Introduction: Five Verses on the Attributes of Kings
In chapter 16 of Mishlei, there is a series of verses dealing with the attributes of kings and judgment. Rabbeinu Yonah notes this: Shlomo, peace be upon him, composed five verses concerning the traits of kings - "A divine verdict is on the lips of a king," "It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness," "Righteous lips are the delight of kings," "A king's wrath is as messengers of death," "In the light of a king's countenance is life." In this lesson, we will focus on the first two verses of this series: verse 10, which deals with the divine assistance in a king's judgment, and verse 11, which addresses the balance and scales of judgment belonging to the Holy One, Blessed be He.
"A Divine Verdict is on the Lips of a King" - Three Approaches
קֶסֶם עַל שִׂפְתֵי מֶלֶךְ בְּמִשְׁפָּט לֹא יִמְעַל פִּיו׃ (י) - A divine verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not err in judgment. (10)
Rashi explains that this refers to the lips of a sage sitting in judgment: there is a kind of divine inspiration, something supernatural, in which the Holy One, Blessed be He, assists him so that his mouth does not err in judgment. Rabbeinu Yonah explains that this refers to an actual king: it is as if there is a supernatural insight upon the king's lips enabling him to discern the litigants - who speaks the truth and who speaks falsehood. The king possesses a wondrous ability by which he distinguishes between the sides, and through this "his mouth does not err in judgment" - he does not render a fraudulent verdict.
A King Who is Not Bound by Judicial Rules
To understand this, an introduction provided by the Malbim is necessary: A king is not obligated to judge strictly according to the formal rules of the judicial system; rather, he can judge according to what he deems appropriate. The Malbim uses this to explain the story of the poor man's ewe lamb: When the prophet arrived and asked David what the judgment of that man should be, David replied, "He deserves to die," and also, "He shall restore the lamb fourfold." Yet we have never heard of someone who stole a sheep being subject to the death penalty, for monetary offenses do not carry capital punishment; furthermore, even if there were a death penalty here, the principle of *kam lei b'drabbah minei* applies - meaning that when a person's single act incurs both death and monetary restitution, only the greater punishment is administered, not the lesser one. However, David was a king, and when a king sees a need to execute justice, he may render a verdict beyond what the strict law dictates, and also outside standard procedural rules. In a beit din, witnesses and evidence are required, but a king can rule even without them.
In connection with that term, it is told that the Chazon Ish used to test the students at Yeshivat Tiferet Tzion in Bnei Brak. Once, he asked a student the meaning of *kam lei b'drabbah minei*. The student thought for a moment and said: When the Rav enters, when the gadol enters, one must stand before him - *kam lei b'drabbah minei* (punning on "stand before the greater one"). The Chazon Ish said to the rebbe: He hasn't learned the material, but he possesses great talent! Someone who can pull out such an innovative explanation on the spot demonstrates sharp thinking and out-of-the-box creativity, and he has the potential to become an original Torah innovator.
How Can a King Judge Righteously Without Judicial Rules?
Now, if a king is not bound by procedural rules, how does he arrive at the truth? To this, the verse says: "A divine verdict is on the lips of a king." First, the sheer experience of standing before the king grips a person with fear and awe, and he is terrified of lying. Second, the king was a figure whose favor everyone sought and whom everyone courted; consequently, nothing remained hidden from him - the king knew everything. It was similar under the regime in Soviet Russia: out of sheer terror, everyone rushed to inform on one another, while their fellow was doing the exact same thing at another hour and informing on them, so through fear of the government, they knew everything about everyone.
A proof of this comes from Scripture: "Even in your thought, do not curse a king" - why? "For a bird of the air shall carry the voice." Beware, the king knows everything, and someone will always be found to deliver the message. Similarly, regarding the man whom Yoav sent to strike down Avshalom, who refused and said: "I would have dealt falsely against my own life, for nothing is hidden from the king." The king knows everything; no secret is concealed from him. Therefore, there is a sort of supernatural insight on his lips so that his mouth does not err in judgment: because people fear lying in his presence, and because there will always be those who reveal to him exactly what took place and how it occurred.
