terça-feira, 10 de maio de 2011

“The Chastening of the Lord” A Study of the Hebrew Word Musar

by Kyle Pope
The book of Proverbs begins with the stated objective - “To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding” (1:2, NKJV). The word translated “instruction” in this text is the Hebrew word musar. This word holds a special significance which is valuable for us to understand.
Derived from the verb yasar meaning to “discipline, chasten, instruct,” which is also represented in Ugaritic by the cognate ysr of the same meaning (TWOT, I, 386-387), musar can refer to punishment, training or education.
In the Old Testament, musar is first used in the second reading of the Law, when the Lord speaks of the Israelites as having seen the “chastening (musar) of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 11:2, NKJV). Here it is described as something that they could witness. The next verses list three things which were a part of this “chastening” - 1. God’s rescue of the people by the signs in Egypt and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army (11:3,4), 2. God’s treatment of the people in the desert (11:5) and 3. The punishment of the sons of Korah (11:6). From this example we can see that musar is both corrective and educational.
Musar is communicated in various ways. When one is punished for wrong doing it is musar (Proverbs 7:22). It is something that can be taught in words - “My son, hear the instruction (musar) of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother” (Proverbs 1:8). Musar can be learned by observing circumstances that surround a person. In the book of Proverbs the writer looks at the rundown home of one whom he passes and learns the value of work (Proverbs 24:30-34). This education from his own observation is “receiving musar (Proverbs 24:32).
Musar must be “received” and not rejected if it is to be of benefit (Proverbs 1:3; 8:10; 19:20; Jeremiah 5:3; 17:23; 32:33; 35:13; Zephaniah 3:7). We are urged not to despise musar (Job 5:17); the wicked hate musar and cast the words of the Lord far from them (Psalm 50:16,17). Fools despise musar (Proverbs 1:7). The book of Proverbs personifies musarcharging the reader to, “take firm hold of instruction (musar) do not let go; keep her, for she is your life” (Proverbs 4:13). The “reproofs” of musar are “the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23).
While human beings can teach musar it is primarily something we learn from God. Jeremiah shows us that a benefit of a living God (in contrast to an idol) is the musar which He offers. Jeremiah points out that, “A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine (musar).” (Jeremiah 10:8). The New American Standard calls this “the discipline (musar) of delusion.”
Jesus is offered as musar. In the beautiful and yet heartbreaking prophecy in the book of Isaiah which tells us about the suffering Messiah we see Jesus as musar. The text reads, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement (musar) for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (53:5). This tells us more than simply that Jesus suffered the punishment we deserved. Jesus was the instruction (musar) that we must receive. Looking at His suffering should teach us the seriousness or sin and its penalty. This instruction (musar) if accepted can bring us peace with God.
Pope, Kyle. "'The Chastening of the Lord' : A Study of the Hebrew Word Musar" Biblical Insights 2.5 (May 2002): 17.
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Teach to Love

