Thank you for this studious analysis. Roland's predicament reveals his noble character, which still inspires us moderns, as any epic tale should. Keep up the good work. The parallel between Roland and Christ is especially profound.
The caution is that such patriotism may easily devolve into a form of idolatry that insists on, “my country right or wrong.” The Prophet Jeremiah recorded how Judah on the eve of the Babylonian captivity was placing false confidence in “the temple, the temple, the temple,” all the while neglecting allegiance to the God of the temple (Jer. 7:4). Closer to home, in March, 2022 conservatives in the United States are quick to label Vladimir Putin as “evil” for a relatively small number of civilian deaths suffered during his military incursion in Ukraine. At the same time, they raised not a peep when an estimated one million civilian deaths were inflicted by the U.S. deep state during it’s illegal 20-year war against Iraq (2000-2020). We may well ponder, does the Bible elevate valor in war above the arts of peace? Roland’s rationale to Oliver for not sounding the Oliphant, was, “The Emperor loves us more for striking well.” Roland had pledged his fealty to Charlemagne to protect the main body of troops from exposure to harm. At the end of the battle, when he had inflicted great devastation on the enemy, his duty was fulfilled and he could sound the Oliphant in a call for justice. The Bible does praise such fealty in a just war. However, it is incumbent on each us to judge well before participating voluntarily in war. When Rehoboam was rallying the troops for war against Jeroboam, God forbade it. Northern men who escaped to Canada when Lincoln was recruiting to invade the South were acting honorably. Just 40 days prior to Fort Sumter Lincoln endorsed the Corwin Amendment to guarantee slavery in all of the states - he had other motives for war. At the end of his military career, two-time medal of honor winner, Marine General Smedley Butler, warned against participation in U.S. wars of aggression: “I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested…Our boys were sent to die with beautiful ideals pointed in front of them. No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason they were marching off to kill and die.”
