Moshiach's Governance       Style

בס"ד

בס"ד

Background

The decline of Governments is one of the Signs for the Coming of Moshiach.

 

We've seen in related slide decks how and why

• Governments will transition out
• Moshiach will transition in.

בס"ד

Ingredients

1. Jewish Kingship – Basics
2. Jewish King Vs. Dictator
3. King David's stamp on Jewish Kingship
4. The advantages of Moshiach over King David

of Moshiach's Government:

These slides are about the

בס"ד

“Constitutional Monarchy”

would be the technical term to describe a Jewish Kingdom.

 

The "Constitution" being the holy Torah.

בס"ד

Appointment

Must be by –

• A Prophet
• High Court ("71-member" Court)
• Anointed with "Anointment Oil"

of a New King:

בס"ד

Duties of a King

1. Enact justice 
2. Defend Israel

Primary

That's the practical, statesmanship side of a Jewish King:

Judicial, political, military.

בס"ד

The king in Jewish Thought is the

Head & Heart

of the People

(The People are the body, hands & feet)

In other words, no one is spiritually higher than the king.

בס"ד

Statesman or Rabbi?

So is the Jewish King a

בס"ד

King David

for example:

He was at the forefront of every war, justice and politics, yet he was the top Torah Scholar of his time. 

Take

בס"ד

A Dictator

Is a Jewish King

= A Ruler whose dominion is forced upon the People

בס"ד

King vs. Ruler:

מלך / Melech

מושל / Moshel

Example:

Rehavam, Herod

People accept willingly.

Ownership.

Forced upon the people.

(Potential for) rejection.

Example:

King David

The essential difference between

בס"ד

G-d

who is the

The Concept of Kingship stems from

"King of the World" – מלך העולם

בס"ד

Dominion Vs. Kingdom

and Your Dominion (Rule) is over all generations

מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים

וממשלתך בכל דר ודר

Your Kingship is the Kingship over all worlds

This World, where generations come and go.

The many spiritual worlds that exist in Heaven.

This has 2 dimensions:

Psalms 145:13

תילים קמ"ה

בס"ד

Kingship

is widespread across all the higher spiritual worlds, where His sovereignty is truly appreciated and hence obviously accepted.

 

However, G-d's relationship with the physical world is one of

G-d's

Dominion.

G-d rules over the world in absence of willing acceptance of Him as King by the people.

בס"ד

Endgame

of Judaism.

 

Everything revolves around this.

Willingly crowning G-d as King in This World is the

בס"ד

Primary Job of Moshiach:

To get the whole world to willingly serve G-d together.

Hey, this is the very

בס"ד

King himself.

Hence Moshiach has to be a

Not a Ruler.

(as the representative of G-d for this mission)

בס"ד

Divinely Ordained?

(By a prophet)

 

 

What if the People don't want the chosen king...?

But wait a second.

 

Isn't the identity of the king

בס"ד

King David

who was coronated by the Prophet Samuel and his Court, using the oil.  That's when he

Let's come back to

Effectively

 replaced Saul as king over Israel instead.

בס"ד

Officially,

David only became king

However

When crowned by the People.

בס"ד

Connecting Medium

Between the People and the Almighty G-d.

The King is the

So he has to be "acceptable" to both.

בס"ד

Never Depart

from his descendants. 

Another thing about King David:

 

 

He merited that Kingship will

בס"ד

Establish the Kingdom

The Commandment of appointing a king thereafter is to

of the rightful*

Heir

*) as long as he fits the bill, being G-d fearing essentially.

בס"ד

By the People.

Hence Moshiach's coronation –

as the ultimate heir of King David's throne –

will be

בס"ד

Democracy

The king relies on the people.

This is how

is recycled into Moshiach's governance style:

בס"ד

Communist Ideal

• The Communist ideal is that, at the end of the day – the impoverished should not be disadvantaged. 
• This is the practical side of Jewish kingship – to ensure justice...
• And in particular – Moshiach, of whom it is written:

​ושפט בצדק דלים  With righteousness he [Moshiach] will judge the poor.

By the way:

 

How does 

fit in?

בס"ד

Wisdom + Kingship

Were both found by King David.

There was G-dly wisdom in how he managed the affairs of his People.

Yet another King David Special:

All other kings (including his son and successor, King Solomon, "the wisest of all men"), may have had Wisdom or Kingship qualities, and even both, but the Wisdom would be on a personal level and not applied to his kingship over the People.

בס"ד

Natural Level Only

Addressing lowly issues on their level.

 

Hence he had to wage physical wars, spilling a lot of blood.

