The ideal and the reality – an example from The Scriptures- part 1

There is always in our life a strong or big tension between what we wish for us, for our friends, for the world and between what is really happening, this tension between what we want and we get from our life is an old one , and in the scriptures there are a lot of examples that can describe it.

Whenever I am teaching in the class and asking my pupils what is the ideal thing to them, I am getting the universal answers about a peace between all the nations and the religions and tolerance in all the world, the lesson always ends with the fact that we want it but it is really hard to get it, and maybe like the movie this is mission impossible.

When the people of Israel are ready to enter to the promise land The Lord with the help of Moses gave them the last instruction among them is the situation that they want a king that will rule over them; this king off course is a person and not the real king, The Almighty!

Let us look at the words of the lord, but before we need to say that this not an obligation to the people of Israel to crown a king over them (they already have one!). So the scripture are saying to us in Deuteronomy 17: 14-20-

"כִּי-תָבֹא אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ, וִירִשְׁתָּהּ, וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ; וְאָמַרְתָּ, אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ, כְּכָל-הַגּוֹיִם, אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי. שׂוֹם תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בּוֹ: מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ, תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ--לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-אָחִיךָ הוּא. רַק, לֹא-יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ סוּסִים, וְלֹא-יָשִׁיב אֶת-הָעָם מִצְרַיְמָה, לְמַעַן הַרְבּוֹת סוּס; וַיהוָה, אָמַר לָכֶם, לֹא תֹסִפוּן לָשׁוּב בַּדֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה, עוֹד וְלֹא יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ נָשִׁים, וְלֹא יָסוּר לְבָבוֹ; וְכֶסֶף וְזָהָב, לֹא יַרְבֶּה-לּוֹ מְאֹד. וְהָיָה כְשִׁבְתּוֹ, עַל כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ--וְכָתַב לוֹ אֶת-מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת, עַל-סֵפֶר, מִלִּפְנֵי, הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם. וְהָיְתָה עִמּוֹ, וְקָרָא בוֹ כָּל-יְמֵי חַיָּיו--לְמַעַן יִלְמַד, לְיִרְאָה אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו, לִשְׁמֹר אֶת-כָּל-דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת-הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה, לַעֲשֹׂתָם. לְבִלְתִּי רוּם-לְבָבוֹ מֵאֶחָיו, וּלְבִלְתִּי סוּר מִן-הַמִּצְוָה יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול--לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים עַל-מַמְלַכְתּוֹ הוּא וּבָנָיו, בְּקֶרֶב יִשְׂרָאֵל"

"You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. You will take it as your own. You will settle down in it. When you do, you will say, "Let's appoint a king over us, just like all of the nations around us." When that happens, make sure you appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Don't appoint over you someone from another country. Don't choose anyone who isn't from one of the tribes of Israel The king must not get large numbers of horses for himself. He must not take the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The Lord has told you, "You must not go back there again." The king must not have a lot of wives. If he does, he will be led down the wrong path. He must not store up large amounts of silver and gold. When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must make himself a copy of the law I'm teaching you. He must write it on a scroll. He must copy it from the scroll of a priest, who is a Levite. The king must keep the scroll close to him at all times. He must read it all the days of his life. Then he can learn to have respect for the Lord his God. He can carefully follow all of the words of that law and those rules. He won't think of himself as being better than his people are. He won't turn away from the law. He won't turn to the right or the left. Then he and his sons after him will rule over his kingdom in Israel for a long time"

This is a semi-ideal situation. Though that the real king is known for us , the person that will replace him in the land need to be humble, he needs to see eye to eye and not be with arrogance or too much property. But my friends, the reality is different or we can say that the reality is like the reality shows in the T.V. - this is not the truth, it seems to be, but it's not. Next time we will face the reality.
To be continued....

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew   Transcription   Translation
מְצִיאוּת      mətsî'ût          Reality
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל   'am yisrā'el    The people of Israel
מָלַךְ           mālak           Ruled over
רָצוּי             rātsûy         Wanted
מָצוּי            mātsûy        existent

Eli@eteachergroup.com