king

בְּחֶבְרוֹן מָלַךְ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים (Melachim I 2:11), in Chevron he reigned seven years, and וּמָלַךְ מֶלֶךְ וְהִשְׂכִּיל (Yirmiyahu 23:5), a king shall reign and prosper. Of a woman, וַעֲתַלְיָה מֹלֶכֶת עַל הָאָרֶץ (Melachim II 11:3), and Asalyah reigned over the land. Where the verb takes an object, הִמְלִיךְ אֶת שָׁאוּל (Shmuel I 15:35), he made Shaul king; in the passive, אֲשֶׁר הָמְלַךְ עַל מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), who was made king over the kingdom of the Kasdim. The sense of kingship, he says, is known.

The noun is מֶלֶךְ, a king, and the plural אַרְבָּעָה מְלָכִים (Bereishis 14:9), four kings, written also with an alef of prolongation, לְעֵת צֵאת הַמְּלָאכִים (Shmuel II 11:1), at the time kings go out. Kingship is מְלוּכָה: וְאֶת דְּבַר הַמְּלוּכָה לֹא הִגִּיד לוֹ (Shmuel I 10:16), but the matter of the kingship he did not tell him. Other forms are מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים (Shemos 19:6), a kingdom of kohanim, and מַמְלְכוּת עוֹג (Yehoshua 13:12), the kingdom of Og; and without the added mem, מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), the kingdom of the Kasdim. Its plural is אַרְבַּע מַלְכֻיוֹת (Daniel 8:22), four kingdoms, where, tav and heh being alike, the yud that stands for the heh in the plural takes the place of the tav, as in גָּלוּת, exile, and גָּלֻיּוֹת, exiles. Some explain לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם (Yirmiyahu 7:18), to the מְלֶכֶת of the heavens, from this sense, meaning to a great star in the heavens.

In another sense, וַיִּמָּלֵךְ לִבִּי עָלַי (Nechemiah 5:7), my heart took counsel within me: its sense is taking counsel, and it resembles the Aramaic מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (Daniel 4:24), let my counsel be pleasing to you, and the words of Chazal (Berachos 29b), המלך בקונך וצא, take counsel with your Maker and go out. Some explain from this בֶּן מַלְכֵי קֶדֶם (Yeshayahu 19:11) as a son of counsellors of old.

Rabbi Yonah explained מְלָכִין (Mishlei 31:3) from this sense of counsel, and so also הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (Yirmiyahu 22:15), התמלך because you vie with the cedar, the tav drawn out with a maarich and the mem with a sheva and a patach, which Radak spells out, on that reading, as: do you think in your heart to liken and equal yourself to the great king. There is no need, Radak says, to take them out of the sense of kingship. That pasuk in Mishlei he explains under the root מחה; and הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז is: do you imagine yourself a king, and grow proud to vie with the cedar, that is, with one greater than you; that is, the kingship is not yours, to be proud over one greater than you.

אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ (Vayikra 20:2), who gives of his seed to the Molech, and וּלְמֹלֶךְ שִׁקֻּץ בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן (Melachim I 11:7), and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon: it is the name of an avodah zarah. Its service was that a man handed his son to its priests, and they made two great fires and passed the son on his feet between the two fires. In לֹא תִתֵּן (Vayikra 18:21), you shall not give, is the handing to the priests, and in לְהַעֲבִיר, to pass over, the passing through the fire.

וְיָשַׁב וּמָשַׁל עַל־כִּסְאוֹ (Zecharyah 6:13), he will sit and rule on his throne; וּמָֽשַׁלְתָּ בְּגוֹיִם רַבִּים (Devarim 15:6), and you will rule over many nations; מְשָׁל ־בָּנוּ גַּם־אַתָּה (Shoftim 8:22), rule over us, you too; משֵׁל בִּגְבוּרָתוֹ (Tehillim 66:7), He rules by His might. The noun is in וּמָשַׁל מִמְשָׁל רַב (Daniel 11:3), and he will rule a great dominion, with the mem in chirik; and with a heh or a tav added, הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשֹׁנָה (Michah 4:8), the first dominion, לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם (Bereishis 1:16), for the rule of the day, and וּמֶֽמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדֽוֹר (Tehillim 145:13), and Your dominion is in every generation.

Another sense: הנה כָּל־ הַמֹּשֵׁל עָלַיִךְ יִמְשֹׁל (Yechezkel 16:44), see, everyone who speaks in parables will speak one about you; עַל־כֵּן יֹֽאמְרוּ הַמּֽשְׁלִים (Bamidbar 21:27), therefore those who speak in parables say; מֹֽשְׁלֵי הָעָם הַזֶּה (Yeshayahu 28:14), the speakers of parables of this people, which Yonasan took from the first sense and rendered שִׁלְטוֹנֵי עַמָא, the rulers of the people. The noun is לְהָבִין מָשָׁל (Mishlei 1:6), to understand a parable, וַיִּשָּׂא מְשָׁלוֹ (Bamidbar 23:7), and he took up his parable, לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה (Devarim 28:36 in his edition), for a parable and a byword; and where a man makes them, הֲלֹא מְמַשֵּׁל מְשָׁלִים הֽוּא (Yechezkel 21:5), is he not a maker of parables? A מָשָׁל is the likening of one thing to another, and it also holds hidden matters.

In מְשַׁל הַקַּדְמֹנִי (Shmuel I 24:13 in his edition) the word is in the construct, and it means the parable of the ancient maker of parables; or else it is another pattern and not construct at all, and הקדמוני describes it: the ancient parable.

נִמְשַׁל כַּבְּהֵמוֹת (Tehillim 49:13), he is likened to the beasts; וְנִמְשַׁלְתִּי עִם־יוֹרְדֵי בֽוֹר (Tehillim 28:1), and I will be likened to those who go down to the pit; וָֽאֶתְמַשֵּׁל כֶּֽעָפָר וָאֵֽפֶר (Iyov 30:19), and I am likened to dust and ashes; and where one likens another, וְתַמְשִׁלוּנִי וְנִדְמֶֽה (Yeshayahu 46:5), and you liken Me, that we be alike. So too in this sense זִכְרֹֽנֵיכֶם מִשְׁלֵי־אֵפֶר (Iyov 13:12), your remembrances are likenings of ash.

The adjective from this is הַמִּמְשָׁלִים לְבֵית אֲבִיהֶם (Divrei HaYamim I 26:6), those likened to their father's house, meaning like them in might, for they were mighty men of valour. The mem comes with a chirik, as in עֲתַלְיָהוּ הַמִּרְשַׁעַת (Divrei HaYamim II 24:7), Atalyahu the wicked one, and וְהֶֽעָרִים הַמִּבְדָּלוֹת (Yehoshua 16:9), and the cities set apart.