Virtue in the precincts of leadership

The biblical regime is designed to solve intrinsic problems of governance. The object of the regime is not to bring ordinary Israelites to virtue, nor even to promote the common good or what have you. The biblical regime is there to make it so that power is wielded blessedly and not accursedly. The biblical regime's objective is to translate power and legitimate authority into stewardship, which is to say, to bring virtue to the precincts of leadership.