Steven Kepnes

Colgate University

Devarim - Deuteronomy
Chapter 6: 1-11

1 Now this is the commandment-- the laws and the rules-- which The LORD your God commanded, to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you are about to cross over to, to possess--
2 So that you might fear The LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you--you, your child, and your grandchild-- all the days of your life; so that your days may be lengthened.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and beware to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as The LORD, the G-d of your fathers, hath promised you--a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One.
5 And you shall love The LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart;
7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
9 And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and upon your gates...
10 And it shall be, when the Lord your God shall bring thee into the land which He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--great and goodly cities, which you did not build,
11 and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, vineyards and olive-trees, which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
One of the challenges of learning and teaching scripture is to hear it anew and teach it so that it can be received anew. Both teacher and learner need to break open presuppositions about the meaning of the scriptures that have been built up by repetitive hearings in houses of prayer and by a variety of "scientific" approaches to this texts. Franz Rosenzweig and Martin Buber saw this as a major challenge in their attempt to translate the Hebrew Bible into German. They came up with a peculiar German that was consciously laced with Hebraisms in the hope that readers could "place themselves anew before the renewed book."[1] The Society of Scriptural Reasoning affords us another type of opportunity for new hearing, new learning and teaching, as we see and hear our scriptures through the eyes and ears of others for whom our own texts are truly new. The act of teaching and learning the Torah as Jews, along with Muslims and Christians, necessarily places the texts in a different light. Learning the well-known text along-side and with others, the meaning of a verse of Torah suddenly is no longer so clear. New questions and problems arise, one alternatively becomes embarrassed and proud, and thus the text that formerly was so familiar, is again foreign and opaque. Like all real symbols, the meaning of scripture then becomes as Peter Ochs following C.S. Peirce has described it, "indeterminate" and "vague." And we as scriptural reasoners come together as a new "interpretant," an interpretive community that is called to renegotiate what the text might mean for the present context.[2] Since we are reading scripture, we want to retain some sense that the text has a normative priority for us. Given this priority, which is at once moral and spiritual, we must address the question of how we can use the text in our lives. How can the text be a source of healing for us as Jews, Christians, and Muslims? And how can it bring hope to our conflict-ridden world?
For this, our first SSR session in the regular program of the AAR, I have assigned myself the task of rereading one of the most well known texts for Jews. Deuteronomy 6 includes the Shema, "Hear O Israel" (6:4) prayer that has been called the "doxology of Judaism." This prayer, which is a statement of God's oneness, is said twice a day in communal worship. It is recited before going to sleep and its words are to be the last that are uttered before death. The words of the Shema are written on parchment and placed in the tefillin or phylacteries that are worn in morning prayer. The words are also placed in small boxes, mezzuzot, so that they can be attached to the doorpost of every Jewish home as a signifying marker--here lives a Jew. The verses that follow the Shema, the v'ahavtah, which demand love of God, are almost as well known as the Shema as they are said immediately following the Shema and are also placed in the tefillin and mezuzah. Given the ubiquity of the Shema and the v'ahavtah in Judaism, I have chosen them as a test case to see if and how the SSR might allow me and our other Jewish participants to find new meaning and new applications for the words today. I also hope to see how the words resonate in the ears of Christian and Muslim participants in our SR session. Beyond this, the Shema and the v'ahavtah specifically address our theme of teaching and learning scripture and thus they pick up on themes that were introduced by Mike Higton in his discussion of the Gospel of Mark and Vincent Cornell in his discussion of the Qur'an.
For my analysis I will follow our general procedure in SSR. This means that we start with a presentation of the "pshat" or plain sense of the text. I will then attempt to open a space for the second level of interpretation in which we form a hermeneutical community and discuss, collectively, the meanings of the text for us. There are, of course, many ways to discuss the pshat. We could employ philological analysis, historical criticism, form criticism, or traditional exegesis. What I try to do however, is to map out the implicit form of reasoning that I find in the text itself with an eye to its place in what George Lindbeck has called the "cultural-linguistic system" of Judaism.[3] This will involve me in a largely "intratextual analysis" of the text of the Shema andv'ahavtah, first in the context of Deuteronomy 6 in which it appears in the Torah and then in the context of Jewish liturgy where the text is regularly recited. Throughout this analysis, I will pause and, through the use of capital letters, set off a second order of comments and questions for us as the SR community of interpreters. Here I will attempt to raise questions and open spaces which I hope we, as a collective group, will explore for our practice of group study.

An Intratextual Analysis of the Shema and V'Ahavtah with Suggestions for Scriptural Reasoners

