Turn on the news and you’ll find no shortage of kings, strongmen and self-appointed rulers. There are currently 59 dictatorships in the world. Monarchies, where they still exist, are either ceremonial figureheads or hereditary dynasties passing power from father to son. The track record of one-person rule is, to put it mildly, not great.
So when Judaism describes Moshiach as a king, a supreme leader whose authority is absolute, it’s natural to raise an eyebrow. Another king? In the Middle East, no less?
But the Jewish idea of a king is something the world has never actually seen.
Before dismissing the idea entirely, it’s worth asking: how well is democracy actually working?
The Honest Case Against Democracy
Nobody argues that democracy is perfect. Politicians struggle to work for the long-term good of their constituents. To get elected they must pander to what’s popular at the moment, to the whims of media and interest groups. Politics attracts populists and demagogues. The will of the people, even when genuinely expressed, can be wrong. The fact that most people want something in no way guarantees that it is moral or correct.
As Winston Churchill famously put it: “Democracy is the worst form of government that man has ever devised, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
In other words: it’s the best we have. But it’s a workaround, not a solution.
But Can One Person Really Change the World?
Even if we accept that democracy is imperfect, the skeptic has another question: how can one individual transform the entire world order? Isn’t that simply impossible?
In 1963, a student posed exactly this challenge to the Lubavitcher Rebbe in a remarkable conversation. The Rebbe’s answer was characteristically direct:
“Many people feel unable to accept the idea of Moshiach. They cannot understand with human reason how Moshiach can come and transform the order of things around us… However in our times, so many changes take place in a day, or even in an hour or minute, that this is not difficult to accept. If someone makes a momentous discovery or invention he can change things quickly.
To put it more bluntly: If tomorrow morning a more powerful weapon than any other country possesses should be invented, it gives its inventor the power to dictate to all governments… They have no choice: they must accept his conditions.”
The student responded that it was fascinating to understand Moshiach as a natural concept, since people usually think of him in supernatural terms. The Rebbe replied:
“I also believe in Moshiach as supernatural. But people today find it hard to understand the supernatural. Maybe by understanding it in these terms, this will prepare the way for them to prepare themselves before he comes — and they will save Moshiach the job.”
At another point in the same conversation, a student asked the Rebbe whether he believed Moshiach would come within the next fifty years. The Rebbe’s response: “Much sooner! Don’t postpone it for so long!”
A Different Kind of King
The Jewish idea of a king is fundamentally different from anything history has produced. A Jewish king is not a power-monger exploiting the masses for his own ends. On the contrary, a king more than anyone else must conform to the Torah. He must carry a Sefer Torah with him at all times. He has more restrictions than a commoner, not fewer. And above all, he must be the most humble person in his kingdom.
Moshiach will be what a Jewish king is truly supposed to be: a leader with no personal agenda, no ego, no self-interest. His sole purpose is the fulfillment of G-d’s will and the wellbeing of his people.
Think of the relationship between a parent and a child. When a parent shows genuine love and devotion, even when he tells the child to do something the child doesn’t want to do, the child complies. Not out of fear, but because he knows, deep down, that the parent is acting entirely in his best interest. That is the relationship Moshiach will have with his people.
Or consider the relationship between the brain and the body. When the brain sends a signal to the arm, the arm doesn’t experience this as coercion. It simply moves. It is only when the limb fails to respond to the brain that something is wrong. Moshiach is the “head” of the Jewish people. Under his leadership, we will finally act in harmony with our own deepest will.
Why Does It Have to Be Human?
Here is where it gets interesting. If redemption is so crucial, if the world so desperately needs to be perfected, why not let G-d do it Himself? Why does it require a human being at all?
The answer lies in the very nature of the mission.
Think of a mortgage broker. A good broker understands the language of both the lender and the borrower. He can negotiate on behalf of both parties because he stands in the middle, connected to both worlds. Now imagine discovering that your broker is actually a secret employee of the bank. The whole arrangement collapses. A broker with a conflict of interest is no broker at all.
The mission of Moshiach, and indeed of every Jew, is to create a union between the world’s material reality and its spiritual truth. To marry Heaven and Earth. G-d, as it were, cannot do this alone. He represents one of the parties. An angel cannot do it either, as angels are purely spiritual beings with no stake in the physical world.
Only a human being can do it. We possess a soul that is “a part of G-d above,” yet that soul is clothed in a physical, corporeal body. We understand the language of both worlds. We are the perfect candidate for the task.
Moshiach is the ultimate expression of this. A flesh-and-blood human being, born of human parents, a direct descendant of King David. He undergoes real physical challenges: stress, opposition, the full weight of human experience. Yet his soul is of the highest order. He has nullified his ego entirely in service of the Divine will. He has a good take on both Heaven and Earth. Indeed, an honest broker.
Who Is He?
Moshiach will be a person of extraordinary qualities. The prophet Isaiah describes him: “The spirit of G-d will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of G-d.” His wisdom will exceed that of King Solomon. He will be a prophet of the highest order, second only to Moses. He will teach Torah at a level the world has never seen. The Midrash states that all the Torah learned in the present world will be as nothing compared to the Torah of Moshiach.
He will not need to perform miracles to prove himself. His leadership, his wisdom, his character will speak for themselves. All nations will recognize his greatness and submit willingly to his guidance.
He is not a supernatural figure. He is not coming from beyond the clouds. He is a human being, one of us, who will complete the mission that the entire Jewish people has been working toward since the very beginning.
The coming of Moshiach is closer than ever. Learn what you can do to bring it about.
More on this topic: Is Moshiach a Concept or a Person? | The Personality of Moshiach | The Skeptic and the Believer: Do We Need a King? | His Majesty, Moshiach