[Avodah] What does hamelech hakadosh mean?

[Marty Bluke]

The gemara in Berachos (12b) states that during the ten days of
repentence we change the nusach of the shemoneh esrei and say hamelech
hakadosh instead of hakel hakadosh as well as saying hamelech
hamishpat instead of melech ohev tzedaka umishpat. Rashi on the gemara
comments that hamelech hamishpat is grammatically incorrect, it should
be melech hamishpat and it is to be understood that way (the king of
mishpat) and basically we ignore the extra heh. The Beis Yosef
comments that the same problem should apply to hamelech hakadosh and
yet Rashi doesn't say anything. He quotes some who say that Rashi
understood that hamelech hakadosh should be understood as 2 separate
titles, the translation would be "the king, the holy one". The
standard translation is "the holy king" (the 2 words are 1 phrase)
like hamelech hamishpat the king of mishpat.

Interestingly enough this is a dispute between Artscroll and Metzudah.
Artscroll in their siddurim and machzorim translate it as "the holy
king" while Metzuda translates it like this interpretation of Rashi
"the king, the holy one".

To sum up there are 2 interpretations of hamelech hakadosh

1. the king, the holy one (which is the literal translation with the
heh at the beginning of the word)
2. the holy king (the 2 words are 1 phrase) like hamelech hamishpat
the king of mishpat