Devarim 17: Appointing a King

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             Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Devarim 17: Appointing a King
 
mechael/harvey <harvw...@yahoo.com> asked:
 
(a) Dear Rabbi, is having a melech a bidieved or a lechatchila?
In the torah it mentions "when you will ask for a king like the nations around 
you...."  This sounds like to me that God does/did not want us to have a king 
like the rest of the nations, but like the spies, and the shlav, God went along 
with it and instituted the mitzvah of having a king. 
 
(b) This is also the view of the Rambam, if I am not mistaken, regarding the 
korbanos. It is only to appease us that Hashem instituted the korbanos as 
mitzvos, not necessarily because He wants us to have them....... HB 
 
mechael/harvey, Los Angeles, CA
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The Kollel replies:
 
Mechael - 
 
(a) You are echoing the opinion of Rabeinu Bachye (Bamidbar 13:2), who writes 
exactly what you said about the comparison between appointing a king and 
sending the spies.
 
In general there are a number of approaches to the commandment to appoint a 
king: 
 
We know that Shmuel was upset when the Jews asked for a king (Shmuel I 8:5). 
Why? 
 
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 20b cites Tana'im who argue whether we are *obligated* 
to appoint a king as soon as it is feasible, or we are *allowed* to appoint a 
king if we want.
 
1. According to the former opinion, the reason Shmuel was upset was either 
because they would have done better not to ask for a king at all (along the 
lines of Rabeinu Bachye), or because they should not have asked for a king 
until after Shmuel passed away, and Hashem was no longer showing us His 
miraculous hand on a daily basis (Malbim, Shmuel ibid.).
 
2. According to the second opinion, the reason Shmuel was upset was because 
they asked to have a king to lead and judge them *like the other nations* - 
i.e. to be like the other nations (Ramban in Devarim 17:14, or to make their 
more similar to those of the nations (Derashos ha'Ran #11 - see also Malbim 
ibid.).
 
3. Another approach according to the second opinion is that they asked, 
wrongly, for Hashem to "give them" a king, rather than for Hashem to "appoint 
upon them" a king. That is, they wanted to be able to tell their king what to 
do. (Kli Yakar, Devarim ibid.)
 
(b) I'm afraid that is a popular misconception. The opinion you quote is that 
of the Abarbanel (beginning of Vayikra, based on his Girsa in a Midrash). 
 
Note also that even according to the Abarbanel, Korbanos are very different 
from kings. We are certainly *obligated* to bring many Korbanos on various 
occasions, and we were never reprimanded for needing to have them.
 
The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, cited by the Ramban beginning of Vayikra, says 
that Korbanos are a way of declaring our rejection for Avodah Zarah. Those very 
animals to which others attribute spiritual qualities are slaughtered before 
the altar of G-d, to show that they have no special qualities at all before 
Hashem.
 
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld


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