The Conditional Mitzvah
In Parshas Shoftim we read about the mitzvah of מֶלֶךָ שִׂים עָלֶיךָ – You should place a king over you (Shoftim 17:15). And it’s interesting to note that this mitzvah seems to be different from all other mitzvos. Because it doesn’t just say, “You should place a king over you” – instead it comes with an introduction.
It starts like this: אָ שִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ וְאָמַרְתָּ – And if you, the Am Yisroel, will say, “Let us put a king over ourselves,” שִׂים תָּ – then you should appoint one for yourself. It’s a condition for the mitzvah – you have to ask for it. But if you wouldn’t say anything, there’s no mitzvah.
And the truth is that many years passed before the Am Yisroel asked for it; for hundreds of years the nation had no king. מִים הָהֵם אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל – In those days there was no king for the Jews (Shoftim 17:6). All around them, all the nations and even the smallest cities and towns had kings. Melech Sedom, Melech Amora, Melech Yericho – a long list of kings (Yehoshua 12: 9-24). But the Am Yisroel? Nothing.
Defunding the Police
Now, there are some writers, smart alecks, who say the Jewish people were a backward nation, an unsophisticated desert tribe that wasn’t advanced enough to develop the concept of a monarchy until much later in their history. They read the possuk, “And these are the kings who reigned in Edom before a king ever reigned over the Bnei Yisroel” (Bereishis 36:31), and they thought it meant that Edom was more enlightened than the Jewish nation.
You know what the Torah is really saying? It’s telling us that in Edom they needed a king! Otherwise, they would cut each other's throats.
Don’t you see today, when the government is weak – they don’t punish crime – so even if you have policemen, it won’t help much. Even the policemen are afraid.
I saw two policemen on Church Avenue in East Flatbush. I said to them, “You know, when I see you I feel confident. I feel safe.”
“That’s good,” one of them said, “because we don’t.”
That’s two of them!
Nobody is safe if there is no king and so the gentile tribes needed a king, an authoritarian and strongman, to enforce law and order. You’re going to let the people run around and do whatever they want? What do you think they’re going to do? Build yeshivos?
We Already Have a King
But among the Bnei Yisroel it wasn’t needed! We didn't appoint a king of flesh and blood because Hakadosh Baruch Hu was all of that and much more. He was sitting on the Throne watching and managing. He was dispensing punishment and reward. And so He was the authority and all royalty belonged to Him!
You remember at the very beginning of our history when our forefathers at the Yam Suf all shouted לְעֹלָם וָעֶד ה' יִמְלֹךְ? It wasn’t just a pious expression like we say today. Today we repeat it because it’s in the siddur; they said it because it was in their hearts. Hakadosh Baruch Hu was the real Melech; He was the government and His Torah was the constitution. Every Jew felt in his heart of hearts that Hashem was sitting on the Throne guiding the national fortune of the nation as well as the life of every individual.
A Ridiculous Idea
And therefore the Am Yisroel never even thought about appointing a king over them. Such a thing was absurd to them. “We already have a King!” That’s why among the Am Yisroel nobody ever entertained ambitions of becoming a melech. And if someone was caught contemplating such an idea, that was the worst. Not because people were envious; not because they begrudged him glory. It was because he was a usurper! He was taking away the Throne of the Melech Yisroel! You have the audacity to think of making a coup and seizing power? You’ll take it away from Hakadosh Baruch Hu?!
Now, it’s hard for us to imagine such an objection. “We’re not taking away power from Hashem,” we say. “Chas v’shalom! We just want a king!” That’s because after all these centuries of being accustomed to sublimating the idea of Hashem Melech and using it only in allegorical form, it's hard for us to understand that there was once a time when our forefathers actually visualized, they actually felt, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was sitting on a Throne and managing the affairs of the Am Yisroel.
