Introduction -- Chap. 1. Three approaches to kingship in Israel. Direct theocracy: God is the king -- Royal theology: the king is God -- Limited monarchy: the king is not God -- Chap. 2. Rabbinic literature: the law of the king. The commandment of the king -- Three commandments -- The law of the kingdom in the Book of Samuel -- Limitations on the king -- The king and war -- Separation between monarchy and priesthood -- Anointing -- Chap 3. Rabbinic literature: the king and the law. The king does not judge, nor is he judged -- Before you my judgment shall come forth -- The king's subjugation to the Torah -- Chap. 4. Limited monarchy in Tannaitic halakhah: reasons and context. That his fear shall be upon you -- Royal theology and the image of God -- Chapter 5. Echoes of direct theocracy and of royal theology in the aggadah -- Chap. 6. The sages' understanding of monarchy in light of their own political situation.
Summary
Subordinated King studies the conception of kingship, and its status, powers and authority in Talmudic literature. The book deals with the conception of kingship against the background of the different approaches to kingship both in Biblical literature and in the political views prevalent in the Roman Empire. In the Bible one finds three (exclusive) approaches to kingship: rejection of the king as a legitimate political institution - since God is the (political) king; a version of royal theology according to which the king is divine (or sacral); and a view that God is not a political king yet the king has no divine or sacral dimension. The king is flesh and blood; hence his authority and power are limited. He is a 'subordinated king'. Subordinated King is the first book to offer a comprehensive study of kingship in Talmudic literature and its biblical (and contemporary) background. The book offers a fresh conceptual framework that sheds new light on both the vast minutia and the broad picture.
