack:
References
Betzig, Laura. 2009. Sex and politics in insects, crustaceans, birds, mammals, the Ancient Near East and the Bible. Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 23: 208-223.
Betzig, Laura. 2010. The end of the republic. In P. Kappeler and J. Silk, Mind the Gap: Primate Behavior and Human Universals, pp. 153-168. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
