136 | Martin Buber’s Theopolitics
Historically considered, this means the rule of the spirit through the persons
charismatically induced and authorized as the situation warrants; its rule on
the basis of the just laws issued in the name of the spirit. The entire conception
of this royal Covenant, which aims at being all-embracing, is only possible
when and because the God who enters into the Covenant is just and wishes to
introduce a just order into the human world.... The just law of the just Melek
is there in order to banish the danger of “Bedouin” anarchy, which threatens
all freedom with God. The unrestrained instinct of independence of the Se-
mitic nomads, who do not wish to permit anybody to rise above them and
to impose his will upon them, finds its satisfaction in the thought that all the
Children of Israel are required to stand in the same direct relation to YHVH;
but it achieves restraint through the fact that YHVH himself is the promulga-
tor and guardian of the law. Both together, the kingship of God as the power
of His law over human beings and as the joy of the free in His rule, achieve
expression in the ideal image of Israel which is found in an old lyric utterance
attributed to the heathen prophet Balaam: “One beholds no trouble in Jacob
and melek jubilation is in him.” YHVH the “Present One,” is really present
among his people, who therefore proclaim him as their Melek.^46This whirl of prepositions offers many insights into Buber’s theopolitics. Rule
of the spirit, through the charisma, on the basis of the just laws, which are over
human beings, who will not allow any other mere humans to be above them or
lay things upon them; freedom is with God, the joy of the free in his rule. The
relation of overness and aboveness is clearly reserved for YHVH and prohibited
to humans, but this does not mean that the relation to YHVH is defined only by
overness and aboveness. It is also a with-relation, and an in-relation, specifically
when the subject of freedom is mentioned. The freedom of YHVH makes pos-
sible and guarantees the freedom of Israel, and thus the rule of YHVH has just
freedom as its telos.
Against the Contradiction
Just as important as the struggle with Egypt is the one between Moses and those
within Israel who resist his vision and program. Occasionally, these tendencies
manifest as simply a continuation of the struggle with Egypt, a failure to convey
his vision. At other times, however, unique challenges arise as a result of Moses’
success. These challenges outwardly conform to the new order by accepting the
rule of YHVH, and because of this they may be even more dangerous than the
desire to return to the fleshpots of Egypt. Buber often sees such misunderstand-
ings as a failure to grasp the meaning of freedom with God, the difficult dialectic
of the yoke of heaven.
The general unfaithfulness of the people Israel is manifest in both their stub-
born resistance and their spectacular bursts of rebellion. The “murmuring” in
the desert stands for the “stiff-necked” nature of the people, while the golden calf