Deuteronomy 6 is about a series of "crossings over," a series of transformations. Following our theme of learning and teaching the chapter maps a movement from ignorance to knowledge, from knowing to doing, from learning to teaching. Deuteronomy 6 is about a kind of knowing that is placed on and within the mind, body and soul, so that the teaching not only becomes a form of life but that life itself becomes a kind of sign or teaching or witness. Deuteronomy 6 is about a special kind of knowing that is also a kind of joy. This joy extends life and spirit and therefore brings concrete bodily rewards. Deuteronomy 6 is about God. It includes a scriptural theology through which God appears as feared commander, as teacher, as lover, as beloved, as parent, but also as utterly transcendent and unique. So in this piece of scripture God too is dynamic and consistently transformed and this is the clue to our own transformation.
In this first line of Deuteronomy 6 we have the major themes of the chapter.
Now this is the commandment—the laws and the rules—which The LORD your God commanded, to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you are about to cross over to, to possess.
There is a bit of unclarity about the meaning of "the commandment," ha-mitsvah. Given in the singular, it is perhaps a metonymic expression for all mitsvot, all the "laws and rules;" but it could also refer to the central commandment of the chapter, which comes in line 5—"You shall love the Lord your God..." It is interesting and important too, that the commandment comes first and then the teaching. This seems to say that whether Israel; has understood or not, Israel is first commanded. Thus, Israel responds when it first receives the Torah in Exodus "naaseh v nishmah," we will do [first] and [then] understand (Ex 24:3).
We have taken this as one of the procedural methods of Scriptural Reasoning. We start by doing Scriptural Reasoning and move toward understanding what we did as we recollect, reflect upon, and organize what already happened. The issue of sequence is addressed further in the verse, so let us now attend to it.
The sequence is: command, teach, do, cross over, possess. I am particularly interested in the relation of teaching and doing because this relation seems to me to be the central directive of scriptural pedagogy. Scripture sits at the nexus of teaching and action and its task is to bring to two together. Like wisdom sitting daily at the gates (Proverbs 8:35 ), scripture cries out to both the mind and body: you must come together around and through me. But why does scripture cry out and command this? Why does it repeat the message to bring wisdom and action together incessantly? It must be because learning to do [lilmod laasot] what is good is not easy.
[As Paul says, "For I do not do the good that I want" - Romans 7:19.]
It is indeed, the hardest "crossing over" or transformation that Israel is called to do. But the verse assures that it is worth it because the reward is real and concrete. When learning and doing come together the reward is a crossing over to the promised land. And this reward is not a fleeting thing but a concrete reality that can be possessed!
But reading Deuteronomy 6:1 with Muslims and Christians today leads me to pause over the meaning of th ereward of "The Land" and the meaning of "possessing it." This reference is clearly one of many biblical warrants that Jews look to establish their claim to the land of Israel. Yet it is interesting how the claim is couched in relation to the doing of mitzvot and to fear of God. Also beginning with verse 6:3 a dynamic arises where the land becomes idealized as "flowing with milk and honey." This theme is pushed in 6:10-11 so that the land is not earned as a reward for doing mitzvot or as the result of the human work of building, but becomes a pure gift which Israel receives despite the fact that she did no work, no building, hewing, planting, etc.! Is this the grace that Paul will make so much of? Is there a parallel in the Qur'an?
But to return my pshat reading...let us look at verse 6: 2. Here, it seems that the sequence: command, teach, do, crossover, possess, is now interpreted toward a theological meaning. Thus the text seems to say you must learn to do the commandment... "So that you might fear the LORD your God." Verse 2 calls Israel back to the beginning of the process; what it is that God as teacher is teaching. And it is restated well in Proverbs. "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (1:7)"
We might well pause now to consider what the meaning of "fear of God" is, especially since our modern interpreters so quickly want to dispense with the term by transforming it into awe or respect or reverence (see Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation).
A plain sense reading of the consequences of "fear of the Lord" seems to be that it leads to a broadening and intensification of the sequence in verse one. Thus, Israel must "Beware," sh,mor, or, be careful to do it. And the reward is children and grandchildren, a lengthening of days, (v 2) and a "mighty increase" both in descendents of the people Israel and the land now described as "flowing with milk and honey."
Hear therefore, O Israel, and beware to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as The LORD, the God of your fathers, hath promised you--a land flowing with milk and honey.
There is much that could be said about the admittedly difficult term "fear of God" but picking up on the Proverbs image of wisdom who sits at the gate, I would suggest that the "Fear of the God" is a passage that must be traversed and a teaching that must be learned. For only from here can we begin the next even more difficult task and that is to approach the realization of the Lord's oneness and to come to the gate of "love of God."
So now we are here at verse 4, perhaps the central verse of all of Torah. The verse referred to in Judaism by its first word: "Shema" or Hear!" We already had this word in verse three, so the repetition of the term tolls out like a bell. As if to startle and shake Israel up, the scripture calls out "HEAR!" "Hear O Israel" For the problem is that Israel hears but does not really listen.
Hear O Israel, The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One.
This is the fundamental statement of Torah. It declares first that the Lord is "our" God, thereby bringing God closer to the people Israel and then declaring God's oneness. The Rabbi's understand the oneness of God to mean not only one in the numerical sense, but more importantly, in the sense that the Lord is unique, set apart, alone, unlike anything else. And this thereby establishes again God's distance from humans. But from this distance the one God commands what seemingly cannot be commanded, love. Fear, respect, reverence can be commanded, but love? And the type of love that God demands is not simple but unconditional, total.
