The Obsession with Royalty
Someone once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except all others that have been tried.” There is one form of government that is truly the best; the Messianic version of the monarchy.
Distasteful but Obsessed
We have been inundated with news reports about the tragic death of a former president’s son. Not too long before that we witnessed the entire world community mourn at the loss of the Monarch from Jordan. And we still haven’t forgotten the way the world could not stop talking about the tragic death of the Princess in England.
No matter how strong we protest that we find the institution of the monarchy distasteful, we are captivated by it and look for every opportunity to learn more about the few remaining vestiges of this anachronistic institution.
What is it about the monarchy that evokes such contradictory reactions from people?
A Commandment to Appoint a King
The answer to this question can be found in this week’s Parsha’s treatment of the monarchy. The Torah writes:
“When you will arrive in the land… and you shall say
‘Appoint upon me a king like all the nations that surround me.’ You shall indeed appoint a king whom G-d your G-d shall choose from amongst your brothers, you shall appoint a king.”
The Talmud goes even further. One of the commandments the Jews were commanded to observe upon entering the Land of Israel was to appoint a king. Not only was appointing a king a permissible option the Jews were given, it was a mitzvah, a commandment.
Contradictory Sources
Yet when the Jewish people asked the prophet Samuel to appoint a king, G-d’s response was rather negative. Why would G-d not approve of their request for a king, when G- d Himself had commanded them to do so?
Furthermore, for thousands of years, the Jewish people have been praying and yearning for the Messianic Age, which will be ushered in by Moshiach, who is described in Biblical and Talmudic literature as a king.
How could the institution of the monarchy be so derided by G-d in one place and so extolled in another?
Or the Wrong Reason
There are many answers that have been given by commentators. One answer is that the Jewish people wanted a king for the wrong reason. Instead of wanting a king to help guarantee the spiritual growth of the nation, they wanted a king who would relax the standards of Jewish practice and allow the Jewish people to be like all other nations.
This and similar explanations, however, will only explain why the Jewish people were commanded to appoint a king in the past. It does not explain, however, why we will still need a king in the Messianic Age, a time when the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d?“ Two Objectives Chassidic thought explains that there are actually two positive objectives for the appointment of a king in Judaism.
The first and most obvious is to prevent anarchy. Even when people recognize that which is morally wrong, they may not be able to control their desires. A king’s basic role, therefore, is to ensure compliance with the law. This the king accomplishes by policing the citizens of his country.
In addition, the Jewish king is capable of achieving this more basic objective by helping the people realize their own spiritual potential. Once people develop a G-d oriented spiritual consciousness, they are empowered to exercise control over their desires.
But there is a higher function to a king. It is the type of function that is ascribed to the leadership of Moshiach. Even when society will have developed to the point where the mind exercises control over the desires of the people and there is no fear of anarchy, a king can still play a vital spiritual role.
The ideal king is one whose soul is so aware of G-d’s presence that he serves as an inspiration to all of the people to realize much higher levels of G-dly awareness. Our awareness and sensitivity to spiritual matters is limited by our spiritual potential. No matter how sophisticated our spiritual consciousness, we all have our limits.
Ideally, a king is “head and shoulders above the rest of the nation” (a Biblical expression used for King Saul in the Biblical book of 1 Samuel 9:2) in terms of his spiritual sophistication. He therefore is capable of raising the nation to even higher levels than they are capable of reaching on their own.
Disappointed
We can now appreciate why the prophet Samuel was disappointed when the Jewish nation asked for a king. Their need for a king was for the lower and less sophisticated reason. They needed someone to buttress their spiritual sensitivity and awareness of G-d.
Samuel had hoped that they could have achieved the basic level of spirituality without the need for a king and that they would have requested a king so that they can climb to even higher levels and discover new frontiers of Divine experience. Alas, they were not at that level, and Samuel was truly disappointed.
The Future Institution of the Monarchy
While Samuel did not realize his wish at that time it will ultimately be granted with the ascension of Moshiach to the role of king.
With the advent of Moshiach and the Messianic Age this higher level will characterize the consciousness of the world. Then all of humankind will discover new frontiers of wisdom, spiritual awareness and positive energy.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Shoftim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
