Word Prompt – KING – Keshet Starr

Monarchies are not in vogue these days. Surveys in the UK note that increasing segments of the population (now 51%) support abolishing the monarchy entirely, while three in ten believe the monarchy is “not very important” or “not at all important.” Most countries eliminated their monarchies long ago, with the few remaining kingdoms relying on the royal family to serve as figureheads and ribbon-cutters, not government rulers.

Given this context, modern life presents us with a challenge in viewing G-d as a King. After all, what is the point of a king? What do we need one for? And how do we think about a King – imperial, imposing – in the context of a relational dynamic with G-d?

In its commentary on Beha’alotcha, the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:14) takes the command to “fear Hashem and the king” (Mishlei 24:21) as an instruction to make sure our good inclination overpowers – and rules over – our evil inclination. The Midrash explains that it is only when we submit ourselves to G-d as sovereign that we can potentially submit our evil desires to our ultimate desire to do good.

Accepting a higher authority is not easy or comfortable – or fashionable. But without the ability to accept that what we want to do sometimes has to give way to the right thing to do, we have no hope of living a moral and good life. 

So maybe we do need a King, after all – just not the ribbon cutting kind.