And you shall love The LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Here, the unique one makes himself vulnerable. v'ahavtah: Love me! Here, the utterly transcendent one asks us for what is most intimate and personal. The infinite distance collapses to be replaced by an infinite demand for what is most close. The unique one makes his aloneness a detriment; emptiness, a loneliness that requires and demands that the finite and mortal ones, fill it with the only claim humans have to infiniteness, their ability to love. But God's infinite demand for our love leaves us with a great question and a greater challenge. How? How do we love you? Here scripture moves in to provide an answer.
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Place the words of the Shema and v'ahavtah in that spot between your mind and heart (for the Hebrew word "lev" is equally mind and heart) and think with your mind and heart about the words. Let them be there constantly, tolling within you like the beating of your heart. Become a teacher of these words.
Here, we have a crossing over from God as teacher in verse 1 to humans as teachers. And scripture seems to be saying what we, as teachers, know-- that we only really come to know a thing when we teach it! Before teaching it, knowing is abstract, as we teach it, we come to know it more deeply.
But whom are humans told to teach the words of the Lord's oneness and love of God to? "Teach these words to your children." Knowledge of the love of God is a certain kind of knowledge, a knowledge that needs to be taught with and through love.
Mike Higton suggests that the giving of this knowledge requires the relationship of discipleship. This seems to be a logical extension of the parent-child relationship. But Scripture seems to both include disciples and students and yet go well beyond them to everyone we meet "on our way."
... And you shall talk of them [the words "The Lord is One...Love God"] when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Let us pause here to consider this commandment. Let us reflect on how difficult it is. Here, Torah asks humans to speak of the Lord's oneness and love of God at virtually all times. Here, Torah multiplies the notion of Mitzvah as fulfilling a positive commandment [eating Matzah] or refraining from doing a negative commandment [not eating leaven bread[ to a vague and infinite requirement to repeat [shinantem] words of the Lord's oneness and love of God continually. Like many of the parables that Mike points us to and the very meaning of the presence of Jesus on earth, the meaning of the command to "talk of the words" is hard to assign. I could quote Mike directly here. "It does not consist in any kind of learning as accumulation. It does not consist in any kind of learning as acquisition of a skill..." Is fulfilling this commandment gained by teachign of the words of Scripture in general? Isn't all Scripture finally boiled down to "The Lord is One, Love God?"
Without trying to compromise the infinite demand of the commandment, it will behoove us to look at what the Rabbis do with the commandment. Like any social group when faced with a vague rule, the Rabbis interpret and shape the rule so that it is useful and productive for their society. Thus, the commandment to speak of and teach the words of the Shema and the v'ahavtah are interpreted liturgically. And Israel then recites/ sings these words twice a day, at night (when you lie down) and in the morning (when you rise up). And the commandment "you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes" also is interpreted liturgically or ritually. For the words of the Shema and the v'ahavtah are written on parchment and placed in the Tefillin or Phylacteries and worn on the arm, hand, and head of the worshippers as they say the words in morning prayers. Finally, placing the words in small containers, mezzuzot, and affixing them to doors of buildings and city gates fulfill the command "you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house, and upon your gates". In this way communal space in which the words "The Lord is One...Love God" are continually uttered are marked out and doors and gates become themselves beacons and signs of the Lord's oneness and the love of God.
The liturgical rendering of the command to say and teach the Shema andv'ahavtah at once tames and renders humanly useful the infinite commandment. In the confines of the community and the set apart sacred space of worship, the statement of the Lord's oneness and the love of God can take flight in the communal chant. The liturgical moment allows for concentration and reflection on the words. The architecture, the garments of prayer, the ambiance of serenity and seriousness, help to keep away distractions and allow for focus. The liturgical recitation of the words brings them into the mind and heart of the worshipper. The beauty of the melodies and eros of the communal singing brings the Shekhinah, the presence of God, close and opens up a path for love of God. Wearing the Tefillin places the words on the body so that the body becomes itself a marker, a sign of the Shema and a display of the v'ahavtah: The Lord is One...You shall love God....
Having uttered the words in liturgy, have been marked by the words on her body, the worshipper now walks out through the door that is marked by the words "The Lord is One, Love God" into the space whose gates are also marked by the words. Walking about in this space according to the way to walk given by the halakhah becomes a matter of doing the commandment to love. The words of scripture are thus both inside and outside, the person and the world are transformed through signs of God that are everywhere.
The Lord is One; Love God...The Lord is One, Love God. The Lord is One, Love God... "And you shall eat and be satisfied." (6:11).
What is the meaning of these words to us as Scriptural Reasoners? Are these words appropriate only to the liturgical context? Are the words of the Lord's Oneness and Love of God appropriate to the world outside of our own religious communities? Knowing the destructive history of missionizing and holy wars, can we speak these words in the public sphere without destroying the openness and freedoms that modernity has sought to win? Isn't it modernity's gift of the open public square that allows for SR's open dialogue to occur in the first place?
Can we see our own SR interpretive process as a kind of liturgical practice that transforms us and has transformative implications for our own religious and academic communities? Is there a way to bring the words of Scriptural Reasoning outside of our own tents of meeting into the larger world? And what abotu the AAR, or professional organization for the academic study of religion, what place do words of scriptural reasoning have here?
ENDNOTES
[1] Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, Scripture and Translation, Lawrence Rosenwald and Everett Fox Trans and Eds. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994) 7.
[2] Peter Ochs, Peirce, Pragmatism and the Logic of Scripture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
[3] George Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984).

