Prophets and monarchs were complimentary social institutions which balanced power in ancient Israel. Prophets were leaders of the monarch's loyal opposition. Some prophets were closely aligned with royal or religious centers of power, some were peripheral-dependent on popular constituencies for power. Power in ancient Israel was understood as ability to feed and ability to protect. Prophets and monarchs both believed that only Yahweh fed and protected Israel. Monarchs, however, argued that the social system which best acknowledged this belief was the surplus or centralized economic and military system common in Canaanite city states, whereas prophets argued for the subsistence or decentralized system attempted in early Israel (1250-1000 BCE). Royal policy stressed the biblical traditions of covenant stewardship; prophetic policy stressed the traditions of Israel as a slave-free society.