Chapter 21 of Mishlei opens with one of the most foundational verses in the Jewish outlook on history, on rulership, and on free will. In this lesson we will focus on the first verse alone, for from it branch out great principles in understanding the Creator's governance of the world: what is given into the hand of man, what is given into the hand of Hashem, and to whom, really, we ought to turn when trouble comes into the world.
פַּלְגֵי־מַיִם לֶב־מֶלֶךְ בְּיַד־יְהֹוָה עַל־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר יַחְפֹּץ יַטֶּנּוּ׃ - Like channels of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem; wherever He desires, He turns it. (Mishlei 21:1)
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: since the many depend upon the king, and the Holy One, blessed be He, placed in his hand the power to put to death and to give life, were the king to use this power in an unlimited fashion he would create chaos in the world, terrible and dreadful situations of killings and deaths. It is enough to look at the kings of our own times to understand how much blood a single ruler can spill. And certainly in ancient times the power of a king was almost unlimited. Woe and alas if the Holy One, blessed be He, would not intervene in this.
Therefore, says Rabbeinu Yonah, even though one of the most basic and fundamental principles of Judaism is "and you shall choose life" - see, I have set before you life and good, death and evil, and the choice is yours - nevertheless, in all that concerns matters of the public, the Holy One, blessed be He, removed this choice from the king. In his private choice, as a private individual, the king too chooses; but in all that concerns the lives of the many, the Holy One, blessed be He, guards his heart so that it not turn away from carrying out the decree of Hashem. The Holy One, blessed be He, sees to it that the king does what Hashem wants.
And from here comes a wonderful conclusion: it is fitting that the aim of people's hearts be to fear Hashem and not to fear the king. If the king is nothing but a clerk of the Master of the world, and his heart is turned by the hand of Hashem - when you have a problem, do not turn to the clerk. Turn to the true King, to the Master of the world.
From the words of Rabbeinu Yonah it is implied that it is specifically the king who has no free will with respect to others, and from this you understand that other people do have free will, and can harm me even if it was not decreed upon me. According to this, an ordinary person - you must guard yourself from him and try to appease him; but the king there is no need to appease, but rather to turn directly to the Master of the world.
However, this point is not agreed upon. This approach is the view of many, among them the holy Or HaChaim and other early authorities, that one who has free will can harm even someone upon whom it was not decreed. A proof to this: Reuven said "do not spill blood, cast him into one of the pits" - his entire wish was to take Yosef out of the hands of those with free will, namely the brothers, who have the ability to harm even without a decree, and to place him in the hand of that which has no free will, in the hand of snakes and scorpions, and there whatever Hashem wishes will be done. And likewise Shmuel, who was sent to anoint David and said "and Shaul will hear and kill me" - if the Master of the world sends you, what do you fear? Rather, from here we see that one who has free will has the power to harm, which is part of free will.
In contrast is the view of the Vilna Gaon, and we have a tradition from the great ones of Israel to follow his view in practice, that one who has free will cannot harm any person in the world upon whom it was not decreed. There is no possibility that someone could harm me without it having been decreed upon me. In any case, regarding the king the matter is agreed upon, for every decision of his has an effect upon a great people, and therefore "like channels of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem." Rav Chaim Friedlander, a student of Rav Dessler, expanded on these two approaches in his book, and even drew a comparison and connection between them to say that they do not contradict one another.
The Vilna Gaon first explains according to the plain meaning: just as water is divided, and from the split of the waters a channel goes out this way and a channel goes out that way, so too is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem, whether for good or for bad, and wherever the Holy One, blessed be He, desires He will turn the heart of the king. And this too is the direction of the words of Rabbeinu Yonah.
The Gra adds: "The king's heart" also refers to Torah scholars, as the Sages said: "Who are the kings? The Rabbis." When a person desires to walk in the way of Hashem, the Holy One, Blessed is He, directs his heart for the good according to his wish. What is demanded of you? To aspire and to begin. Aspire, begin - and the Holy One, Blessed is He, will assist you, as the Sages said: "In the path a person wishes to go, he is led." According to this, "He turns it wherever He desires" can be understood as: toward whatever the person desires, Hashem turns him. If you have a genuine desire and will to serve the Holy One, Blessed is He, He will direct your heart so that this will truly be your inclination, and you will not be drawn to evil things.
