Mashiach and a Byzantine General: A Lesson

“For not by numbers of men, nor by measure of body, but by measure of soul is the war to be decided.” ~Flavius Belisarius

In the sixth century C.E., the Byzantine Empire was under threat of both inner and exterior conflict–brutal nomadic horsemen to the north and the powerful Persian Sassanid Empire to the east. Waves of what became known as the Black Plague began to show up in the Mediteraenean world. In his book Catastrophe, David Keyes writes of the era detailing what seemed to have even been a global climate change full of famine, ill timed winters, sickness and starvation, mass migrations, and of the rising and fallings of different civilizations. For the last remnant of the Roman Empire (Yeah, yeah, I know. All of us guys think about the Roman Empire) it looked bad. And yet in this era, two figures of the empire emerged to push through the difficulty. One was the Emperor Justinian himself, who enacted both social and military reforms in an effort at better efficiency and strength of the Empire. The other was his friend and head general, Flavius Belisarius. By any account, Belisarius the man did not live an easy life–he was often mistrusted by fellow generals and his own friend Emperor Justinian, who would at times throughout his career demote him to obscurity, only to later be called back up to command the armies of Byzantium and lead them to victory. Belisarius, a professional and competant soldier, rarely lost a battle.

One of the things I learned about General Belisarius was that he took all difficulty in stride. In any and every system, there is always a certain amount of political corruption from both military and civilian personel. Indeed, we are constantly exposed to such things today, and it would only depend on which media outlet we listen to that would convince us all of which side of the left or right is more corrupt. And yet, just every now and then, there arises out of that filth someone who is loyally-bound to the mission alone; someone who is dedicated to what one friend of mine who enlisted in the US Army and later graduated West Point would call “Servant Leadership.”

Belisarius was such a man. Indeed, he was often asked to take an outnumbered, and outgunned army, and to not only defend the empire, but to even expand  it with such an inferior force. Anyone who knows what it’s like to deal with impossible orders given from the rear echelon I’m sure could understand the frustration. And yet, as far as I can tell, though I haven’t studied Belisarius exhaustively, I can say that I’m pretty sure the guy never complained or questioned the impossible tasks given to him, much less rebelled when his own king questioned his loyalty and even at times suspected him of treason, simply because of rumors at the royal court.

I suppose that anyone who knows me knows that I love history, and attempting to look through the eyes of history to find what we can learn from it. As I reflect about General Flavius Belisarius, and his loyalty to the Empire, despite the difficulties and often even suspicions from his own king, I have to wonder, what can we of the Jewish nation learn from this?

The answer hits hard, and begs another question worthy of reflection:

Are we ready for our true future king, Mashiach Ben David?

Let me break this down for a minute. I know that we all selfishly long for the redemption to come, so that the Jewish people might be free of antisemitism, persecution, and terrorism. But have we forgotten that we are a mission-oriented nation? Have we forgotten that we are here to be part of a nation that is meant to be a “light for all nations?”

In order to understand the very idea of Mashiach Ben David, we have to understand the reason for the existence of the Jewish nation itself. You realize that we are meant to be a “light” to the very people that want to see us dead, right? We the Jewish people carry within us something very special, albeit it is often hidden, and though we are not a missionary religion, it is indeed our job to be a “light” that spreads by example. (For more on this, check out https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-hidden-holiness-of-tel-megido/)

In these days in which so many sing with such naivety, “We want Mashiach now!” What so many seem to forget is that Mashiach is only as good as the people who are willing to be loyal to him when he orders them to do something uncomfortable. Even as I grew up in Christianity, I would sometimes hear a saying of the two thousand year old corpse of whom they claim to be Mashiach, that “Most want him to be their savior. Few want him to be their king.”

I fear that it is the same with us today. Even as we look in the book of Samuel and see the crowning of King Saul, I cannot help but wonder… it would seem that one of the potential reasons that the reign of Saul failed was because the nation wanted him to serve them– “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned, for I have transgressed the word of Hashem and your word, for I feared the people and I hearkened to their voice.'” (I Samuel 15:24)

Yet when David was crowned king and he maintained a strong reign with a solid dynasty, it would almost seem as if the nation was ready to serve him upon his arrival–“All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and spoke, saying, ‘Behold, we are your bone and flesh. Even yesterday and before yesterday, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who brought Israel out and brought Israel in; and Hashem said of you, “You shall shepherd my people Israel and you shall be ruler over Israel.”‘” (II Samuel 5:1-2).

I often worry that we the Jewish nation in our generational trauma expect one tzadik to come and do all the work for us while we sit back and watch the show. Throughout the two millennia after the fall of the Second Temple, yes it is very true we have had great difficulty, yet I believe nothing could be further from the truth than in hoping that Mashiach will come and only serve us. If we truly want to make Mashiach ben David our king, then we will need to learn the strong characteristic of loyalty–like that of one lone Byzantine general who quietly did his duty for his own king without complaint, and often recieved punishment for his own good deeds, and nevertheless continued on in steadfast honor and loyalty for his king. Certainly he never passed the buck or tried to deviate from admitting his mistakes by way of Halachic or any other kinds of technicalities that would help him to avoid assuming responsibility for his actions!

Indeed, in the Rambam’s Sefer Melachim, he references the Jewish freedom fighter Shimon Bar Kochba as what a future Mashiach of the nation could be like. It might be worth noting that during Bar Kochba’s time, a soldier’s initiation into his army required that one cut off one of his fingers in order to prove his bravery and steadfastness. I honestly don’t see Mashiach Ben David demanding that we self-mutilate ourselves, but he may ask us for something that could potentially be harder–he’ll demand that we change our habits, that we adapt to change for the sake of his new kingdom–and I most certainly believe that there will be massive changes! He will tell us that if we truly want to follow him into the redemption, that we will be required to get out of our comfort zones. He may even tell us to close our books every now and then and order us to go get our hands dirty for the sake of the kingdom. 

Another example: When Bar Kochba went to war against the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the army of Bar Kochba had to go into hiding in caves, much like Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against Soviet Russia in the 80s. How many of us would be willing to leave our comfortable homes and sacrifice our comfort and leisure to do such a thing for Mashiach ben David? As we look forward to the days of Mashiach ben David and the final redemption, these are the questions we should be asking, not “When is Mashiach going to arrive to take care of all my problems while I sit here and watch him do all the work?”

So what might it look like to prepare for Mashiach Ben David (Besides raising a good family and learning Torah doing tefila and mitzvot)? In my humble opinion it would strongly entail a few things on a basic level:

–Coming back to Israel, thereby embracing our long-lost connection to the land, regardless of how we feel about the political governance–again, we need to learn to think like Belisarius.

–Asking ourselves how we can best serve the land and its people–military, volunteering, financial and/or verbal support, etc.

–Not only loving but respecting our fellow Jews regardless of differences.

–Learning a bit of respect for our leaders–as one rabbi of mine put it, “We are the only country on earth that I know of that calls its leader Bibi.” I tend to agree. I’ve often pointed out, no one today or in the past ever called the American president “Georgie,” “Barry,” or “Donnie.”

–Embracing a mindset of self-sacrifice and servant-leadership for when necessary.

The message has become cliche, but JFK’s quote of “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” rings strongly.

May we find the strength and ability to rise to the occasion in the spirit of loyalty and honor, even as we prepare for Mashiach ben David.