King David's wisdom and Kingship applied on a

בס"ד

Amplified:

• Greater wisdom, even more than King Solomon
• Greater kingship, extending to cover the entire globe
• Waging wars by non-natural means

Moshiach will be similar but

בס"ד

What will be the

War Tactics of Moshiach?

בס"ד

Game Changer.

Moving away from physical warfare,

where physical might is king,

To an age of intellectual pursuits (mental warfare?) – where wisdom is king.

A Political

There was always "wisdom" in the world, but it was only applied to material pursuits (for which there needed to be physical warfare).  

בס"ד

Heavy Speech

Moshiach's communications will have weight.

Unlike politicians who are all good talkers but mean nothing they say.

Or make promises but have no Divine backing to execute them.

His words will be rooted in his awesome wisdom and in turn, in the Divine Presence. 

So no wonder things will go by what he says.

בס"ד

Sort Out All

• International affairs between one country and another
• Internal affairs within each country

Hence Moshiach will

בס"ד

The One Person.

If you haven't noticed,

Moshiach -- like his anscestor, King David -- is

Being an awesome spiritual leader, and a great statesman goes hand in hand.

בס"ד

Summary

בס"ד

References

The prerequisites for a new appointment of a Jewish King:  Tosefta Sanhedrin 3:2, Rambam Laws of Kings 1:3.

The primary duties of a Jewish King:  Rambam Laws of Kings 5:10.

The King is the head and heart of the people:  Midrash Bamidbar Rabba 19:17, Rambam Laws of Kings 3:6. "No one higher than him, only his G-d" (Mishna Horayot 3:3)

King David was the top Torah Scholar of his time:  King David was the only king to form part of the unbroken chain of Oral Torah tradition from Moses to the writing of the Mishnah (the first documentation of Jewish Law) 40 generations later.

King David spilled a lot of blood:  There's also a spiritual dimension to this: In his championship of Torah Scholarship, he undid his contemporaries' counter arguments, effectively "killing" their analyses. That's the same approach on both rabbinic and statesmanship levels. And it actually starts with King David himself, having killed his evil inclination (through [excessive] fasting -- Talmud Yerushalmi Sotah 5:5).

The difference between king and ruler, with reference to G-d: Likutei Torah 56d

The endgame of Judaism is to crown G-d over the world:  Starting with Adam who instigated the whole creation to crown G-d (by saying to them "Let's ... for He is a great King..." (Psalms 95) and ending with the last job of Moshiach -- to get the whole world to serve G-d together (Zephaniah 3:1)

בס"ד

References

And that's also Moshiach's primary job:  Rambam Laws of Kings 11:4

King David effectively become king over Israel as soon as anointed by Samuel:  Rambam Laws of Kings 1:7

King David officially become only when accepted by the whole nation:  Samuel II 5:1-5.

The King is the "connecting medium" between the Almighty G-d and the People:  Derech Mitzvotecha p109

Kingship will never depart from King David's descendants:  Samuel II 7:15, Chronicles II 13:5, Midrash Mechilta Shemot 18:25, Rambam ibid.

The commandment of appointing a king (Deuteronomy 17:15) is to establish the kingdom of the rightful heir to King David:  Rambam Ibid, Sefer HaChinuch 

The King relies on the People:  Midrash Pirkei D'Rabbi Elazar Ch.3, Rabbenu Bachye Bereshit 38:30.

With righteousness he [Moshiach] will judge the poor:  Isaiah 11:4

King David has a perfect blend of Kingship and Wisdom. All other kings did not:  Derech Mitzvotecha p109

King David's perfection was on a natural level:  Ibid p110

Moshiach's perfection will be on a higher (non-natural) level:  Ibid p220

בס"ד

References

Moshiach's wisdom greater than King Solomon:  Rambam, Laws of Repentance 9:2

Moshiach's governance will cover the whole world:  Isaiah 2:4: "וְשָׁפַט בֵּין הַגּוֹיִם וְהוֹכִיחַ לְעַמִּים רַבִּים / And he shall judge between the nations (= international issues) and reprove many peoples (= national issues of many countries)" -- see MALBI"M on this verse.

Moshiach will wage his wars with wisdom and words, not physical might:  Isaiah 11:4, Likutei Moharan Pt.1 2:1, Me-aam Loez to Isaiah p.144

Heavy Speech: Compare with Moses who had heavy mouth (Exodus 4:10) and hence G-d's response to him "I (Anochi) will be with your mouth" (Ibid). Also note "the Divine Presence being expressed though Moses' throat" (Midrash Shmot Rabba 3).