The Gra further explains along the same line: Torah scholars sit in the Beit Midrash; some declare ritually impure and some declare pure, some validate and some invalidate, some permit and some forbid. How do we know how to rule? We follow the majority, and at times the resolution comes from Heaven. This is "a king's heart is in the hand of Hashem" - when a sage expresses an opinion, it is not merely his private view, but from Hashem, the words of the living God.
Therefore, the question is foolish: "So-and-so said this, and so-and-so said that; what is the truth? Rabbi Akiva declares pure and Rabbi Tarfon declares impure; what is the truth?" Concepts of "truth or falsehood" in this sense have no place in the lexicon of our holy Torah. The Holy One, Blessed is He, taught His Torah with forty-nine facets of purity and forty-nine facets of impurity: forty-nine aspects to declare pure and forty-nine to declare impure. In practical Halachah, one must indeed decide according to a single view, and we have halachic principles of decision-making - we follow the majority, among other rules. But to say that one speaks truth while the other does not is certainly incorrect. The proof: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. Beit Hillel is truth, for we rule like them now; Beit Shammai is truth, for in the future we will rule like them. The relevant question is not who is the truth, but how one must act. Everything is truth, everything is the Torah of Hashem: when a sage says "pure," it is, as it were, the Holy One, Blessed is He, saying pure; and when his colleague says "impure," it is, as it were, the Holy One, Blessed is He, saying impure.
And where will the halachic ruling be directed? "He turns it wherever He desires" - toward whichever view Hashem desires, He directs and establishes the Halachah accordingly. Just as a heavenly voice went forth and proclaimed that the Halachah follows Beit Hillel, because they were humble and modest and taught the words of Beit Shammai before their own. Thus, Hashem directed the ruling in that direction.
One qualification must be noted: Tosafot raise a difficulty with this. If the Holy One, Blessed is He, determines the Halachah, is it not written, "It is not in Heaven," meaning that the Torah was given to earth and the decision is not in Heaven? Tosafot answer that, in truth, Beit Hillel were the majority, and since they were the majority, the Halachah followed them; the heavenly voice merely reinforced the matter and did not come to decide Halachah contrary to the principles of psak. On the contrary, what the heavenly voice said aligned with the halachic rule that we follow the majority. While there was reason to rule like Beit Shammai because they were sharper and keener in pilpul - and even though Beit Hillel were also uprooters of mountains grinding against each other, they were less sharp - nonetheless, since Beit Hillel were the majority, we ruled according to them.
The Malbim emphasizes an important point: Although an ordinary person's private heart is in his own control, with free will in his hands, this is not so regarding a king's heart. For upon him depends the collective whole, and if he behaves improperly, he can ruin countless masses. Therefore, the king's public heart is in the hand of Hashem, but his private heart - what sins he might commit between himself and his Maker - that remains in his hands.
And why does the Malbim return to emphasize this? Because if we were to say that everything is in the hand of Hashem, what claim could there be against David in the episode of Batsheva? "A king's heart is in the hand of Hashem" - everything is from Him, Blessed be He! But this is not so: in communal matters the king cannot act contrary to the Creator's will, but in private matters the king certainly exercises free choice, and he can make a mistaken choice.
The Malbim explains the parable: Water descending from the mountains gathers into a rushing river, and the river branches off into many channels. If you do not utilize the river and direct it to places in need of water, it will wash away fields, houses, and mountains. What does one do? Dams are built, canals are dug, water is redirected - and in this way, the water is utilized wisely, bringing benefit rather than destruction. But if you leave the water to flow unchecked, it will wash away everything. Years ago a dam burst in China and swept away villages, and hundreds of thousands died. It is an immense danger. Part of the public good is to divide the water into streams and channels that spread to places needing them for sustenance, rather than allowing them to surge in a torrent.
