Sanhedrin - Daf 20
- The law of a king regarding a relative’s levaya, and Dovid’s conduct by Avner’s levaya
The next Mishnah states that if a king’s close relative dies, אינו יוצא מפתח פלטרין שלו – he may not leave his palace’s entrance to join the funeral procession. Rebbe Yehudah says if he wants to follow the bier, he may, because we find that Dovid followed Avner’s bier at his levaya. The Chochomim respond that Dovid did so only לפייס את העם – to placate the people who suspected his involvement in Avner’s killing.
In a Baraisa, the Tanna Kamma says that where the custom is for women to walk behind the bier, they do so, and where the custom is for them to walk in front of it, they do so. Rebbe Yehudah says they always walk in front, because we find that Dovid walked behind Avner’s bier, which he would not have done if the women walked there. However, the Chochomim again respond that he did so to placate the people: שהיה דוד יוצא מבין האנשים ונכנס לבין הנשים – because Dovid would go out from among the men and go among the women to placate them as well, and then go from the women to the men to placate them.
- Powers of the king, machlokes about those listed in Shmuel
The next Mishnah states that a king may wage a discretionary war with Sanhedrin’s consent, ופורץ לעשות לו דרך ואין ממחה בידו – and he may break through someone’s fences to make himself a path to his fields, and no one may protest against him. The king’s path has no size limitations. The king chooses his share of the spoils of war first (a Baraisa teaches he is entitled to half). In Sefer Shmuel, the king’s powers are listed, such as compulsory service, confiscation of property, and levying taxes. Shmuel says: כל האמור בפרשת מלך מלך מותר בו – everything mentioned in the parshah of the king is permitted for the king. Rav says that the king is not entitled to these powers; לא נאמרה פרשה זו אלא לאיים עליהם – this parshah was only said to make them afraid of the king, as the passuk says: "שום תשים עליך מלך" – you shall surely place a king over you, teaching: שתהא אימתו עליך – that the fear [of the king] should be upon you. This machlokes parallels a machlokes Tannaim.
- If appointing a king is a mitzvah, and the propriety of those who requested a king
In a Baraisa, Rebbe Yehudah says: שלש מצות נצטוו ישראל בכניסתן לארץ – Yisroel was commanded in three mitzvos to be performed upon entering Eretz Yisroel: (1) to appoint a king, (2) to destroy the descendants of Amalek, (3) and to build the Beis Hamikdash. [In another Baraisa below, Rebbe Yose says these mitzvos must be performed in this specific order.] Rebbe Nehorai says: לא נאמרה פרשה זו אלא כנגד תרעומתן – this parshah of appointing a king was only said in response to [the nation’s] complaints, as the passuk says that they would say in the future: "ואמרת אשימה עלי מלך וגו'" – “I will place upon myself a king like all the nations around me.” Rebbe Eliezer says: זקנים שבדור כהוגן שאלו – the elders in [Shmuel’s] generation asked properly for a king when they said: "תנה לנו מלך לשפטנו" – give us a king to judge us. אבל עמי הארץ שבהן קלקלו – But the simpletons among them ruined the request when they said: "והיינו גם אנחנו ככל הגוים ושפטנו מלכנו ויצא לפנינו" – and we shall also be like all the nations, and our king will go before us.