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LOOKING FOR ANSWERS





All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the Sofer to bring the book of the law of Moshe, which the LORD had commanded to Yisra'el. Ezra the Kohen brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were [attentive] to the book of the law.
Ezra the Sofer stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattityah, and Shema, and `Anayah, and Uriyah, and Hilkiyah, and Ma`aseyah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedayahu, and Misha'el, and Malkiyah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zekharyah, [and] Meshullam.
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: and Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. All the people answered, Amein, Amein, with the lifting up of their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
Also Yeshua, and Bani, and Sherevyah, Yamin, `Akkuv, Shabbetai, Hodiyah, Ma`aseyah, Kelita, `Azaryah, Yozavad, Hanan, Pelayah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place. They read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading.
Nechemyah, who was the governor, and Ezra the Kohen the Sofer, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the LORD your God; don't mourn, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
NEHEMIAH 8:1-9

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Sequence of End Times Events
by Dr. Arnold Fructhenbaum

http://www.ariel.org/mbs038e.htm

Quote:
The Sequence of Pretribulational Events
The Great Tribulation is not imminent. A number of events are clearly stated to precede the Tribulation period. This study is concerned with the sequence of those events – nine in all – that on one hand come before the Tribulation and, on the other hand, consecutively lead up to the Tribulation.

A question raised so very often is:

Are we living in the last days? Invariably, the answer is: Yes! But when asked, How do we know?, the answers tend to be rather general and based on present-day crises, particularly on those current events affecting the United States. In this area, many ''newspaper exegetes'' have had a field day proclaiming almost every major, world event to be a partial fulfillment of prophecy and another proof that these are, indeed, the last days. However, this is a very dangerous practice. Prophecy must first be determined from the Scriptures and then applied to current events rather than taking current events and forcing them to fit some kind of scriptural passage. Only after one's eschatology has been developed exegetically from the Scriptures should current events be taken into account to determine if any are fulfilling prophecy. And only if the current events fit the demands of Scripture perfectly are these events to be identified as a fulfillment of prophecy.

Nevertheless, we know that we are living in the last days, because certain pretribulational events have been fulfilled:

A. World Wars I and II

The prophecies regarding World Wars I and II are found in Matthew 24:1-8. Jesus is asked three questions by the disciples, including one of great concern to this study: What shall be the sign of the end of the age? These are typical Jewish expressions of that time. The rabbis spoke of two ages: “this age” and “the age to come.” “This age” is the age in which we now live. “The age to come” was the Messianic Age. Their question is: What is the sign that marks that the end of this age has indeed begun?

Christ reveals in verses 7-8 the one event that will indicate that the end of the age has begun. This sign is said to be when nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. This is to be accompanied by famines and earthquakes. It is clearly stated that these things are the beginning of travail. Throughout the prophetic portions of Scripture, the end days are pictured by the word travail, which means ''birth pang,'' i.e., the pain a woman endures before giving birth to her child. Just as the pregnant woman goes through a series of birth pangs, so the closing days of this age will bring a series of birth pangs before giving birth to the new age of the kingdom.

