Throughout the liturgy of RH, the central theme is "HaShem Melekh." Before sounding the shofar we recite Psalm 47 (source #2), which defines the shofar as the instrument of coronation. (v.6: "God ascends midst acclamation; the LORD, to the blasts of the horn.") The shofar is not just an instrument to glorify the Almighty; it is a vehicle of coronation.
Many of our prayers add an additional element: this coronation occurs "on the birthday of the world." Our prayers declare, with great naturalness, that the King is being crowned on this first day of the year. This association between God's coronation and the beginning of the calendar year is a major theme of our prayers.
(1) For the leader. Of the Korahites. A psalm. (2) All you peoples, clap your hands,
raise a joyous shout for God. (3) For the LORD Most High is awesome,
great king over all the earth; (4) He subjects peoples to us,
sets nations at our feet. (5) He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.
(6) God ascends midst acclamation;
the LORD, to the blasts of the horn. (7) Sing, O sing to God;
sing, O sing to our king; (8) for God is king over all the earth;
sing a hymn. (9) God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on His holy throne. (10) The great of the peoples are gathered together,
the retinue of Abraham’s God;
for the guardians of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.
Rosh haShanna 16a states that the purpose of the recitation of Malkhiot is "so that you can make me king over you." The Talmud describes the Musaf prayer as a means by which the nation Israel affirms God's sovereignty. It makes a full circle, connecting these three elements -
the declaration of God's kingship,
with his coronation on the first day of the year,
with the national affirmation of his sovereignty on this day.
וְאִמְרוּ לְפָנַי בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה מַלְכִיּוֹת זִכְרוֹנוֹת וְשׁוֹפָרוֹת. מַלְכִיּוֹת — כְּדֵי שֶׁתַּמְלִיכוּנִי עֲלֵיכֶם
It is on Rosh HaShanna that Israel declares its affirmation of God's Kingship.
Where does this come from? How is RH presented in the Bible?
(יד) שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃ (טו) אֶת־חַ֣ג הַמַּצּוֹת֮ תִּשְׁמֹר֒ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִים֩ תֹּאכַ֨ל מַצּ֜וֹת כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּיתִ֗ךָ לְמוֹעֵד֙ חֹ֣דֶשׁ הָֽאָבִ֔יב כִּי־ב֖וֹ יָצָ֣אתָ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם וְלֹא־יֵרָא֥וּ פָנַ֖י רֵיקָֽם׃ (טז) וְחַ֤ג הַקָּצִיר֙ בִּכּוּרֵ֣י מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּזְרַ֖ע בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה וְחַ֤ג הָֽאָסִף֙ בְּצֵ֣את הַשָּׁנָ֔ה בְּאׇסְפְּךָ֥ אֶֽת־מַעֲשֶׂ֖יךָ מִן־הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃ (יז) שָׁלֹ֥שׁ פְּעָמִ֖ים בַּשָּׁנָ֑ה יֵרָאֶה֙ כׇּל־זְכ֣וּרְךָ֔ אֶל־פְּנֵ֖י הָאָדֹ֥ן ׀ יְהֹוָֽה׃
(14) Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: (15) You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread—eating unleavened bread for seven days as I have commanded you—at the set time in the month of Abib, for in it you went forth from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty-handed; (16) and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in the results of your work from the field. (17) Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign, יהוה.
The sequence regarding sacrifices (Numbers 29) does include a "day of "Teruah.'" This holy day is not identified as a "New Year," nor is the meaning of "Teruah" given.
In two other listings of the holiday cycle (Ex.32 and Deut. 14), only the three pilgrimage festivals are included.
Nowhere is this festival called a "New Year."
What about divine kingship; how and where does this appear in Humash?
In general, the Humash seems to take a negative - or skeptical - attitude toward kingship. In this regard it adopts a position that different with most other nations/cultures in the "Ancient Middle East.
When the Torah discusses a leader of Israel, it discusses a "Nasi"; it does not discuss a "melekh." Torah describes the sacrifice of a "Nasi" who sins, but not a king. It prohibits cursing the "Nasi."
In other ancient cultures, the king played a central role in its cult. The Pharoah was, in essence, the Kohen Gadol in Egyptian worship. The Torah assigns no role for the king in Israelite Avoda.
Deuteronomy contains many laws regarding a King, but most of theme serve to curtail or limit his authority, power and wealth.
