Recently, there was celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, an historic event in more ways than the obvious. Where else has there ever been a nation, without land, scattered across the globe that was able to survive for more than a thousand years only to reestablish itself as a sovereign nation-state once again? If there are other examples, I cannot recall them. Like almost every other nation on earth, Israel was once a monarchy and an extremely influential one at that. The tradition of "sacred monarchy" for Christians, for example, comes more from the ancient Jewish kings than almost any other source. What about today? There are still Jewish monarchists who want to see the Kingdom of Israel restored along with the rest of their ancient traditions. I cannot help but feel that part of the reason they are given so little attention in the western media is because of the implications for other religions. When it comes to the Holy Land, the slightest twitch is enough to upset the world. However, they do exist and have been hard at work for many years trying to revive the Davidic monarchy of the Old Testament. The most prominent Israeli monarchist is Rabbi Yosef Dayan, recognized by most as the closest living blood heir of King David and thus most likely candidate for the throne. He is the founder and leader of the monarchist organization
Malchut-Yisra'el. In 2005 the Jerusalem Post commented on the efforts to
recall the Sanhedrin to proclaim a king. Efforts to
revive the Sanhedrin are not new, but they seem more lasting in recent years and focus on such projects as a full restoration of traditional Jewish government, law, the House of David and the Temple. Rabbi Yosef Dayan is a member of the restored Sanhedrin.
I'm curious about what Israeli monarchists are willing to stand for in regards to limits on the King's power. I know Christian monarchs have a sacred character, but they don't have anything as close as the divine institution that the House of David has.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine modern Israelis accepting anything other than the most toothless constitutional monarch, but at the same time I can't imagine Israeli monarchists settling for anything less than an absolute monarch.
There is a vast great distance between the religiously orthodox monarchists and the secular political authorities -no doubt about it. The monarchists, for the most part from what I have seen, cannot imagine a ceremonial king only. They are pushing for a total revival of the God-centered Jewish state, restoration of the temple and sacrificial worship and the whole nine yards. Not something the current political establishment would ever tolerate.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the New Testament have to say on the topic?
ReplyDeleteThere's the problem of finding a descendant of the House of David - or maybe that should be PICKING a descendant of the House of David since that's probably all ten or so million of us by now.
ReplyDeleteBesides the kings didn't work out that well for us. The Lord is our only King. Judges were our original form of government.
Actually, the problem wasn't appointing a king. The problem was that they did it to be like all the other nations. Since the current trend is away from absolute monarchy, appointing a descendent of King David as king would set Israel apart, and so be the proper thing to do. But it won't happen. God choses Israel's monarchs, and prophets have been in short supply these past few millennia. However a law saying the President must be of the Royal House would have plenty of precedence.
DeleteThe problem is finding a member of the House of David - or rather Selecting just one of the undoubtedly multitudinous descendants of David. Besides kings didn't work out so good for us. Remember God only appointed one because we kept whining that everybody else had a king!
ReplyDeleteWell, your god is different than mine then. Mine doesn't let mere mortals boss Him around or give in to whiners.
DeleteThis is interesting but how can Rabbi Yosef Dayan who wants to also re-institute the Sanhedrin and at this most rightly be the High Priest a most important position in the land of Israel. The nation-state of Israel was unique in that it was the first nation-state to separate the responsibilities and the positions of the priesthood and the royal house. The High Priest and only the High Priest had the priviledge and responsibility to enter the Holy of Holies and conduct the most important of rituals during the festival of Yom Kippur. The king had the responsibility that acted as a combined judge from the remaing 11 tribes. I pray that if it is G-d's will then Israel will have a king.
ReplyDeleteSeems like being king of the Jews would be like herding cats.
ReplyDelete