One of the main issues discussed in our Parasha is the role of the “king” of Israel. Unlike other monarchies around the world, for the Jewish people, the king was not the central figure. The Tora seems to “tolerate” the people’s desire to have a king but does not prescribe it as the ideal situation for the People of God. We see this reflected in the book of Shemuel, chapter 8:7, when God tells Samuel that the people are asking for a king because “they have rejected Me…”.
The Jewish king must maintain a low profile, which is in complete contrast to gentile kings who imposed their superiority on their subjects to earn respect. Gentile kings viewed themselves—and behaved—as “gods.” Egypt had many gods, but Pharaoh was considered above all of them. As Yechezqel (29:3) says of the Egyptian monarch: “The Great Crocodile [as Pharaoh referred to himself], who says: mine is the Nile River [also a supreme divinity in Egypt] and I created myself.” A similar situation existed with Roman kings and emperors, like Caligula, who presented himself as a god, even in the Roman Senate. In the Middle Ages, kings were not much different. They may not have claimed to be gods, but they often considered themselves the “spokesperson” of their gods, which made their decisions—no matter how immoral or arbitrary—seem divinely sanctioned and infallible (as is still the case with the Pope today). Gentile kings, in general, were above the law and not accountable to any higher authority because there was none. Obeying the king was seen as obeying God. This allowed countless abuses and atrocities to be committed by kings in the name of their gods. The Tora, however, is unique in this respect—absolutely revolutionary.
Our Parasha describes three unique characteristics of the king of Israel:
- The king of Israel has limitations. He cannot accumulate wealth, meaning he could not justify charging excessive taxes from the people. The Jewish king couldn’t have too many horses, so he would not build a more powerful army than necessary. He also couldn’t have too many wives, which, among other things, limited his ability to form alliances with neighboring gentile peoples (Debarim 17:16-17).
- The king of Israel had to be a talmid hakham, meaning a Tora scholar. He was required to write a Sefer Tora, or at least the book of Debarim (17:18), and carry it with him wherever he went, ensuring that he would always remember to remain faithful to the Divine law. The king of Israel had to study the Tora “all the days of his life” (17:19) to understand everything that HaShem expects of him and of each of his subjects. This study was not meant to show off his wisdom to nobles or commoners, but to improve his behavior and refine his character, as we will see below.
- Perhaps the most defining characteristic of the Jewish king was that he must behave with humility, in complete opposition to gentile kings—and even some contemporary presidents. The Tora explicitly states in Debarim 17:20: “[The king will have to read the Tora…] so that his heart does not exalt itself above his brothers and does not turn from the commandments to the right or to the left.” The key lesson of this verse is that the Tora does not say the king should not exalt himself above “his subjects,” but above his “brothers.” Why? Because in the Jewish people, the relationship between the king and his people was not vertical but horizontal. It was not “king/subjects” but “elder brother/brothers.” While in other nations the king was an exception to the law—free to change it at will due to his status as the spokesman for the gods—the king of Israel was the first to declare his submission to the law. In the Jewish nation, the king is not the “central figure” because the law does not depend on his authority. That is why the Tora does not include any specific mitzva to obey the human king: both the kings and the people of Israel are equally bound to obey the same law—the Tora.
The following sentence summarizes the key difference between the Jewish king and gentile kings:
While in other nations the king is god, for Israel, God is the King.
Shabbat Shalom!
