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The Messiah Waits Outside Rome for Israel

A rabbi asked the Messiah when he would come. The answer was today. Elijah had to explain what today means, and the explanation has not resolved.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Elijah Brought Someone to a Gate
  2. The Question the Rabbi Asked
  3. The Rest of the Verse
  4. The Choice of Rome

Elijah Brought Someone to a Gate

The meeting was arranged by Elijah. Not everyone received this particular introduction. The legend specifies that a certain rabbi held a unique place in the prophet's affection, the kind of closeness that made Elijah willing to arrange something extraordinary. He brought this rabbi to the gates of Rome.

He pointed to a man sitting among the sick poor who gathered there, the lepers and the afflicted who clustered at the city gate in the way that the desperate have always gathered at the edges of places where they might be helped or ignored. The man Elijah pointed to was doing something specific. He was unwrapping his bandages one at a time, carefully, and then rewrapping them one at a time, so that at no point were all his bandages off at once. He was staying ready. If he were called in a moment, he needed to be able to move immediately.

That man was the Messiah.

The Question the Rabbi Asked

The rabbi went to him directly and asked: when will you come?

The Messiah answered: today.

The rabbi went back to Elijah with the answer and the anger that comes when a hope has been raised and immediately betrayed. Today had not come. The day had passed like every other day. Nothing had changed. The Messiah had told him today, and today was ending like every other today, without redemption.

The Rest of the Verse

Elijah heard the rabbi's frustration and gave him what was needed: the rest of the sentence. The Messiah's today was not an ordinary today. He had been quoting the book of Psalms, the verse that reads: today, if you would but hearken to his voice.

The condition was contained in the answer. Today, if. Not today, unconditionally. Not today, as a fixed appointment on a calendar that human behavior cannot affect. Today, if the generation were ready. Today, if the hearing were real. The Messiah was not saying that today was the day. He was saying that every day contains the possibility of being the day, provided that the condition is met. The condition has not been met. That is why today has not yet arrived.

The hardest part of the answer was left unsoftened: the Messiah is already at the gate. He has been at the gate. The gate is not locked from his side.

The Choice of Rome

The location is not incidental. Rome was the empire that destroyed the Temple, the civilization that stood in the tradition as the embodiment of power without covenant, beauty without justice, authority without accountability to God. The Messiah is not waiting outside Jerusalem, which would be the expected location. He is waiting outside Rome, in the seat of the power that made redemption necessary.

He is waiting there among the sick. Not at the head of an army. Not in a palace preparing his entry. He is among the people who have been left at the margins by the world that Rome represents, and he is tending his own wounds while he waits, staying ready without knowing when the readiness will be required. That image, the anointed one with his bandages, staying ready at the gate of the enemy empire, has held at the center of the story for fourteen centuries, and what it holds is this: that redemption is not absent. It is conditional.

ElijahMessiahRedemptionFaithEthics
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Sanhedrin 98aTalmud Bavli, Sanhedrin

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi found Elijah standing at the entrance of the cave of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. He said to him: When will the Messiah come? He said to him: Go and ask him himself. And where is he sitting? At the entrance of Rome. And what is his sign? He sits among the poor who bear illnesses, and all of them untie and rebind their bandages all at once, while he unties one and binds one. He says: Perhaps I will be needed, so that I do not delay.

He went to him. He said to him: Peace be upon you, my teacher and my master! He said to him: Peace be upon you, son of Levi. He said to him: When are you coming, master? He said to him: Today. He came back to Elijah. He said to him: What did he say to you? He said to him: He said "Peace be upon you, son of Levi." He said to him: He assured you and your father a place in the World to Come. He said to him: He lied to me, for he said to me "Today I am coming," and he did not come. He said to him: This is what he said to you: "Today, if you will hearken to His voice" (Psalms 95:7).

Full source
Legends of the Jews 7:66Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews turns to Elijah and the Messiah.

This wasn’t just any Rabbi,. This Rabbi was special. He held a unique place in the heart of Elijah the Prophet himself! Elijah, that fiery, immortal figure who roams the earth, intervening in moments of need. He clearly thought this Rabbi was someone worth investing in.

So, Elijah, in his infinite kindness, arranged something extraordinary: an interview between this favored Rabbi and the Messiah.

The scene. The Rabbi, guided by Elijah, finds the Messiah not in a palace, not surrounded by royalty, but among a crowd of afflicted poor gathered near the city gates of Rome. The future king of Israel, the one who will usher in an era of peace and prosperity, is found amongst the most vulnerable. It tells you something about the Messiah’s character, doesn't it?

Approaching him, the Rabbi offers a traditional greeting: "Peace be with thee, my teacher and guide!" A respectful, almost reverent salutation. And the Messiah's response? Equally beautiful: "Peace be with thee, thou son of Levi!"

The Rabbi, overcome with the gravity of the moment, asks the question that burns in every Jewish soul: When will you appear? When will redemption come?

And the Messiah gives an answer that's both simple and profoundly complex: "To-day."

Confused? You're not alone. The Rabbi, understandably puzzled, turns to Elijah for clarification. And Elijah, that wise and knowing prophet, explains. What the Messiah meant by "to-day" wasn't a literal 24-hour period. Instead, it was a statement about readiness. According to this legend, recounted in Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, the Messiah is always ready to bring Israel redemption. Always.

But here's the kicker. The ball, so to speak, is in our court. The Messiah will fulfill his mission, Elijah explains, the instant Israel shows itself worthy. The instant we, as a people, are ready.

Think about the weight of that. The power, and the responsibility. Redemption isn't just a passive event that happens to us. It's something we actively participate in. It hinges on our actions, our choices, our collective worthiness.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What does it mean to be "worthy" of redemption? And are we ready?

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