How the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible understood Times of Tribulation
If you read the books of the biblical prophets, you’ll see that they criticise Israelian and Judean society for various kinds of social injustices (e.g. oppression and exploitation of the poor, corrupt business practices, adulation of wealth, abuse of power by political leaders and the rich elite, abuse of religion, etc), as well as for worshipping false gods. They warned that, if their society did not repent, and return to the good and righteous ways of YHVH, then a time of great upheaval and society-breaking tribulation would come. If their society still did not return to God’s good ways of social justice, then the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah would be exiled from the Land. However, if in the countries of our exile, we repented and returned to God’s ways, then YHVH would return us to the Land, and those who returned would build a new society, based on God’s just ideals and values.
This view of history is called Tribulationism, for obvious reasons, and is the sequence of events as described in Deuteronomy (Dt 4:27, 28:63-64; Dt 4:29-31; Dt 30:2-3). The prophets referred to this period of tribulation as, ‘The Day of YHVH’ (or, ‘Day of the LORD’ in Xtian bibles). The biblical prophets were all tribulationists – we know this, because what they warned of actually happened – the northern kingdom of Israel was exiled to Assyria, and the southern kingdom of Judah was exiled to Babylon. So far, only the people of the southern kingdom’s 3 tribes have returned; the 9 tribes of the northern kingdom have not yet returned (although some northerners did flee to the south at the time, and their descendants are now mixed in with modern Jews).
How Apocalypticism came directly from the Persian Religion
After the return of the Judeans from Babylon, the Jewish people became heavily influenced by the duallist Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. It’s called ‘duallist’, because they believed there is a Ruler of all that is good, and there is a ruler of all that is evil, who are both equal and opposite in power. The Zoroastrians believe that the reason why there is suffering on earth, is because there are battles going on in heaven between good and evil, between angels and demons. At the end of the world, there will be one final battle, when evil will be swept away, and the world will be perfect, with only the faithful as the survivors.
Recognise these beliefs at all? By the time the Jewish people returned from Babylon, they had become heavily influenced by Zoroastrian ideas, and developed a new theology, not based on the Hebrew Bible, which modern scholars call Apocalypticism.
The Key Differences between the two Theologies
The main difference between Tribulationism and Apocalypticism, is in a couple of key areas. Apocalypticists see ALL signs of war and upheaval as signs of a fast-approaching end of the world, when the non-faithful will be swept away; whereas tribulationists see wars and conflicts as signs that human society is doing many things wrong, committing many injustices, abusing religion, and we need to repent and return to God’s righteous designs and ideals for society and for the world. Doing so will save humanity, and the world will not end.
Whereas apocalypticists believe that after the world has ended, the world will be perfect, with no suffering, tribulationists believe that after a time of tribulation, if society repents, then society will be restored according to God’s ideals and values. In Jewish history, there have been a number of tribulations, and so the prophets who predicted them were successful. So far there have been no apocalypses.
What is relevant for us today, and for people of all generations, is that we cannot ever rest on our laurels and so become complacent. There will always be times when society functions in accord with God’s righteous ideals, but there will also be many periods of human injustice and oppression. It is the duty of good people – whether religious or not, and of any religious persuasion – to stand behind a decent, stable and just society, and encourage our fellow human beings to strive after it, in every generation.
Unhelpful Ideas about what Prophets are and do
A lot of modern Christians think that prophets are all about predicting the far distant future, and that what they said is coming true in our time, but that’s not what Hebrew prophets are about at all. They give warnings that if society doesn’t change, then bad things will happen. However, if people repent – if they change how they behave, and improve how society and religion function – then those bad things will not happen. The hallmark and test of a true prophet, is that the bad things they warn about will come true within the lifetimes of their immediate audience, not in the distant future.
Some people say that Yeshua was an apocalyptic prophet (notably Dr Bart Ehrman). If Yeshua was an apocalyptic prophet, Dr Ehrman concludes that he failed as a prophet, because the world obviously didn’t end, evil wasn’t swept away, and no perfect world came about.
Yeshua was a Tribulationist Prophet
Modern Talmidaism believes that Yeshua was instead a tribulationist prophet, just like all the biblical prophets before him – he criticised many ills and faults of the society of his day (including the way in which so-called religious people were hypocritically abusing religion), and warned of a time of tribulation if there was no repentance. What Yeshua warned about came true within a few decades – the Temple was destroyed (‘not one stone was left standing on another’), Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jewish people were exiled from Judea, but eventually, the Jewish people returned to the Land. This is why, with how Talmidis understand the ministry and mission of the Prophet Yeshua, Yeshua was a successful prophet, because what he criticised about society and religious people were justified criticisms, and what he warned about the future actually happened.
Apocalypticists look forward to the end of the world, whereas tribulationists see what is going on around them as a wake-up call to root out social injustice, reform the worst aspects of religion, and rebuild a better society. Apocalypticism causes people to think that society’s problems are merely signs of the end, so avoiding all responsibility for anything that is wrong with society – doing better is not their responsibility, and they don’t have to improve themselves, their society or their religious community (this attitude just leads to religious fundamentalists hunkering down and becoming more hateful, irrational and unreasonable).
On the other hand, Tribulationism causes people to realise that human beings are responsible for the corruption and breakdown of human society, and for the abuses of religion; and realising this moves people to change and do better, because only by doing so will we create a better world, so avoiding tribulation.
Conclusion
We have to understand that Apocalypticism, even though it was believed in by most Jewish people during the Second Temple period, is a pagan import to Judaism; it was not part of the original Israelite Faith. The original, biblical view of upheaval and conflict, from what God told us through all the true Hebrew prophets, was tribulation (‘the Day of YHVH’), NOT apocalypse. Yeshua was a tribulationist prophet, because everything he said came true in the years leading up to the destruction of the Temple in 70CE.