To have a king...
The institution of the monarchy is the subject of Deuteronomy 17:11-13. (one of R. Marders favorite passages - she really likes all the 'justice' parts)
Now that the prophets are really not going to be part of the system, and the system for Judges has been described the people are given the option of appointing a King to rule over them. There are many details suggested to be sure the monarch is just and fair and doesn't take advantage of his power.
And we all know that in many cases this system, even with the warnings, didn't work too well. And there is the reminder that possibly Deuteronomy was written in the 7th Century BCE and therefore presents a critique of the monarchy.
Samuel is set with the responsibility to find the right King and he is not convinced that this is going to work. He warns them about the way monarchs abuse power and tries to convince them not to go that direction - but alas, he relents and does appoint the King.
There are so many treasures of lessons here that were brought out.
Why did they want a king? Well to be like the other communities of the day. And this is the specific reason given for the suggestion in Deuteronomy. So they wanted to be more like their neighbors and actually didn't see or heed the warnings about the drawbacks. This is a reflection on us in the diaspora as well... we take the customs and traditions of our 'neighbors' and implement them within our own community.
Why did the Torah suggest the monarchy when it had such a high probability of going wrong? Maybe it is God "the parent" letting children make their own mistakes so they can learn from them?
Judges had been 'temporary' rulers in more of a military sense - Kings would be more permanent and follow a hereditary line. This proved to be a difficult system with many obstacles. And even conflicted with the secular system of justice that had just been defined in Torah. (1st book Samuel Ch 8) Samuel appointed his sons as judges and they proved to be corrupt which may have started the whole monarchy decision.
There is an interesting translation issue here; In Deut 17:14 the word to appoint a king could be "IF" or it could be "When" because the imperative and future tense of the word is the same. So it is unclear if the monarchy is an option or a requirement.
David Gaskill read a Talmudic Story regarding the transition to secular authority of justice:
Achnai's Oven - Not in the Heavens
Now that the prophets are really not going to be part of the system, and the system for Judges has been described the people are given the option of appointing a King to rule over them. There are many details suggested to be sure the monarch is just and fair and doesn't take advantage of his power.
And we all know that in many cases this system, even with the warnings, didn't work too well. And there is the reminder that possibly Deuteronomy was written in the 7th Century BCE and therefore presents a critique of the monarchy.
Samuel is set with the responsibility to find the right King and he is not convinced that this is going to work. He warns them about the way monarchs abuse power and tries to convince them not to go that direction - but alas, he relents and does appoint the King.
There are so many treasures of lessons here that were brought out.
Why did they want a king? Well to be like the other communities of the day. And this is the specific reason given for the suggestion in Deuteronomy. So they wanted to be more like their neighbors and actually didn't see or heed the warnings about the drawbacks. This is a reflection on us in the diaspora as well... we take the customs and traditions of our 'neighbors' and implement them within our own community.
Why did the Torah suggest the monarchy when it had such a high probability of going wrong? Maybe it is God "the parent" letting children make their own mistakes so they can learn from them?
Judges had been 'temporary' rulers in more of a military sense - Kings would be more permanent and follow a hereditary line. This proved to be a difficult system with many obstacles. And even conflicted with the secular system of justice that had just been defined in Torah. (1st book Samuel Ch 8) Samuel appointed his sons as judges and they proved to be corrupt which may have started the whole monarchy decision.
There is an interesting translation issue here; In Deut 17:14 the word to appoint a king could be "IF" or it could be "When" because the imperative and future tense of the word is the same. So it is unclear if the monarchy is an option or a requirement.
David Gaskill read a Talmudic Story regarding the transition to secular authority of justice:
Achnai's Oven - Not in the Heavens
Interesting things here... and I only touched on a few of the subjects covered in Torah study this week.
posted by Chavarah @ 8:45 AM
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