David, Tziva, and Mefiboshet - A King Who Erred in Judgment
And what if they succeed in deceiving the king after all? We indeed find a king who erred in judgment. Tziva, the servant of Mefiboshes, came to David and told him that Mefiboshes was among those rebelling against him, that he rejoiced in Avshalom's rebellion and was waiting for the kingship to return to him. Following that lashon hara, David commanded that all of Mefiboshes's land be transferred to Tziva. Afterward, Mefiboshes came and said: My servant tricked me; I asked him to saddle the donkey for me so that I could go greet David, but he fled and abandoned me. However, David had already accepted the lashon hara, and out of doubt he ruled: "You and Tziva shall divide the field." The Gemara says that at that moment a Heavenly voice (bas kol) went forth and proclaimed: Rechavam and Yarov'am shall divide the kingdom. That is to say: You perverted justice, you accepted lashon hara; what Tziva said was a lie and Mefiboshes spoke the truth, yet you still decreed an undeserved division - therefore your grandson Rechavam will divide the monarchy with Yarov'am ben Nevat.
From here we see that there can be a situation where a king falls into error. But Rabbeinu Yonah says: If up until this point justice has not come to light, Hashem Yisborach, Who enthroned the king, puts into his heart the ability to discern the deceiver's claims and does not allow him to stumble. David was an exceptional case, but normally, the king receives Heavenly assistance (siyata diShmaya) to judge in accordance with the law and not err in his judgment and ruling.
The Vilna Gaon: "Who Are Kings? The Rabbis"
The Vilna Gaon explains that the king's speech is like divination: even if people deceive him, the Holy One, blessed be He, places the right words in his mouth so that he will render a true judgment, and this is "his mouth will not betray judgment." And as is his way, he adds that this is also an allegory: "Who are kings? The Rabbis" - their lips are like divination. Even if you present the chacham with a question containing an error, and according to that error he ought to have ruled incorrectly for you, Hashem aids him so that his judgment remains true. The answer may not be correct for the theoretical question you asked, since you did not describe the case accurately, but it is correct for the case that actually occurred - and from Heaven he was given the wisdom and discernment to answer according to the reality.
The Episode in Tractate Gittin
The Vilna Gaon brings an example from the Gemara in Gittin 77b: "A certain terminally ill man (shechiv mera) wrote a get for his wife toward the onset of Shabbat, but did not manage to hand it to her." A shechiv mera - meaning a dying man - wrote a bill of divorce for his wife before the start of Shabbat and did not manage to give it to her. Why was a get needed at all? After all, if he dies, she is automatically permitted to remarry, and on the contrary, a get forbids her to a kohen! The reason was to ensure that she would not fall to yibum (levirate marriage) if he had no children with her; yibum can cause a great impediment, and sometimes the brother-in-law is a minor and she becomes an agunah of sorts awaiting yibum (shomeret yavam), which is a great hardship for her. And since even after yibum or chalitzah she cannot marry a kohen anyway, the get causes her no loss.
"The next day his illness overpowered him" - on the following day his sickness worsened and they saw the end was near. "They came before Rava" - they came and asked: The get is ready but has not been delivered, and on Shabbat it cannot be moved because it is muktzeh; what can be done? "He said to them: Go tell him to transfer ownership of the place where the get is resting to her, and let her go and lock and open and acquire it through an act of possession (chazakah), as we learned: If one locked, fenced, or breached in any amount, this constitutes a chazakah." In other words, let the husband transfer ownership of the room where the get lies to her, and once she acquires the room, she also acquires the get inside it through kinyan chatzer, which is considered "and he places it in her hand" - for "her hand" is not literal; her courtyard also suffices. And how will she acquire the room? She can take a key and lock it, for locking, fencing, or breaching constitutes an act of possession - and thereby she acquires the room along with the get and is divorced.