Today the pious Jew will tell you, “Certainly Hashem is Melech! What’s the question!” But actually it’s a very big question for him. Because he’s thinking maybe about tremendous galaxies, about מְלֹא כָל הָאָרֶץ כְּבוֹדוֹ – His glory fills all of space. He’s out in space somewhere. It's a wrench of the intellect to pull Hakadosh Baruch Hu out of space and seat Him on a Throne in our midst and make Him Melech in the most tangible sense of the word.
A Perfect King
Now, I use the word melech deliberately because the English word ‘king’ doesn’t do any justice at all to the lashon kodesh word melech. It's related to the Aramaic word milka which means counsel, advice. Anyone who learned a little knows that in the language of the mishnah the word nimlach is used for one who changes his mind; nimlach means ‘he took counsel with himself,’ and melech denotes, ‘the one who knows how to take counsel with himself and manage the affairs of a people.’ In Torah language, the melech is not just a king but a king who is capable of ruling.
And therefore when we say Hashem Melech, we're saying Hakadosh Baruch Hu is wisely conducting the affairs of the world. Everything is under control. There are no accidents or injustice. There's no chaos. There’s always a din v’cheshbon. Because there is a King sitting on a Throne.
Coronate the King
It’s a good idea by the way to practice that once in a while; to try and raise yourself up to what our forefathers felt. We can’t do it all the time but that doesn’t excuse us from the obligation altogether. So let’s say you’re walking in the street tomorrow. So what will it cost you if you make a donation of your time, one minute, to think these words, ‘Hashem Melech’.
Better yet, you can say it. No harm; nobody is listening. As you're walking on the avenue and the train is riding overhead or the cars are making noise, honking, there's so much din. No one will hear you; shout “Hashem Melech!” Proclaim at least to yourself, the best audience, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in charge of the whole universe. And even though you're trying your best to get rich, you're trying your best to be healthy, you have to know that He is the One who is doing everything and He knows best how to do it. That's the meaning of Hashem Melech.
And that’s how the Am Yisroel said “Hashem Melech” in the ancient days. When they spoke about Hashem as King, it meant to them something more than it means to us today. Even for the ordinary Jew, the most simple Jew, it wasn’t a mere form of speech; it was a living reality, a remarkable awareness of a Hashem managing his affairs.
Gideon’s Refusal
Now, I understand that this may seem to you an exaggerated ideal but I'll show you that our forefathers really lived with it. Because you know there was once a Gideon who was a champion of the Jewish people. Gideon did a great service for the Jewish people; he fought on their behalf and he won many victories and finally he rescued them from their enemies.
After Gideon’s victory over Midian, the people were so grateful that they approached him with an offer. They said to him, “You should be our king; and your son after you” (Shoftim 8:22). Now, you have to know what that means that the Jewish people said that. It was the most extreme expression of gratitude.
So how did Gideon respond? He said “ה' יִמְשֹׁל בָּכֶם – You have a King already. I can’t be your king” (ibid. 23).
The Humble Jewish President
Now to us it would seem like a rejoinder; a wisecrack, or exaggerated humility. Suppose the Jews in America decided to choose a man to be, let's say, the President of the Jewish Nation in America. They came to a certain person, a capable fellow, and they want to appoint him president of all the yeshivos, of all the orthodox kehillos, all the shuls. So they come to him with a crown, a kesser Torah, and they ask him to please accept the honor.
So he stands up and he says, “Hashem is your King!” Ooh wah! Everybody would applaud that noble sentiment! Of course, they know it means nothing. He's a fine man, a humble man, but the words are only a poetic expression. And we appreciate that! At least he says it; that’s also something! But then he takes the crown. He accepts the appointment.
But when Gideon said, “I won't be a melech over you,” he meant it. He wasn’t just saying nice words so that the newspaper could make a write-up about him. He meant it from the bottom of his heart. “You don't need a king,” he said. “There's a better One already in office.”
So what happened? The Am Yisroel listened to Gideon and went back to their tents chastened, reminded of the great principle that Hashem yimloch l’olam va’ed. And that’s how it remained for many more years.
