Rosh Hashanah & American Democracy: How Do We Celebrate God as King?

How is an American, an Israeli, or anyone living in a modern democracy to relate to the Rosh Hashanah liturgy’s focus on God’s enthronement as King?

For most of recorded human history, the king embodied the most concentrated absolute power imaginable on earth. That made monarchy a useful metaphor to impress congregants with fear, trembling, and awe in the face of the King of Kings. Even modern Brits who tuned in eagerly to their king’s coronation can relate well to the high holiday prayers. But what are the rest of us to do?

We who study American history associate monarchy with tyranny, greed, incompetence, dehumanization and mass servitude. We roll our eyes even at the benign form of modern British royal formalities. We the People, for whom antipathy to kingship forms the backbone of our republic! Thomas Jefferson couldn’t be more blunt:

I was much an enemy to monarchies before I came to Europe. I am ten thousand times more so, since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an evil known in these countries, which may not be traced to their king as its source, nor a good, which is not derived from the small fibres of republicanism existing among them.^[1]

He and the founding fathers all read Thomas Paine’s best-selling Common Sense, which itself cites Samuel’s negative reaction when the people ask him to appoint a king, and he tells them how this king will enslave their children and confiscate their belongings to pay for his luxuries.^[2] Paine concurs with Samuel’s depiction of kings, and offers this conclusion:

In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.

Paine, in turn, found his inspiration in the masterful pen of the great seventeenth century poet John Milton who utterly shambled the built-in narcissism of kings and compared their worship to idolatry:

A king must be ador’d like a Demigod, with a dissolute and haughtie court about him, of vast expence and luxurie, masks and revels, to the debaushing of our prime gentry both male and female; nor at his own cost, but on publick revenue; and all this to do nothing but... pageant himself up and down in progress among the perpetual bowings and cringings of an abject people, on either side deifying and adoring him.^[3]

Eric Nelson, professor of Government at Harvard University, in his study of how rabbinic literature influenced European Christian thinkers in this period, connects Milton’s analysis to a passage in the 9^th century midrash collection, Deuteronomy Rabbah:^[4]

^{דברים רבה (וילנא) פרשה ה:ח} רבנין אמרי: כיון שעמדו מלכים על ישראל והתחילו משעבדין בהן אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא "לא אתם עזבתם אותי ובקשתם לכם מלכים?!" הוי אשימה עלי מלך (דברים יז:יד). זש"ה אל תבטחו בנדיבים וגו (תהלים קמו:ג)...

^{Deut Rab (Vilna) 5:8} The Rabbis say: When kings arose over Israel and began to enslave them, God exclaimed: “Did you not forsake me and seek kings for yourselves?” Hence the force of, I will set a king over me (Deuteronomy 17:14). This is what it means, Put not your trust in princes (Psalms 146:3).…^[5]

אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ויודעין שאין ב"ו כלום ומניחין כבודי ואומרין שימה לנו מלך מה אתם מבקשין מלך חייכם שסופכם להרגיש מה עתיד להגיע לכם מתחת מלככם מנין שנאמר (הושע ז) כל מלכיהם נפלו אין קורא בהם אלי.

God said: “Although they know that man is nought, yet they forsake my Glory and say: ‘Set a king over us.’ Why do they ask for a king? By your life, in the end you will learn to your cost what you will have to suffer from your king.” Whence this? As it is written, All their kings are fallen, there is none among them that calls unto Me (Hosea 7:7).

Thus, American suspicion of kings was an outgrowth of European Enlightenment, which was itself influenced by the rabbis’ wariness about human kingship, as Nelson shows. At the same time, the rabbis made use of the biblical imagery extolling God as king to compose the malkhiyot, “Kingship” prayer on Rosh Hashanah.^[6] How do we make sense of this tension?

1. Only God Is King

Perhaps the most obvious response hearkens back to the statement in Judges of Gideon, when, having defeated the Midianites, he was offered the crown:

^{שופטים ח:כג} וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם גִּדְעוֹן לֹא אֶמְשֹׁל אֲנִי בָּכֶם וְלֹא יִמְשֹׁל בְּנִי בָּכֶם יְ־הוָה יִמְשֹׁל בָּכֶם.

^{Judg 8:23} But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you myself, nor shall my son rule over you; YHWH alone shall rule over you.”

In the book of Samuel, God makes this very distinction between human rule and divine rule, when expressing anger over Israel’s desire for a king to rule over them:

^{שמואל א ח:ז} ...לֹא אֹתְךָ מָאָסוּ כִּי אֹתִי מָאֲסוּ מִמְּלֹךְ עֲלֵיהֶם.

^{1 Sam 8:7} …It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.

Since God and only God is King, no other being can be a king. Or, in Moshe Halbertal’s terminology, God is King; therefore, the king is not God.^[7] The acknowledgement of God’s kingship does not connote a desire for monarchy, rather it is a repudiation of any human claiming that right. In fact, Milton and Paine idealize the Kingdom of God as strongly as they repudiate any kingdom of man.^[8]

2. God Was Elected

Out of possible discomfort with kingship, even for God, the Tannaitic midrash, Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, imagines that God reigns only with national consent granted at Sinai. The midrash asks why does the Torah open with stories and not the Decalogue:

^{מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל בחדש ה} "אָנֹכִי י"י אֱלֹהֶיךָ" – מִפְּנֵי מָה לֹא נֶאֶמְרוּ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת בִּתְחִלַּת הַתּוֹרָה?