"Rav Ilesh said to Rava: Whatever a woman acquires, her husband acquires!" An enormous difficulty: the woman acquires the room, but whatever a married woman acquires automatically reverts to the husband - and if so, the room and the get inside it immediately revert to the husband, so what did the get achieve? "He was abashed" - Rava was embarrassed, as he had no answer. "In the end, it was revealed that she was betrothed (arusah)" - in the end it turned out that this woman was only an arusah, and whatever an arusah acquires, her betrothed does not acquire! An arusah in their days was fully sanctified (mekudeshet) through betrothal, requiring a get to release her, yet her property does not belong to her betrothed; thus, when the husband transfers ownership of the room to her, it does not revert to him. It turns out that Rava ruled correctly - even though according to the question as presented, his ruling would have been in error. You learn from this: Heaven assists the sage to hit upon the correct ruling for the actual case, rather than for the erroneous presentation of the question.
In truth, the Gemara concludes that this works even for a fully married woman (nesu'ah), for a reason similar to the emancipation of a slave: A Canaanite slave is freed through a bill of emancipation (get shichrur), and seemingly, whatever a slave acquires belongs to his master, so the second he receives the get, it should immediately revert to his master, leaving him with no legal "hand" to receive it! The Gemara answers: "His get and his hand arrive simultaneously." If we view it as a sequential process starting at step A and ending at step B, we would indeed face a problem: if he received the get, through what did he become a free man? Through the get. And until he becomes a free man, how could he receive the get? He has no independent hand. Rather, it happens concurrently: at the very same instant the get creates his legal hand, and at that very instant he receives it and is freed.
Heavenly Assistance Against Stumbling
A story is told about an early sage, and some tell it about Rav Ovadia Yosef: A certain man wanted to bring him down and prove that he had permitted a married woman to remarry. They brought testimonies claiming her husband had died, and the rabbi permitted this agunah to marry, though her husband was alive and well. They wanted to expose: Look, he permitted a married woman to marry! And it is related that her husband was waiting for her in a car, but when she came downstairs, she saw that there was no breath of life left in him - the man had died. This is not an absolute promise, as such a guarantee was stated primarily regarding non-kosher food, but there is Heavenly assistance for a judge and a Torah sage so that he will not stumble in something that brings disgrace - like divination on the lips of a king, "Who are kings? The Rabbis," whose mouth does not betray judgment.
And since we mentioned matters of sages erring: It is told that the Rav of Brisk was once traveling by train with a group of students, and a Christian sat near them and began arguing that that man was the messiah. The students said to him: The debate is pointless - the Sages of Israel lived at that very time, unlike us who discuss it two thousand years later, and they saw with their own eyes everything you recount; not only were they unimpressed, but they ruled that he was liable to the death penalty. He countered: The Sages of Israel made mistakes, and here is the proof - Rabbi Akiva erred regarding Bar Kochba, thinking he was the messiah, and in the end he turned out to be Bar Koziva! The students' arguments were silenced, and they did not know what to reply. At that moment, the Brisker Rav stirred and turned to that disputant: How do you know Rabbi Akiva was mistaken? He replied: Because in the end he died! The Rav said to him: If so, you too agree that a messiah who ultimately dies is not the messiah - and that man was hanged and died! And the disputant was left speechless.
The Malbim's Explanation: Lips versus Mouth, and What Is "His Mouth Shall Not Transgress"
The Malbim establishes a rule that he maintains throughout the entire book: there is a difference between "lips" (sefatayim) and "mouth" (peh), and this difference mirrors physical reality - the lips are external, while the mouth is internal. Therefore, "lips" indicate external speech, which is not necessarily words of wisdom, while "mouth" alludes to internal, thoughtful speech rooted in wisdom and deeper matters.
As for a king - whatever he utters with his lips, even if spoken without deep thought or contemplation, immediately sparks speculation, interpretations, and conjectures: What did he mean? What can be read between the lines? Rivers of ink have been spilled over casual remarks made by people of stature. If this is true of an ordinary prominent figure, it is all the more so with a king. "The Prime Minister said all options are on the table" - what did he mean? Is an attack expected in a week? "The army is more prepared than ever" - and may Hashem save us from such "preparedness," for every time investigative reports emerge, we see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu alone saves us from their hands, that it is only Hashem's kindness that He is with us. These investigations usually surface only after the flood, just as the fire department is "prepared" and the hospitals are "prepared" - the familiar Israeli reliance on "rely-on-me": it will be fine, Hashem will help, nothing will happen, and there won't even be an investigative committee.