So too is the heart of a king: from his actions flows an impact upon the collective, whether for rod or for kindness, whether for war or for peace. If they are worthy, Hashem directs the channel to where it will bestow goodness; and if they are not worthy, Hashem allows the torrent of mighty waters to wash away villages and lands, like a tsunami wiping away everything. Either way - everything is in the hand of Hashem.
Therefore, it is a mistake to think that this or that ruler went to war simply because a spirit of folly overtook him. "A king's heart is in the hand of Hashem." The Holy One, blessed be He, willed that Babylon pay the price, just as appears in the prophecies that Babylon would become a desolation and a ruin, and that Hashem would exact retribution from it: "Praiseworthy is he who will seize and dash your little ones against the rock." We will not do this - others will do it, and there a car bomb detonates every few hours. Although one might regret the pace, not the essence of the matter: it is clear to us that a king's heart is in the hand of Hashem, and the Holy One, blessed be He, brings upon those nations everything they did to us. And likewise, all that unfolds in Syria - that too is in Hashem's hand.
Notice as well that all the nations that persecuted us, especially in Eastern Europe, are mostly backward today. Spain, which perpetrated upon us the terrible and horrific expulsion of Spanish Jewry, has never succeeded in recovering since. Historians write that ever since it expelled this wise and understanding people from its midst, it entered a downward spiral from which it has not extricated itself to this day, to the extent that the European Union views its deficits and economic damages as a burden on all of Europe. One can clearly see how the Holy One, blessed be He, over the years exacts retribution from the nations that distressed us and brought harm upon us throughout history.
Furthermore, sometimes a king commits an act, and the Holy One, blessed be He, ensures that the outcome is overturned. Pharaoh decrees, "Every son that is born you shall cast into the river," and out of this very decree Moshe emerges: he is cast into the river, Pharaoh raises him in his own palace, and from there the redeemer of Israel grows up. Seemingly, this implies that the Holy One, blessed be He, "enters the picture" only at the end of the story - that Pharaoh decreed, Hashem allowed him to act according to his intention, and only reversed the outcome.
The Malbim explains: when we say, "Like streams of water, the heart of a king is in the hand of Hashem," it does not mean that the Holy One, blessed be He, merely waits to alter the end of the story. Rather, He directs the very beginning of the heart's inclination according to His will. Just as streams of water are channeled from their source - without waiting until the flood washes over mountains, valleys, and villages before digging channels, but rather digging channels in advance so the water will divide properly - so too, the king's initial will is already in Hashem's hand. And if you see a king acting cruelly toward us, know that this does not come from him, but from Hashem, blessed be He.
We find an example of this even with the kings of Israel: "And Hashem incited David" to count Israel. Chazal wonder: What is the meaning of this? David on his own would never have counted them, yet Hashem incited him to do so! Chazal explain that the people had hidden sins, and retribution had to be exacted from them. How? Hashem placed an errant thought into David's heart to count the people of Israel - something even a young schoolchild knows one must not do. Yoav tried to dissuade him, but it was entirely futile. Why? Because "like streams of water, the heart of a king is in the hand of Hashem." And if you ask: Is David to blame? He is not to blame; rather, he was the rod through which the Holy One, blessed be He, punished the nation. Through the census, a plague struck the people, and the nation paid for the hidden sins it had committed.
And where is this hinted at? Precisely in the Torah portion dealing with the census of Bnei Yisrael: "When you take the census of the Children of Israel according to their numbers" - to know their tally and count, "then each man shall give an atonement for his soul to Hashem when counting them" - each person gives a coin; coins are counted, not heads - "so that there will be no plague among them when counting them" - so that an evil eye and a plague will not affect them. Yoav's argument to David is hinted at right there: read the words "בִּפְקֹד אֹתָם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה" from end to beginning: yihyeh begins with Yud, velo with Vav, otam with Alef, and bifkod with Beit - forming the acronym "Yoav" (יואב). This is to tell you that Yoav argued: "Will you count them and there will be no plague among them?" But David did not listen to him, because, as stated, Hashem had incited him. "Like streams of water, the heart of a king is in the hand of Hashem."