^{Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, bahodesh, 5} “I am the Lord thy God”: Why were the Ten Commandments not said at the beginning of the Torah?

מָשְׁלוּ מָשָׁל, לְמָה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה? לְאֶחָד שֶׁנִּכְנַס בַּמְּדִינָה. אָמַר לָהֶם: "אֶמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיכֶם!" אָמְרוּ לוֹ: "כְּלוּם עָשִׂיתָ לָנוּ טוֹבָה, שֶׁתִּמְלֹךְ עָלֵינוּ?" מָה עָשָׂה? בָּנָה לָהֶם אֶת הַחוֹמָה, הִכְנִיס לָהֶם אֶת הַמַּיִם, עָשָׂה לָהֶם מִלְחָמוֹת, אָמַר לָהֶם: "אֶמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיכֶם!" אָמְרוּ לוֹ: "הֵן וְהֵן!"

They give a parable. To what may this be compared? To a human king who entered a province and said to the people: “May I be your king?” But the people said to him: “Have you done anything good for us that you should rule over us?” What did he do then? He built the city wall for them, he brought in the water supply for them, and he fought their battles. Then when he said to them: “May I be your king?” They said to him: “Yes, yes.”

כָּךְ הַמָּקוֹם: הוֹצִיא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרַיִם, קָרַע לָהֶם אֶת הַיָּם, הוֹרִיד לָהֶם אֶת הַמָּן, הֶעֱלָה לָהֶם אֶת הַבְּאֵר, הֵגִיז לָהֶם אֶת הַשְּׂלָו,⁠ עָשָׂה לָהֶם מִלְחֶמֶת עֲמָלֵק, אָמַר לָהֶם: "אֶמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיכֶם!" אָמְרוּ לוֹ: "הֵן וְהֵן!"

Likewise, God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, divided the sea for them, sent down the manna for them, brought up the well for them, brought the quails for them, and fought for them the battle with Amalek. Then He said to them: “May I be your king?” They said to Him: “Yes, yes.”

A similar theme is found in the midrash (Sifre Deut. §343) that God offered the Torah to all the nations of the world, but only Israel was willing to accept it. Without Israel’s acceptance of a covenant, God would not force his sovereignty.^[9]

3. God Is a Benevolent Monarch

At least in theory, kingship and monarchy need not always be dirty words. Aristotle saw monarchy as the benevolent opposite of tyranny. If only, he writes, a society could find that rare individual of outstanding excellence to be their king, then monarchy would be the best form of government.

But since no human can guarantee perfect virtue for himself and his descendants, the Rabbis would counter that this leaves God as the only viable candidate. God rules not as a tyrannical despotic king, but as a benevolent redeemer and caretaker.^[10] Indeed, the Babylonian Talmud depicts God as on one hand powerful and on the other, humble:

^{בבלי מגילה לא.} אמר רבי יוחנן: "כל מקום שאתה מוצא גבורתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אתה מוצא ענוותנותו."

^{b. Megillah 31a} Rabbi Yohanan said: Wherever you find mentioned in the Scriptures the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, you also find his humility mentioned.

Moreover, kingship is just one metaphor found in the Bible to describe God in somewhat relatable terms. Other comparisons include God as mother, father, eagle, eyelid, cloud, fire, and water.^[11] Rabbinic prayers tend to mix these metaphors, such as in אבינו מלכינו “our father our king,” which softens the harshness of the king imagery helps one focus on a positive image of a Champion who is both All-powerful and also All-caring.

4. Partnership with God and a Reflection of Who We Are

There is no king without subjects and no one can be a father or mother without children. God depends on us for His title as much as we depend on Him for our existence. A daring midrash, based on a word play between אני (“I am”) and איני “I am not,” states:

^{ספרי דברים שמו} "ואתם עדי נאם ה' ואני אל" (ישעיה מג:יב)—כשאתם עדיי אני אל וכשאין אתם עדיי כביכול איני אל.

^{Sifre Deuteronomy §346} “You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am (ani) God” (Isa 43:12)—When you are My witnesses, I am God; but if you are not My witnesses, as it were, I am not (eini) God.

A similar theme is found in Song of Songs Zuta (a 10^th century midrash):

^{שיר השירים זוטא א:א} מלך מלכי המלכים אם אין לו כבוד בארץ אין שמו בארץ ואין שמו במרום, אם אין עמו ממליכין אותו בארץ כביכול אין לו מלכות בשמי המרום.

^{Song of Songs Zuta 1:1} If the King, King of king, is not glorified on earth, then His name is neither on earth nor in heaven. If His people do not enthrone Him on earth, then, as it were, He has no kingdom even in the heights of heaven.

A monarch’s status depends on recognition by his subjects. Without subjects, a king is not a king. Hence, Israel is, in a sense, God’s partner. Coronating God as King, then, means that each person is endowed with the ability and responsibility to take on a role in God’s governance as ministers to the needy, champions of the mistreated, and ambassadors for peace and justice. Moreover, Rosh Hashanah liturgy, quoting the Bible, expresses the belief that someday all humanity will share this same belief in God:

^{זכריה יד:ט} וְהָיָה יְ־הוָה לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְ־הוָה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד.

^{Zech 14:9} And YHWH shall be king over all the earth; in that day YHWH shall be one and his name one.

When that time comes, the whole of humanity will be God’s partners in creation seeking to make the world a better place for all.