You shall place a king over yourself...
You shall set a king over yourself from amongst your brothers; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your brother.
A true Jewish leader is one who deeply loves his people and would be willing to sacrifice himself for them. Moshe Rabbeinu merited his greatness because he was deeply concerned for the honour of the Jewish people. In his first act of leadership, the Torah says אׂ֣ צ י ו ָ֙הֶש מ לִׂ֤ דְג י ו אֶל־אֶחֶָּ֔ יו, “and Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers”. Tiferes Shlomo explains that this verse hints that Moshe became great because he saw and loved each Jew as a brother.
This is the inner meaning of appointing a king from among your brothers מִקֶׂ֣רֶב א חֶֶ֗ יך. The word מקרב is related to the word for sacrifice. A king should be someone who loves each Jewish person as his very own brother and be willing to sacrifice himself on their behalf.
But you should not appoint “one who is a foreigner and is not your brother”. Someone who lacks this quality, to whom you are like a foreigner and not a brother, is not the suited to serve as king.
This is the meaning later in the Parsha when Moshe says “Hashem will raise for you a prophet like myself” This cannot refer to their level of prophesy, because no prophet will be as great as Moshe in prophesy. Rather it means that the future prophets will embody the trait of Moshe to love each Jew deeply like a brother and be willing to sacrifice himself for them.
A king who leads in this manner is assured “that he and his descendants will have a long reign amongst Yisroel.”
