In Moses’ final blessing on Israel, one can find the following words:
“When Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob. Thus the LORD became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.” (Deuteronomy 33:4-6)
A very interesting and unusual explanation for these biblical verses can be found in the words of a 19th century rabbi, who lived in Central Europe and was highly influenced by the new political changes defining Europe at the turn of the 19th century.
This rabbi characterized the THREE tiered ruling system of Europe: the first is by an all mighty king (monarchy), the second is by a small number of leaders (representatives of the public – via parliament) and the third is the people’s rule (direct democracy).
Then, he continued and matched those ruling systems with what is written in the verses above: the ‘king in Jeshurun’ refers to monarchy while ‘the heads of the people were gathered’ refers to the representatives in the parliament, and finally ‘all the tribes of Israel together’ refers to direct democracy.
The lesson one can learn, according to this rabbi, is that ALL forms of the common ruling systems are based on the BIBLICAL LAW ‘when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob…’