Based on this, the Malbim explains: Kesem denotes divination or guesswork, as in "he did not go as at other times to seek divinations" (nechashim), where people try to guess and conjecture. "Divination is on the lips of a king" - people constantly guess and theorize about the king's external speech, trying to decipher what lies behind his words. He is therefore warned: "His mouth shall not transgress in judgment" - when you issue a legal verdict or state policy, make sure your words are clear and definitive, not open to interpretations where people can hang empty theories and concoct all kinds of unwarranted meanings.
Me'il and Me'ilah, Beged and Begidah - Garment and Betrayal
And what is the meaning of yim'al ("transgress" or "betray")? The Malbim notes a fascinating insight: the root ma'al connects to the noun me'il (a cloak or robe). Just as me'ilah (misappropriation or betrayal) connects with the garment called a me'il, so does begidah (treachery or betrayal) connect with the garment called a beged. In his commentary HaTorah VeHaMitzvah on Vayikra (section 366), the Malbim cites the Ibn Ezra, who explains that ma'al shares a root concept with me'il, and beged shares one with begidah. We have learned a principle from the Ibn Ezra: words that share linguistic forms and roots have an essential conceptual relationship; they do not stem from the same root and sound alike by accident. For example, kelev (dog) relates to kulo lev ("all heart"); sus (horse) derives from joy and neighing (sas vetzohel) - and incidentally, the horse is the only animal described as neighing with vigor. So too here: the connection between beged (garment) and begidah (betrayal), and between me'il (cloak) and me'ilah (transgression), is not merely homophonic, but substantive, just as Scripture plays on this: "in dealing treacherously (bevigdo) with her" alongside spreading one's cloak over her.
What is the difference between begidah and me'ilah? A person who betrays (boged) his friend presents himself outwardly as a loving ally who has his friend's best interests at heart, while working against him behind his back. Even today, we use the term "traitor" specifically for someone who operates from within: an overt enemy who attacks is not called a traitor, but someone from our own midst who acts against us commits an act of treason. By contrast, me'ilah (breach of trust or misappropriation) is an act that ultimately plays out in the open: he abused his office, he violated the trust placed in him.
This parallels the garments precisely: the beged is the inner clothing, while the me'il is the outer cloak. Regarding a beged, Scripture says "he wore (lavash) his clothes," whereas regarding a me'il, it says "wrapped" (oteh), as with Shmuel, who was "wrapped in a cloak" (oteh me'il). Begidah is like the inner garment - the person conceals himself and betrays in secret; whereas me'ilah is like the outer cloak - even though it covers, it is visible to all. Therefore the Torah says, "If a woman goes astray and commits a breach of trust (tim'ol ma'al) against her husband," and "If a person commits a breach of trust (tim'ol ma'al)": in these cases the act becomes overt; she strayed with another, and although she tries to conceal her actions, it is far more public and apparent than covert treachery, which remains buried beneath the surface like undergarments beneath outer clothes.
This is what the verse is conveying to the king: since people attach hidden meanings and interpretations to every sentence and word you utter, "his mouth shall not transgress in judgment" - do not cover your mouth with a cloak (me'il). If you cloak your mouth and speak in ambiguous, non-committal terms, you will cause justice and the intent of your verdict to be perverted. Because people specifically scrutinize a king's words to read between the lines, you are cautioned not to act with me'ilah, cloaking your mouth in ambiguity.
Scale and Balances of Justice - The Creator's Ultimate Safeguard
פֶּלֶס וּמֹאזְנֵי מִשְׁפָּט לַה' מַעֲשֵׂהוּ כׇּל אַבְנֵי כִיס׃ (יא) - "A just balance and scales belong to Hashem; all the weights of the bag are His work." (16:11)
Rabbeinu Yonah raises a question: if Shlomo composed a series of five verses concerning the conduct of kings, why did Scripture interrupt them with this verse, which does not appear to discuss kings? What is this meant to teach us? His answer: it comes to inform us that Hashem's justice is eternal and absolute. A mortal king sometimes lacks the will to dispense justice - he may acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent. At times, he may even deliberately pervert justice out of self-interest; at other times, without any personal agenda, the truth simply eludes him - he thought one thing and made a mistake. An example of this is David HaMelech, who ruled, "You and Tziva shall divide the field," following which a Heavenly voice (bat kol) proclaimed that Rechavam and Yarov'am would divide the kingdom, since he did not act with true justice in that matter.
