By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin in Pikesville, Maryland
The Hebrew original of the splendid Studies in the Book of Samuel is Malkhut Adam: Iyunim be-Sefer Shmuel (2021). The English translation was published in 2026. Both are very interesting and very informative, even mind-opening.
The author, Rabbi David Silber, is an important contemporary American Jewish educator and Tanakh teacher. He is best known as the founder and dean of the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, which he established in New York in 1979. Drisha was a pioneering institution in advanced Jewish learning for women and subsequently developed educational programs serving a much broader community. Silber has taught Tanakh for many years to students and adult learners in the United States and Israel.
Silber received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) of Yeshiva University. In 2000, he received the Covenant Award, which recognizes innovative excellence in Jewish education. He is also a nationally known lecturer on biblical narrative and Jewish liturgy.
Silber’s teaching is based on reading the biblical text carefully and asking what the narrative itself is trying to communicate. In an autobiographical essay, he describes his approach to Torah study as requiring “honesty, rigor, and commitment.” He says that serious Torah learning can give people another perspective on themselves and their world and can become “a call to action.”
Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz, and they have eight children. They live in New York City.
His specialty focuses on biblical narrative—how stories, characters, dialogue, repetition, conflict, and even small details contribute to the larger meaning of a biblical book. This makes Human Kingship another of his larger approaches to Jewish learning.
The Maggid Tanakh Companions are a series of books published by Maggid Books, an imprint of Koren Publishers Jerusalem. They are designed to help readers study important biblical figures, themes, and texts in greater depth while remaining accessible to readers who are not professional Bible scholars.
The series combines traditional Jewish interpretation with contemporary literary and scholarly approaches. The books do not simply proceed verse by verse as conventional commentaries often do. Instead, they examine characterization, literary structure, recurring themes, dialogue, narrative patterns, and the theological and ethical questions raised by the biblical text.
The result is something between a traditional commentary and a literary study. The goal is to make the biblical stories more understandable, interesting, and meaningful to contemporary readers.
The series includes studies of such subjects as Creation, Abraham, Jacob, Elijah, the Five Megillot, Ruth, Joshua, Ecclesiastes, and other biblical books and themes.
The principal books attributed to Rabbi David Silber are: “A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn” — published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2011. It is a commentary and guide to the Passover Haggadah. “For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther” — published by Koren Publishers in 2017. It is a study of the biblical Book of Esther. “Malkhut Adam: Iyunim be-Sefer Shmuel (Human Kingship: Studies in the Book of Samuel)” — originally published in Hebrew and subsequently published by Maggid in English. This English edition, “Human Kingship,” is 264 pages. The book examines the emergence and nature of kingship in the book of Samuel, especially through the stories of Samuel, Saul, and David.
Human Kingship is particularly significant because it brings Silber’s long experience teaching biblical narrative to a sustained study of one of the Bible’s most complicated political and moral subjects: human beings exercising political power.
The book differs from the preceding biblical book, Judges. During the period of the judges, just after Joshua brought the Israelites to Canaan, the original name of Israel, was a time of political and social fragmentation. Judges portrays a society in which Israel repeatedly falls into a cycle: improper behavior → oppression → repentance/cry for help → deliverance → renewed bad acts.
The book repeatedly describes Israel as lacking stable national leadership. Its famous concluding statement is: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The final chapters portray terrible social disorder, including civil war among the Israelite tribes. Thus, Judges leaves the reader with the impression that Israel desperately needs effective national leadership.
The Book of Samuel, which follows Judges, describes the emergence of kingship. Samuel begins in this atmosphere but does something much more complicated than simply saying, “Israel needs a king.” The book introduces Samuel, a prophet and judge; then Saul, Israel’s first king; and then David, Israel’s great king.
The crucial question becomes: Can human political power be exercised responsibly under God’s authority? That is precisely the question that interests Rabbi Silber.
Samuel therefore moves from the problem of anarchy and fragmentation in Judges to the problem of power and authority.
But the Bible does not present kingship as an uncomplicated solution. A king can bring unity, military security, justice, and national stability. Yet the king can also become arrogant, abuse his authority, forget God, and harm the people.
This is why Silber sees monarchy as the central issue of Samuel. He explains that the book repeatedly returns to kingship, exploring both the possibility of a righteous ruler and the dangers inherent in concentrated power.
In a sense, Judges asks: “What happens when there is inadequate leadership?” Samuel asks: “What happens when human beings receive enormous leadership power?”
The book of Kings, which follows Samuel, differs from Samuel. Samuel and Kings are closely connected but have different emphases.
Samuel concentrates primarily on the establishment of monarchy, especially the transition from the period of the judges to Saul and David and the development of David’s dynasty.
Kings begins with Solomon and then follows the history of the monarchy after David.
There is therefore a progression: Judges → Samuel → Kings. In Judges, Israel lacks stable national leadership. In Samuel, Israel establishes a monarchy; Saul and David demonstrate both the promise and the dangers of kingship. In Kings, the monarchy becomes an institution, divides into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and eventually collapses.
The book Samuel is therefore especially concerned with what a king is and what legitimate kingship ought to be. At the same time, Kings is more concerned with what happens to Israel when its kings and society repeatedly fail to live according to their obligations.
Rabbi Silber’s book contains several important lessons. 1. Political power is both necessary and dangerous. Kingship is neither simply good nor simply bad. Human government can produce great things, but concentrated authority creates enormous opportunities for abuse. The biblical stories of Saul and David demonstrate both sides.
A good ruler must recognize that power does not belong absolutely to him. The king is not God. He is not above morality, law, or accountability. Saul’s decline demonstrates what happens when a ruler becomes preoccupied with his own authority and reputation. David, despite his greatness, is also shown committing serious moral failures. The Bible therefore refuses to turn its heroes into flawless political saints.
Even a great king must be accountable. One of the most important episodes is Nathan’s confrontation with David after David’s sin involving Bathsheba and Uriah. David is the king, but Nathan can tell him, in effect, you have done wrong. That is an extraordinary biblical conception of government: the prophet stands above the king in the sense that moral truth stands above political authority.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.