Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Israel Knohl on the Role and Status of the King in the Book of Deuteronomy

  

. . . unlike the tradition in other biblical books, the king of Deuteronomy is not anointed with oil, and unlike Saul, David and Solomon (see I Sam. 13:9, 2 Sam. 6:12-19, I Kings 8:63), he has no role or status in religious ceremonies. Moreover, he does not even lead the army, for, according to Deuteronomy, those that go before the camp and encourage the people to fight are God’s representatives, the priests (Deut. 20:1-4). Furthermore, the king plays no part in the legal system, in total contrast to the point of view in the Psalms and the prophecies of Isaiah, which particularly stress the king’s role in imposing “righteousness and justice.” In fact, the decision in a complicated legal and cultic problem is given to the priests or to the judges, and not to the king (See Deut. 17:8-11).

 

One might then ask: What should the king do after all these responsibilities are taken from him? Deuteronomy’s answer is simple: let him sit and study the Torah. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in charge o the Levitical priests, and it will be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statues, by doing them; that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside form the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left” (Deut. 17:18-20).

 

The fact that the king has no role in ceremonies, in the army, or in the legal system seems designed to ensure that he will have no sense of superiority, “that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren.” A king of this kind is in total contrast to the wondrous and lofty figure depicted in Isaiah’s prophecies. While Isaiah strives to elevate the king as much as possible, to the point of calling him “Mighty God, Eternal Father,” the book of Deuteronomy seeks to diminish the king’s image as much as possible, largely by making him powerless to rule. In so doing, the book of Deuteronomy can be read as an extension of Hosea’s view that the people must place their trust in God alone. (Israel Knohl, The Messiah Confrontation: Pharisees Versus Sadducees and the Death of Jesus [trans. David Maisel; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2022], 29-30)