The king played no role in the Israelite court system or adjudication. Unlike in other cultures, cases were brought to the levitical priest or to designated magistrates.
Rather than celebrating the institution of kingship, the Humash seems to suspect it.
Are there sections of Humash which call God "King," or which refer to His sovereignty over Israel and/or the nations?
There are only three poetic sequences in Tanakh where the "God is King" motif is found.
These three instances are, in fact, the three verses cited in Malchiot to declare God's kingship:
1) the conclusion of the Song of the Sea states that "YHWH will reign for ever and ever."
2) Balaam's final blessing notes that "YHWH their God is with them, and their King's acclaim in their midst.
3) Moses' Final Blessing (Deut.33:5) states that the tribes join together to accept their King as their sovereign:
וַיְהִ֥י בִישֻׁר֖וּן מֶ֑לֶךְ בְּהִתְאַסֵּף֙ רָ֣אשֵׁי עָ֔ם יַ֖חַד שִׁבְטֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ Then [God] became King in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people assembled,
The tribes of Israel together.
Ramban to Deut. 33:5:
ויהי בישרון מלך:רמז אל השם הנזכר שהיה למלך על ישראל בהיותם ישרים ונאספו כל ראשי העם וכל שבטי ישראל יחד
וגם זה הכתוב דבוק והטעם כי ישראל יאמרו תמיד, התורה אשר צוה לנו משה תהיה ירושה לכל קהלת יעקב לעדי עד.
א
נחליף ולא נמיר אותה לעולם. ויאמרו שהיה השם למלך על ישראל בהתאסף ראשינו זקנינו ושופטינו וכל שבטי ישראל. שכולנו יחד קבלנו מלכותו עלינו לדור ודור ואנחנו חייבין לשמור תורתו ומלכותו לעולמים
(1) AND THERE WAS A KING IN JESHURUN.
This alludes to the aforementioned Name [in Verse 2: ‘The Eternal’ came from Sinai], Who was King over Israel when they were upright and all the heads of the people and all tribes of Israel were gathered together.
Now this verse, too, is connected [with the above theme — the Revelation at Sinai], and the sense thereof is that Israel will always say: “The Torah which Moses commanded us will forever be an inheritance to the entire congregation of Jacob. We shall never alter it or change it.”
And they will further say that “G-d became King over Israel when our leaders, our elders, our judges and all tribes of Israel gathered, for we all, together, accepted His reign upon ourselves for all generations, and we are obligated to keep His Law and [acknowledge] His Kingdom forever.”
If this verse refers to a Coronation Ceremony, when did it occur and was it a historic occasion or an annual event?
Prof. Knohl (in his paper on this subject) cites the proposal of Prof. Umberto Cassuto (1883 - 1951), "that the song describes a ceremony held annually on Rosh Hashanah.... YHWH was declared king by an assemblage of the tribes conducted on this day, and the tribes or their representatives were blessed by the priests with the blessing designated for each tribe.
If this is correct, then the blessing of the tribes now found in Deut. 33 were once an integral part of the new year enthronement ritual, which we still commemorate with the blasts of the shofar."
Prof. Knohl states: "The Torah's reservations about monarchy are not only about human kingship, but even divine kingship."
He demonstrates this by examining various images of God in Tanakh, none of which expresses God's kingship over the world and its inhabitants.
God is the father to His people. He disciplines His people as a parent would to its child.
God is bound to Israel due to His promise to the Patriarchs. He is like a lover who has been rejected by his beloved, the nation of Israel. He is jealous when He is betrayed by people who worship other gods.
Knohl claims that God is not called "king" in any prose sequence of the Torah.
He writes that "the reservations of the Torah toward the institution of the monarchy, and within it the idea of enthroning God, is what apparently lies at the root of the ambiguity in the Torah's description of Rosh HaShanna.... The day is described as "a day when the horn is sounded" or one "commemorated with loud blasts, but the nature of these blasts, surprisingly, goes unexplained."
According to Prof. Knohl, our Rosh HaShanna holy day, with its focus on God as King, our enthronement of God at the start of the year to the sound of coronation horns, and the attendant obligation of our people to consider our obedience to His Law, is a major and radical development from the biblical concept of RH. Today's holiday is a totally different festival from its biblical antecedent.
How and what might have been the factors that brought this development?