By Rabbi Ben Kamin
SAN DIEGO –In this heady time of national decision, the Hebrew Scripture unhesitatingly calls for appropriate restraints on any king. It’s fair to say that the notion of “limited government” and “checks and balances” are not recent manifestations; they’re actually 3,000 years old and come straight out of Deuteronomy and, hopefully, are thrust directly into the Democratic and Republican platforms of 2012.
Both the incumbent president and his challenger have already spent more millions of dollars (primarily denigrating one another rather than inspiring the people) than at any time in history. If either of them has ever read this week’s democratic treatise in the Torah, he’d know that that our Hebrew ancestors were admonished to restrict the king’s largesse when it came to horses (read luxury vehicles), and to keep a personal copy of the Scripture close at hand—and another smack in the middle of their bank vault!
There is recognition in the early Bible that the Israelites would want to anoint a king, once they had settled in Israel and established themselves among the family of nations. Now, a king is not necessarily the same thing as a president or a prime minister. But the intent is the same: To establish a leader who is able to lead but not lose touch with the people led. Scripture’s language is rustic, perhaps, but telling nonetheless: A king shall not have too many horses.
Every late autumn, when I come to this eye-lifting admonition in the Jewish cycle of Scriptural readings—but especially in this election year—I’m struck by its old fashioned insight. A ruler with too many horses, or limousines, or airplanes, is a ruler at risk of losing touch. I’m amazed by how much wisdom and pragmatism is packed into this unlikely declaration about powerful men (and women) and realism. I’m hoping that the increasingly vocal and theologically righteous segment of our national political management is actually reading some lesser-known parts of the Bible.
Those holy-toting folks (of all parties) who politicize the electoral process of this good nation might want to read a couple of verses beyond the warning about the king with too many horses. The king is also warned “not to take too many wives for himself.” But not only that: The king is directed “not to take too much gold and silver for himself” and to keep not one, but two copies of Scripture around the palace.
This is the kind of Bible I’ll take with me to the ballot on November 6.
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Rabbi Kamin is a freelance writer based in San Diego. He may be contacted at ben.kamin@sdjewishworld.com