In Parshat Shoftim, the melekh (often translated into English as “king”) is commanded to write a second Torah scroll for his own use, in addition to the scroll that every Israelite man is required to write (at least according to the Rambam and the Beit Yosef).
“And it will be, when he sits on his throne, let him write this second Torah on a scroll, before the Kohanim, the Leviim.” (D’varim 17:18)
If the goal is simply for the melekh to read the Torah twice, it would be enough for him to possess one Torah scroll. We must therefore conclude that the two scrolls have two unique functions.
The first is the same as the task of the Torah scroll of each Israelite man, which links a person to the halakha. It describes what is required for each individual to live a life of kedusha. In order to know what the Creator wants of him, an Israelite must turns to the Kohanim and the Leviim (and today to the rabbis) so that they will interpret the Written Torah in accordance with the Oral Torah.
The purpose of the second Torah scroll, however, is to teach the melekh his political role. More specifically, it should should guide him in leading the nation. He writes this Torah “before the Kohanim and the Leviim.”
The difference between the halakhic legal reading and the kingly reading of the Torah can be clearly seen through the example of the Judean King Amatzia (see Melakhim II 14:6 & Divrei HaYamim II 25:4).
Amatzia understood the verse “Let fathers not be killed because of their sons” (D’varim 24:16) very differently from our sages in the Talmud, who interpret it to mean that relatives cannot testify against one another.
Amatzia, by contrast, interpreted this verse as a guiding command to the melekh dictating that he not to kill the relatives of those who revolt against his kingship.
We can say that a melekh would like to find the history of his reign in the Torah scroll, in a way that corresponds to the Ḥassidic interpretation of the verse, “Let him keep it with him and he will read it all the days of his life” (D’varim 17:19) – that the king would literally read about the days of his own life in the scroll itself.
Thus, the goal of the melekh is to continue the historical record of the Torah through his own actions and the story of his kingdom – something more important for the nation as a whole than the individual rituals performed by each of the kingdom’s citizens.
In our Torah, this approach of the melekh is called “yirat HaShem” (“fear or awe of HaShem”).
“So that he will learn to fear HaShem His G-d.” (D’varim 17:19)
The same is true of the mitzva of “Hak’hel” – the purpose of gathering the nation to hear the melekh read from the Torah is to cause yira.
“And they will fear HaShem your G-d.” (31:12)
What we see here is a new understanding of the concept of “yirat HaShem.” While the generic approach to “yirat HaShem” centers the idea of an individual person correcting their own personal behavior, the Torah sees the “yirat HaShem” as a national phenomenon, seen through the Divine hand guiding Israel’s national life and international relations.
Our generation, which experiences Divine revelation through the State of Israel and its affairs, has the privilege of returning to the original concept of of “yirat HaShem” that had faded during our exile.
This more authentic approach, expressed by the Torah of the melekh, centers how the Creator guides the kingdoms of the world, using the Israeli nation to ultimately bring universal redemption to humanity.
