Kingship Under A Torah Government
As Israel approaches its next prime ministerial election, it is worthwhile reflecting on the subject of Kingship under a Torah government.
“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and shall have taken possession of it and have settled therein, you will eventually say: ‘We would appoint a king, just like the nations around us,’ … you must appoint a king from among your brethren; you may not appoint a foreigner who is not one of your brethren” (Deut. 17:14-15).
Rabbi Raphael Samson Hirsch’s commentary is most revealing:
The appointment of the Jewish king is not for conquering the land and not for safeguarding its possession, altogether not for developing forces to be used externally. It is God Who gives the land to Israel, God under Whose support and help it conquered the land, and under Whose protection it lives safely in it. This [Divine] support and assistance is assured again and again in the Torah, and was stressed by Moses again and again in his exhortations preparatory for the conquest of the land. For that, Israel required no king, for that Israel had only to be ‘Israel,’ had only to prove itself the faithful dutiful People of God’s Torah, had only to win the moral victory over itself to be certain of victory over any external force against it.
The purpose of a king of Israel, and of Israel itself, is not to seek external glory but internal perfection. (more…)
