Shalom Elie,

It's great to hear from you. You are asking a very insightful question.

As the Gemara says, the king does have authority over all people, but he does not have authority over Hash-m; and since the Torah and Torah scholars express the will of Hash-m, therefore they exercise superiority even over the king.

To be concrete, regarding the public image as head of state, a king is supreme. For example, in front of people everyone must stand in the king's presence, whereas he doesn't stand for others, but in private he stands for Torah scholars. See the Rambam at the end of chapter 2 of Hilchos Melachim.

Likewise, anyone who rebels against him is put to death (ibid. 3:8). This is the deference and authority that we see reflected in the passage in Horayos you astutely cited.

On the other hand, when it comes to religious and legal authority, even the king is subordinate to the Torah. For example, the king must carry a Sefer Torah with him always, to show his subservience to it. Moreover, if he violates Torah law, theoretically Beis Din, and a Naci, can censure him (ibid., chapter 3).

Interestingly, as you will see in Horayos 13a, if a king and someone else are taken captive, G-d forbid, together, then in almost all cases the king is redeemed first, unless the other captive is a Talmid Chacham.

So to summarize, the king answers to no man, only to Hash-m, particularly in public. But the Torah and its Sages have superior authority even over the king, because it is they who represent Hash-m's laws to which even the king is subordinate.

I hope this helps resolve the issue. May you continue to attain greatness in Torah and Yir'as Shamayim!

Warmly,

Yishai Rasowsky