Assuming a reasonably moral, reasonably godly people, and reasonably moral and godly judges, yes.
That is actually the key. Its not the structure, its the character of the people themselves. Given a moral and godly people, almost any system can work. Without that, every system will ultimately fail.
Still, its clear to me that, as you say, God intended power to be well distributed and close to the people themselves. He did not want power to be centralized in the hands of any king or bureaucrat.
Freedom implies that you govern yourself, and the capacity to govern yourself is a moral quality. If God is king, you don't need an earthly king, just judges and clerks to referee the inevitable disagreements among otherwise good people.
As I think about it, Marron, your line “God intended power to be well distributed” speaks to the pre-diluvian and the aftermath diluvian world as well. With God’s people we aren’t introduced to kings and queens. We’re introduced to Noahs and Abrahams and Jacobs. I’m not saying they weren’t substantial people in their own right, but that wasn’t because of elevation in some human system. It was due to their relationship with God.
Melchizadek is both a priest and king....and a foreshadowing of Christ.