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RSRH has a rather long commentary on Devarim 17:14<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b><i>When you will come to the land
that
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>, your God, is giving you, and
you have taken possession of it and will dwell in it, you will say:
I<br>
will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around
me.<br><br>
</i></b>There he talks about the role of a King of Israel. I found the
following paragraphs about Dovid and Shlomo most interesting. Notice how
Rav Hirsch does not hesitate to criticize Shlomo HaMelech.
YL<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Among the kings appointed on
the basis of this act [i.e., request] of<br>
the people, there was one whose personality embraced all the
qualities<br>
required of a king. He had the military proficiency to prevail in
protecting<br>
the people and the Land, and, at the same time, he was filled with
the<br>
spiritual ideal of a Jewish king “after God’s Own heart.” Neither
before<br>
or after him did there arise anyone like him, who sang Israel’s song
about<br>
the relationships of man and the people to God. In impassioned and
inspiring<br>
tones he gave expression to ideas and emotions, and through his<br>
psalms he has become the creator and bearer of the people of
Israel’s<br>
spirit. To this very day, and also far beyond Jewish circles, directly
or<br>
indirectly, every soul that seeks knowledge of God and help from God
is<br>
uplifted to God on the wings of his song. In this king, David, son
of<br>
Yishai, the two sides of the Jewish monarchy appeared — the sword
and<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>also
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>the lyre, the nation’s
spiritual leadership beside the victorious defense<br>
of the nation externally. One of the national poets, inspired by the
king’s<br>
spirit, called him simply a
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Metziah</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, a “find,” for God found him and
considered<br>
him His instrument for His work:
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Matzasi Dovid Avdi</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>(</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Tehillim
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>89:21).<br><br>
This king, God dedicated to be the royal root of a line of
descendants<br>
reaching until the end of days; and a coming generation, which will
realize<br>
God’s Torah completely, will also bring the pure realization of the<br>
Torah-king in Israel. This future king will bring about the fulfillment
of<br>
this reality, and “God’s spirit will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom
and<br>
understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge
and<br>
fear of God.” By the word of his mouth he will rule the earth, and
because<br>
of his spirit lawlessness will die away. He will empower justness and
faithfulness<br>
to such a degree that the “wolf ” will dwell with the “lamb,” and<br>
the “tiger” will lie down with the “kid”; and on the earth, which
aspires<br>
to the Mount of God’s Sanctuary, no evil or wrongdoing will be
found,<br>
“for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God, as water
covers<br>
the sea.” This future king will realize the ideal of the Torah-king. He
will<br>
emerge like a shoot from the stock of Yishai, which had apparently
been<br>
cut down long ago, and like a long-awaited twig he will sprout from
its<br>
roots, which were hidden by darkness
(</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yeshayahu
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>11).<br><br>
The military side of David’s kingship disqualified him from building<br>
God’s Sanctuary (see
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Divrei Ha-Yamim
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>I, 22:8), and this task
was left for<br>
his son, to whom he had bequeathed the peace he had victoriously
fought<br>
for. But this aspect of kingship “in the manner of the other nations”
existed<br>
in the case of his son even during the peace. “Shlomo,” the great<br>
son of David, the prince of peace, whose wisdom enlightened his
people<br>
and amazed distant peoples, was not a king according to the Torah’s
ideal.<br>
He did not set as his ideal the spiritual and moral perfection of his
people;<br>
rather, he imitated the ways of peace of the kings of “all the
nations.”<br>
Their daughters became his wives, and he competed with these kings
and<br>
even exceeded them in seeking splendor and luxury. When he violated<br>
the three articles of the law for the king and acquired many horses,
many<br>
wives, and vast stores of silver and gold, he himself ruined the
foundations<br>
of his own enterprise, thereby paving the way for the destroyers of
the<br>
Sanctuary he had built for God’s Torah. An ancient tradition says <br>
On the day that Shlomo married the daughter of Pharaoh,<br>
Gavriel, the “messenger of God’s power,” came down and planted a
staff<br>
in the sea, on which a sandbank settled, on which the great city of
Rome<br>
was built” (</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Sanhedrin
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>21b, according to the
version of the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yalkut</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>).<br><br>
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