From here we derive a profound lesson: when we face troubles, we must not think that removing the head of one leader or eliminating another will solve our problems. Arafat was eliminated, and the situation became more severe, because Abu Mazen wraps himself in dove feathers while we know full well that a predatory wolf stands before us. Those knowledgeable in the matter say that throughout the negotiations with Arafat, Abu Mazen was precisely the one who expressed the most hawkish stances, hardened his positions, and refused to permit signing an agreement. Today we face a difficult challenge with him precisely because of those dove feathers: he does not speak openly of jihad and does not brandish a Kalashnikov; he presents himself as a statesman, but what does he peddle in practice? Hatred and murder, all cloaked in statesmanship.
And the same is true with Nasrallah: the State of Israel eliminated his predecessor, and today people look back with nostalgia, for the one who arose after him is seven times worse - he advanced the organization, its armaments, and its missiles by every metric, causing us a thousand times more trouble than his predecessor. What is the conclusion? Anyone who thinks our problem is with the king is mistaken. "Like streams of water, the heart of a king is in the hand of Hashem" - it is Hashem Who directs it. With whom, then, is our issue? We must make peace with the Master of the World. "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger" - Assyria is nothing other than the rod of the Holy One, blessed be He's anger.
On the verse "And it came to pass in the days of Achashverosh" (Esther 1:1), the Midrash comments: "Da akata - this was distress; 'this is Achashverosh who reigned from Hodu to Cush' - da ravcha, this was relief." On the surface, this Midrash is utterly baffling: "And it came to pass in the days of Achashverosh" - woe to us, what distress! Yet "this is Achashverosh who reigned" - thank God, there was relief? In light of what we have learned, the matter becomes clear: as long as Achashverosh was merely an ordinary individual and not a king, Hashem did not direct his heart, and he was capable of causing tremendous trouble and harm - according to the approach of the holy Or HaChaim and the Radak mentioned earlier, that a being endowed with free will can cause damage beyond what was decreed. This is "And it came to pass in the days of Achashverosh - this was distress." But "this is Achashverosh who reigned" - once he became king, his heart was placed in Hashem's hand; "this was relief."
This is also what Chazal meant when they said: "Whoever oppresses Israel becomes a leader." At first glance, this is astonishing: does he receive a reward for causing us troubles, that Hashem promotes him to be a leader? Rather, the holy Or HaChaim explains: anyone who oppresses Israel can cause us immense hardship and make us miserable, because he possesses free will. But the moment Hashem makes him a leader, a king - the Master of the Universe says: The keys are in My hands. "Like streams of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem." Consequently, the dog's leash is held by its master. As long as he is a mere pup - fear him; but once he becomes king, the leash is already in Hashem's hand, and he can no longer harm us on his own. It turns out that Hashem making him a leader is actually for our own good.
With this, we can also understand the verse: "Servants ruled over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand" (Eichah 5:8). If kings had ruled over us, it would be one thing - there would be deliverance from their hand, for the dog's leash is in its master's hand. But when slaves rule over us, where is the salvation? "There is none to deliver us from their hand" - they possess free will and can harm us, woe to us! It is therefore far better for us that there be a king, so that the dog's leash is held by the Master of the Universe, and we will not suffer anything beyond what the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees.
"Like streams of water is the heart of a king in the hand of Hashem" - in all matters pertaining to Klal Yisrael and the world as a whole, a king is nothing more than a channel that the Holy One, blessed be He, directs this way or that, like water flowing down from mountains that is guided by dams and channels. The king's private heart remains subject to his free will, but his public heart is in the hand of Hashem, not only in the final outcome but from the very first inclination of the heart. According to the Vilna Gaon, the verse also refers to Torah scholars: whoever desires to walk in the way of Hashem - Hashem will direct his heart; the words of the sages in the Beit Midrash are the words of the living God, and the ultimate determination of how the halachic ruling will incline is likewise directed from Above. From all of this emerges a great lesson: do not turn to the bureaucrat, turn to the true King. Our issue is never with this or that ruler, but with the relationship between us and the Master of the Universe. And once the Holy One, blessed be He, crowns the oppressor - the dog's leash is already in its Master's hands.