Against Monarchy Jy

Jonathan Yomtobian Monarchy On Trial Rabbi There are many terrible and bad kings in the history of the Jewish People. Some examples of very wicked kings are Jeroboam I, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Hoshea and many more evil kings. It says in Shoftim” And one should not have many wives, so that his heart not go astray, and he should not gain great sums of silver and gold."[Shoftim 17:17]. It says that if you married many wives when you are a king it will lead you to many bad things. King Solomon went against this and married many wives for the reason of creating acquaintances with the surrounding kingdoms. Having too many wives will distract him from his responsibilities to G-D. King Solomon’s wives were also bad because they came from idolatry houses. This is one reason that I am against the reason of Monarchy. In Shoftim, the Torah gives many laws for a ruler\king; he must have two Sefer Torahs for himself, he must not have too many wives, horses, or gold/silver. All of these things were laws each king had to follow to be a good king, and if not he was considered a bad king. The jewish people want a king when they say “som tasim alecha melech” (Devarim 17:15). Shaul was also a bad king he tried to kill David. He didn’t kill all of Amalek. He didn’t wait for Shmuel, 7 days, to come before he gave up the korban. " This and much more. From all these times we learned that kings were bad and that Hashem should be the only true leader over the nation of Israel. When you come to the land god has given you, so that you have occupied it and settled it you will eventually say, 'We would like to appoint a king, just like all the nations around us.' You must then appoint the king whom God your Lord shall choose. You must appoint a king from among your brethren; you may not appoint a foreigner

who is not one of your brethren. This is said in Devarim. G-D is telling the people of Israel that he will give them a king but not from the foreign land, and that the nation has to listen to the words of G-D. These are some reasons why kings are bad ideas for the Jewish nation.