June 8, 2010
A mystical, political proposal to restore the Davidic throne in Israel?
The City University of New York (“the poor man’s Harvard”) is traditionally better known for Marxists than for mystics — or monarchists. Clearly there has been an interesting turn of events. Emeritus professor and Jewish theologian Michael Wyschogrod has put forward a bold proposal for “a dramatic solution to Israel’s constitutional dilemma”: the restoration of the Throne of David.
Did I get that right? The essay (“A King in Israel”) appears in full in the May 2010 issue of the serious journal of ideas known as First Things (though only subscribers get full access), and you can judge it for yourself. At first glance, it seems an idea that would only further inflame tensions in the region and make allegiance impossible for Israel’s non-Jewish citizens. On the other hand, the writer argues that only an essentially mystical and historical arrangement of this kind can reconcile the otherwise irreconcilable. He explains:
The crowning of an actual Davidic monarch today would require prophecy to select the proper person. In the absence of prophecy, this is impossible… Israel can nonetheless be declared a Davidic monarchy without a reigning king…
The solution that I propose is by no means unusual for a constitutional monarchy. It is a common occurrence in monarchy that no king is present or that the present king cannot rule, for example due to youth. In such situations, a regent is appointed [or elected] as a placeholder for a king…
Collateral benefits might ensue from such a declaration. For example, the fact that several Arab countries are monarchies (including Israel’s eastern neighbor) raises the prospect that a Davidic monarchy in Israel might elicit a certain degree of respect.
Your thoughts? It’s hard to say whether Israel’s Muslim citizens, for example, would feel more comfortable giving their allegiance to a Regent representing the temporal aspects of the historic Throne of David than to an Israeli president underpinned by a council of rabbinic scholars (an alternative the writer touches on). It’s true that in European history, kings and their subjects didn’t always share the same faith, and it worked all right. Until 1918, the staunchly Lutheran citizens of Saxony had no difficulty supporting (and even liking) their Catholic kings. Whether this can work in the Middle East, I have no idea.
This recalls Cardinal Newman’s quip that the trouble with mysticism is that it begins in mist and ends in schism.
My candidate for the Davidian throne would be the King of Jordan.
It is clear that the Davidic line, represented by the heirs of the Solomonic dynasty (bearing in mind that King Solomon was the son of King David) would be first in line, legitimately, for a revived Crown of Israel. The only known heirs of this line are those of the Ethiopian dynasty, and the present President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, which represents the Ethiopian Crown in Exile, is His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I.
Prince Ermias benefits from the fact that he is both of the Solomonic/Davidic bloodline, but is also, as a result of a marriage in his family several generations ago, a “Sharif”, a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
Moreover, even the Israeli courts confirmed the fact that Emperor Haile Selassie’s property in Israel, which had been occupied by Israeli Government departments after the Emperor’s murder, was the property of the Emperor’s grandsons, including Prince Ermias, a fitting link between the modern descendants of King Solomon and King David and the current State of Israel.
Few candidates for the Throne of Israel could come close to “ticking all the boxes” in the fashion that Prince Ermias does. And you can read all the details on him and the Solomonic line, in “Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God”, my book on the subject.
Concerning the Davidic Dyansty: Who is Elyaqiym son of Chilqiyahuw?
Whose son is he?
Please look at Isaiah 22
The Davidic Dynasty!
In deed, “There is a time and a season for every thing under the Sun”.
Thus saith thee Creator YHAH TSABA EL-SHADDY, I have spoken to the prophets and revealed in visions to my servants.
The QODESH ONE have chosen and anointed a young man from the house of David; to be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
And the key of the house of David I have lay upon his shoulder! Now therefore I, Elyaqiym son of Chilqiyahuw (Eliakim son of Hilkiah) By virtue of the sovereignty vested in me by thee Creator of heaven and earth.
I do heraby proclaim to all the children of Jerusalem-Yisrael, Judah and all people and nations that love and worship YHAH EL-SHADDY of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.
Henceforth, let us worship our Heavenly Father in truth and with understanding, and cease all pandemonium.
If you revolt against my words, I will uncover your nakedness, consume your pride and you shall perish in your sins.
Then, I will create a new generation and give them the land to possessed it and live in peace.
Elyaqiym