02_Walton_179_200_179_200 10/07/15 11:58 Pagina 187 187 A KING LIKE THE NATIONS: 1 SAMUEL 8 IN ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT 187 flected somewhat in the ideology of the nations. A dissertation by Kyle R. Greenwood describes the transition of titles in contempo- rary Assyria from iššakkû (regent), to šarru, the epithet preferred by later Assyrian kings, and concludes: “Finally, this shift […] is evidence of a royal theological paradigm shift — that the human ruler of the city Aššur had replaced the god Aššur as the king of Aššur” 43. Something in the cognitive environment — in Assyria’s case, the rise to prominence on the international stage 44 — is prompting a shift in emphasis away from divine lordship. This in turn is supposed to reflect the arrangement Israel desires for itself: “the transformation from iššakku to šarru required a simultaneous shift in theology. No longer was Aššur king. He maintained his prominence as the state deity, but […] his role is that of advisor and empowerer, but not ruler” 45. This is almost true, but the problem requires more nuance, it cannot be simply reduced to “ruler (iššakkû/ngyd) good, king (šarru/mlk) bad”. For one thing, the king is utterly dependent on the advice and empowerment of the gods, which means he is under as much compulsion to serve the gods as the gods are to serve him; if that is enough to disqualify one as a ruler, the king does not really “rule” either, since he is codependent on both the gods and the people in a symbiotic communal relationship: “Human power was enhanced by divine power […]. When a king acknowledged the divine source of his royal authority, he increased his sense of the stability of his rule, which in turn allowed him more room for experimentation” 46. Power is not zero-sum, but symbiotic. In order to attain more power, the king does not mind the gods less; he minds them more. If he does whatever he wants, his reign suffers: “A tyrannical or inept king can be propped up for only so long before he is over- thrown” 47. Similarly, “If a king attempted to exercise sovereign 43 K.R. GREENWOOD, Then Aššur Will Hear His Prayers. A Study of Mid- dle Assyrian Royal Theology (Doctoral dissertation, Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion; Cincinnati, OH 2008) 37. 44 GREENWOOD, Then Aššur Will Hear His Prayers, 35: “It became appro- priate and necessary for Assyria’s rulers to accept titles that reflected inter- national prestige”. 45 GREENWOOD, Then Aššur Will Hear His Prayers, 107. 46 LAUNDERVILLE, Piety, 51. 47 LAUNDERVILLE, Piety, 48. The gods get to oversee this as well: “Such drastic action within communities where kings were divinely elected would