It is crucial to understand the cultural and historical meaning of the idiom, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Taken in the Jewish context of Jesus' day, this expression points to a total conflict in the area in view. This idiom is found in two Old Testament passages: In Isaiah 19:1-4, the idiom points to a conflict all over the land of Egypt as the nation is engrossed in civil war; in II Chronicles 15:1-7, the Middle East is in view, and the idiom describes a conflict throughout the area. Back to Matthew 24 now, it is clear from verses 14, 21, 30 and 31 that the entire world is in view. Hence, the idiom refers to a worldwide conflict - the first birth pang signifying that the last days have begun.

World War I, waged from 1914-1918, marked the first such worldwide conflict. And most historians concur that World War II was, in effect, a continuation of World War I. These global wars were the first of the events leading up to the Tribulation period.

B. The Re-Establishment of Israel

Amazingly, some Christians have concluded that the present State of Israel has nothing to do with the fulfillment of prophecy. The issue that bothers so many who hold this view is that not only have the Jews returned in unbelief with regard to the person of Jesus, but the majority of those who have returned are not even Orthodox Jews. Certainly, then, Israel could not possibly fulfill the biblical passages dealing with the return of a regenerated nation, according to these proponents.

The problem with this belief is the failure to see that the prophets spoke of two international returns. First, there was to be a regathering in unbelief in preparation for judgment, namely the Tribulation (Ezekiel 20:33-38; 22:17-22; Zephaniah 2:1-2). This was to be followed by a second worldwide regathering in faith in preparation for blessing, namely the Messianic Age (Isaiah 11:11- 12).

Thus, 1948 marked another birth pang of the last days. The restoration of the Jewish state is a fulfillment of those prophecies that spoke of a regathering in unbelief in preparation for judgment. It is another event leading up to the Tribulation and so sets the stage for several other pretribulational events. In fact, in terms of the nine events leading up to the Tribulation, each event sets the stage for its succeeding event. The re-establishment of Israel arose out of World Wars I and II. World War I gave the impetus to the growth of the Zionist movement, and World War II affected world sentiment to allow the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel.

C. Jerusalem Under Jewish Control

The third pretribulational event involves the Jewish control of Jerusalem. The fact that the Jewish state had to exist before the Tribulation does not necessarily require the total Jewish control of Jerusalem. Following the Israeli War of Independence (1948- 1949), Israeli forces were in control of West Jerusalem, the newer Jewish section. The Old City of Jerusalem (the biblical city) fell into the hands of the Jordanian Legion and was later annexed into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jerusalem thus became a divided city and remained that way for the next 19 years.

Nevertheless, prophetically-speaking, the Old City of Jerusalem had to fall under Jewish control. This can be deduced from the prophecies dealing with the third Jewish Temple, sometimes known as the Tribulation Temple. There are four passages of Scripture that describe a specific mid-Tribulation event regarding the Tribulation Temple. Each passage (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; II Thessalonians 2:3-4; and Revelation 11:1-2) speaks of the third Jewish Temple, namely the Tribulation Temple. And all four make the point that in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation, the Antichrist will take control of the Temple and commit the abomination of desolation. These verses view the Jewish Temple as having been rebuilt, and they also presuppose Jewish control of the Temple compound, as well as the Old City of Jerusalem.

Though none of these factors specify a time as to when this was to occur, it was clearly fulfilled in the Six Day War and, thus, became the third birth pang.

D. The Russian Invasion of Israel

Unlike the previous three pretribulational events, the remaining six such events are all to occur in the future. One of these is foretold inEzekiel 38:1 - 39:16, which details an invasion of Israel from the north and the subsequent destruction of the invading forces upon reaching the mountains of Israel.

In Ezekiel 38:1-6, the prophet names the peoples involved in this invasion. In verses 1-4, attention is centered on Gog, the leader in the land of Magog. He is the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. The identity of Gog will only be determined at the time of the invasion, as Gog is not a proper name but a title of the ruler of Magog (like the terms pharaoh, kaiser and czar). The identification of Magog, Rosh, Meshech and Tubal can be determined from the fact that these tribes of the ancient world occupied the areas of modern-day Russia. Magog stood between the Black and Caspian Seas which today comprises southern Russia. The tribes of Meshech and Tubal later gave names to cities that today bear the names of Moscow (Russia’s capital) and Tobolsk, a major city in the Urals in Siberia. Rosh – the basis for the modern name Russia – was located in what is now northern Russia. The modern nation of Russia, then, encompasses all of these areas spoken of by Ezekiel.

