[Avodah] melucha

[Ben Waxman]

IIRC the Ramban writes that David took a census because he made a 
mistake, he thought that the issur didn't apply anymore. I found that 
Ramban to be shocking. How is it that no one, no rav, no navi, came to 
David and said "No, you can't do that"?  Answer - David never bothered 
to ask and no one had the job of being his poseik.

Similarly, there are certain acts that the chachamim praised Hezkiyahu 
for doing and others that they disagreed with him. I read that as 
meaning "after he made the decisions, the rabbanim weighed in".

I don't get the feeling from any navi that they stood by the sides of 
the kings and told them "yes you  can do this, no, you can't do that". 
They only weighed in when society or the melucha was totally out of 
sync. or when they were specifically consulted or when God told them "Go 
to the king".

I admit that there is an incredible tension between even the good kings, 
the ones trying to rule according to the Torah, and the prophets (forget 
the evil kings). The former  were not able to live up to the 
expectations of the latter.