Pensiero Ebraico su I Samuele 9:1

In my view it was this: they desired that the administration of justice between man and his neighbor be preponderantly in the hands of the king. This is the intent of the verse (I Samuel 8:4-5): "And all the elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel to Ramah, and they said to him: 'You have grown old, and your sons have not gone in your ways; now place a king over us to judge us as all the nations.'" I understand this as follows: The Jews saw societal good as being better served by a king than by judges. Therefore, they said: "You are old and cannot judge anymore, and your sons are not worthy of investing us with the Divine Immanence, for they do not walk in your ways. Therefore, it is fit that we have a king and that we be judged through him." This is the intent of "Place a king over us to judge us as all the nations." And they were greatly mistaken in this. For the sons of Samuel, though they were not so saintly as their father, were still not perverters of judgment, as stated by our sages of blessed memory (Sabbath 55b): "R. Shmuel b. Nachmani said in the name of R. Yonathan: 'All who say that the sons of Samuel sinned are greatly mistaken, as it is written (I Samuel 9:1-3): "And it was when Samuel became old… and his sons did not walk in his ways" — they did not walk in his [exceptionally saintly] ways, but they did not sin. How then, am I to understand (Ibid 2): "And they turned aside after profit, and they took bribes, and they perverted judgment"? They did not emulate the example of their father. For Samuel, the righteous one, would make the circuit of all the places of the Jews and judge them in their cities, as it is written (Ibid 7:16): "And he made the circuit of Beth-El, Gilgal, and Mitzpeh, and he judged Israel." But his sons did not do thus, but sat in their cities in order to increase the income of their deputies and scribes.'" And since they did not, for all of this, pervert judgment [in the literal sense], their judging of the Jews in accordance with the Torah would still have resulted in Israel's being invested with the Divine Immanence, but the Jews at that time gave greater priority to governmental considerations. If they had simply asked "Place a king over us," or if they had specifically requested a king to lead them in their wars, there would be no sin in this, but, to the contrary, it would be a mitzvah. Their sin lay in asking: "Place a king over us to judge us as all of the nations," the judgment to come from the king and not from the judges of the Torah. This interpretation is substantiated by Samuel's reaction (Ibid 8:6): "And it was evil in Samuel's eyes when they said: 'Give us a king to judge us.'" It is not simply written "Give us a king," for if they had said only this, it would not be evil in his eyes. What disturbed him was "to judge us." and because of this G-d said to Samuel (Ibid 7): "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected My rule over them." That is, they prefer natural government to Divine Immanence.'"