152 | Martin Buber’s Theopolitics
theory. Kingship of God was part of a discourse on sacred kingship taking place
in anthropology and the history of religions; that discourse admittedly had great
political resonance. But the primary topic of The Anointed—I Samuel and the
founding of the monarchy in Israel—is second to no scriptural text, except pos-
sibly Romans 13, in its significance for political theory in Christian countries.
Interpretations of 1 Samuel have varied widely throughout history, and differing
interpretations have yielded myriad theories of state legitimation, all claiming
scriptural warrant.^4 Long-standing debates on nearly every point of 1 Samuel 8
show that even small differences in interpretation beget wide political repercus-
sions. And the chapter is filled with gaps and difficulties: What is Samuel’s office
when the elders come to him requesting a king? Why is he the “address” for such
a request? Why are Samuel’s sons mentioned? What role had he attempted to
assign them? Why does the failure of Samuel’s house lead to the request for an
entirely new constitution of society, rather than the replacement of his house in
its current office? What does God mean when he characterizes the request for a
king as a rejection of his own kingship? Why, if both Samuel and God disapprove
of the elders’ request, does God tell Samuel to grant it anyway? What is the na-
ture of the mishpat ha-melekh (“law or rule of the king”) that Samuel reads to the
people? Is it intended to enumerate royal prerogatives, or to dissuade the people
from their course? Why, when the people reaffirm their desire for a king against
Samuel’s warning (“you shall become his slaves”), does he simply send the people
home? All these questions pertain to chapter 8 alone, before Saul even enters the
narrative, bringing along entirely new contradictions and problems.
To these exegetical questions we must add a number of biblical-critical con-
cerns: is the book of Samuel a coherent work, and if so, what is its position on the
events it narrates?^5 If not, is it possible to pinpoint which sections date to ancient
Israelite factions (pro-Saulid, pro-Davidic, “Deuteronomist”)? Who are the final
editors of the work, and what is their ideological stance? Are they exilic Deuter-
onomists animated by hatred of the monarchy, or preexilic figures with a more
sympathetic attitude toward the follies of the kings? Although these questions
may be of merely antiquarian interest, Buber felt compelled to answer them, in
order to uncover the true theopolitical history of Israel and to gain for this his-
tory the recognition he thought it was due in contemporary thought and politi-
cal life.
The Anointed thus serves two purposes. First, it was intended to be the mid-
dle part of the trilogy Das Kommende and to narrate the transformation of the
direct theocracy into the indirect through the concept of anointing, while point-
ing forward to the prophetic period and the eschatologization of the messianic
idea. In the process, however, Buber also attempts to answer one of the greatest
challenges posed by Scripture to his understanding of the history and faith of
Israel, namely the apparent divine sanction of the monarchy with its attendant
political and cultic centralization. His philosophical and historical probity pre-