Rabbi David Zilber’s book explores the limits of royal power — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, The Jerusalem Post published a review of Rabbi David Zilber’s book Human Kingship: Studies in the Book of Samuel, devoted to biblical ideas about the king’s authority and responsibility. The book’s author examines the Book of Samuel through the question of what can restrain a ruler when there is no procedure for removing him from office.
Power without a removal procedure
The review notes that the Torah contains restrictions for a king: he must not accumulate many horses, wives, silver, or gold. At the same time, Deuteronomy defines neither the detailed content of the royal office nor a mechanism for removing a ruler who fails to fulfill his duties.
Zilber points out that in biblical narratives, punishment for transgressions often extends to the ruler’s household or descendants but does not deprive him of power. Examples include the priest Eli, who died in office despite the sentence against his house, and Saul: Samuel declared the end of his dynasty, yet Saul remained king for years afterward.
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David, Saul, and the ruler’s responsibility
The central criterion for assessing kings in the study is the biblical principle tzedek u’mishpat — justice and righteousness. The book analyzes, in particular, Samuel’s attitude toward the establishment of monarchy and the episode in which Saul hid on the day he was chosen as king.
A separate chapter is devoted to the scene in the cave near Ein Gedi, where David cut off the edge of Saul’s garment. Zilber disagrees with interpretations suggesting that David supposedly missed or merely showed extraordinary delicacy toward royal clothing. In his view, the damage to the garment was a public sign that Saul no longer ruled, while David’s subsequent remorse was connected with his realization that he could have sanctioned the king’s killing by his men.
In the final part, Zilber considers the episode in which David, seeing an angel striking his people, takes the blame upon himself and asks that the blow be directed against him. The reviewer considers the book not an introduction to the Book of Samuel, but a work for readers already well acquainted with the biblical text. The edition was published by Koren/Maggid Books, has 228 pages, and was translated by Ilana Kurshan.