A person might then ask: Where is justice? I stood before the king, and he judged unjustly instead of righteously - where is true judgment? To this, Scripture replies: there is a backup mechanism, do not worry. If you have faith, know that there is a Judge above the judge and a King above the king, and that is the Holy One, Blessed be He. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, oversees justice and judgment, He decides: if an injustice was indeed done to you, you will receive what is rightfully yours. And it may be that the reverse is true - that precisely what appears to you as injustice is actually true judgment, justice, and righteousness, rectifying blemishes and wrongs from previous lifetimes. In the end: Hashem possesses a balance and scales of justice even after the king's verdict, and this scale ensures that everything is leveled, leaving no room for falsehood or injustice.
The Found Coins - A Story of the Chazon Ish
A story is told of a man who came before the Chazon Ish alongside another Jew who had found his lost money. The loser asked the finder to return it, but the finder replied: I believe that it is yours, but according to halachah I am not obligated to return it - scattered coins belong to the finder. They approached the Chazon Ish to ask, and he told them: He is in the right; he is not obligated to return it to you. This infuriated the man. He said: Honored Rabbi, I do not understand; Hashem's judgment is righteous and all His laws are truth - how could a crooked ruling emerge from the Torah? I lost money, it is my money, he himself does not deny that it may well be mine, and yet he takes it and walks away. Is there any greater injustice than this?
The Chazon Ish told him: Come, let me explain it to you. It may be that in a previous gilgul you owed this man money, and now both of you descended into this world so that you could repay your debt to him. If you truly owed him nothing, the money you lost would have had an identifying siman (mark), and he would have been obligated to return it to you and everything would be fine. But since you truly came here to repay something from a previous gilgul - how could Heaven ensure that money passes from you to him? Would you simply meet him on the street one day and say, "Take a thousand shekels"? Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, arranges for you to lose it without a siman, and that person finds it, thereby fulfilling heavenly judgment so that a person receives what is due to him from previous lifetimes. You think that by chance you lost it and by chance he found it - but in truth, everything is calculated. And if everything is calculated, there are no questions here at all: Hashem orchestrated that money would pass from you to him in this manner, and the Torah's judgment is ultimately always truth and justice.
"I Hate Robbers Because They Trouble Me"
A Midrash teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I hate thieves because they trouble Me. The thief causes Me a headache, as it were: you robbed someone of what does not belong to you, and now I must arrange circumstances whereby money returns from you to him to restore the stolen property. What do we learn from this? That the thief gained nothing, and the victim lost nothing. The One Who must reassemble this entire puzzle is the Master of the Universe. But you - do not allow yourself to steal, and do not worry that you will lose out. If you were destined to incur that loss, it is righteous judgment, and if you were not destined to lose it - there are reimbursements, and ultimately the Holy One, Blessed be He, will grant you what is rightfully yours. This is the meaning of "A just balance and scales are Hashem's."
In summary:
"An oracle is on the lips of a king" - according to Rashi and Rabbeinu Yonah, there is divine assistance (siyata d'shmaya) for a sage presiding in judgment and for a judging king; even though a king is not bound by standard judicial procedures, the awe he inspires and his knowledge of affairs prevent him from stumbling, and if justice cannot emerge naturally - Hashem inspires his heart to perceive the deceiver's ploys, as seen in the incident with Rava in tractate Gittin. The Vilna Gaon expands upon this: "Who are the kings? The Rabbis," and Heaven guides the sage to the practical truth of the matter even when a question was framed erroneously. The Malbim adds a practical dimension: because a king's words are subject to conjecture and multiple interpretations, he is cautioned not to cover his mouth with his garment, but rather to speak clearly and decisively so that the meaning of his ruling is not distorted. And in the midst of the verses concerning kings, Scripture reminds us, "A just balance and scales are Hashem's": above every flesh-and-blood judge and king stands the Master of the Universe, and even when an injustice appears to have occurred - ultimately everything is planned, and everything is truth and justice.