As if to avoid any further possible doubt, Ezekiel adds that these come from the uttermost parts of the north (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2). From Israel, the uttermost parts of the north is Russia, with Moscow situated at a point almost a straight line due north from Jerusalem. Hence, Russia - led by Gog - is the leader of the northern confederacy.

But Russia is not alone as she invades Israel; she is the leader of a confederacy. Other nations involved are (verses 5-6): Persia, or present-day Iran; Cush or Ethiopia; Put or Somaliland or Somalia; Gomer, located in modern Germany; and Togarmah, which today is Armenia. Verse 6 adds the phrase, even many peoples with thee. This phrase may simply define the numbers of the nations already mentioned, or it may include other nations not mentioned. One interesting point is that not a single Arab nation participates in this invasion.

These nations are geographically located both north and south of Israel, but it is Russia that is the controlling nation and allied with Moslem, non-Arab states. A common error made in previous interpretations of this passage was to assume that this was a communist invasion. The fall of communism in East Europe has caused many to abandon the ''Russian'' interpretation of this passage. But there is no need to do so. It should be noted that the text never describes the invading nation’s type of government. It does not indicate whether it is a monarchy, socialistic, communistic, democratic, or dictatorial government. The focus is on the geography, not the type of government. While the names of these geographical areas have changed over the centuries, and may change again, the geography itself remains intact. Regardless of what names they may carry at the time of this invasion, the nations involved are those very nations which comprise the particular geographical areas described. So, the leading nation may have once been called the Soviet Union, and more recently the Commonwealth of Independent Sates, and traditionally Russia… regardless, it is this territory, by whatever name it may be known, that will lead the invasion.

Ezekiel (38:1 - 39:16) also affirms that the Russian confederacy's invasion of Israel comes when the latter nation is dwelling securely before the Tribulation (38:14). The prophet reveals too, that the confederacy is destroyed in Israel before the Tribulation (38:17-23).

E. The One-World Government

The fifth birth pang leading up to the Tribulation is the development of a one-world government as found in Daniel 7:23. The fourth Gentile empire is to continue until it eventually devours the whole world. The Roman Empire is hardly a fulfillment of this prophecy.

In light of Ezekiel 38:1 - 39:16, the eastern balance of power – currently centered in Russia and the Moslem block of nations – will collapse with the fall of the Russian forces in Israel and the destruction of Russia itself. With the eastern power destroyed, this will open the way for a one-world government. As to the exact nature of this government, nothing is stated. It will certainly be a form of imperialism, but whether this will be in the form of the United Nations or that of a select leadership is unknown. But that this one world government will develop and devour the whole world is clear.

F. The Ten Kingdoms

This one-world government will eventually split up into ten kingdoms, according to Daniel 7:24a. Of course, there has been much speculation in recent years concerning the European Common Market. This, again, is an errant attempt at “newspaper exegesis” which does not correlate with the scriptural text. Textually, after the world falls under the one-world government, then and only then does the one-world government split into ten kingdoms. But these ten kingdoms cover the entire world rather than just Europe alone. The sixth birth pang will be this division of the one-world empire into ten kingdoms with ten kings who will rule the world. At best, the Common Market might become one of the ten, but could hardly become all ten. Beginning before the Tribulation, this ten-kingdom stage will continue into the middle of the Tribulation.

G. The Rise of the Antichrist

Following the division of the world into ten kingdoms, the Antichrist will begin his rise to power in Daniel 7:24b. That there was to be a revelation of the identity of the Antichrist before the Tribulation is clear from II Thessalonians 2:1-3. In this passage, two events are said to occur before the day of the Lord, which always refers to the Tribulation. The first is the apostasy; the second is the revelation of the man of sin and the son of perdition. This seventh birth pang – the revelation of the identity of the Antichrist – will precede the Tribulation.

H. The Period of Peace and False Security

Another pretribulational event is portrayed in I Thessalonians 5:1-3, where the term, the day of the Lord, is applied once again. The destruction of the Tribulation hits with such sudden and devastating force at a time when men are saying, ''Peace and safety.'' This period, then, must come just before the act that initiates the Tribulation itself. So, while all the world is under the ten kingdoms and the Antichrist is rising to power, there will be a period of peace and false security - the eighth birth pang.

I. The Seven Year Covenant

The event leading up to the Tribulation is the signing of the seven-year covenant between Israel and the Antichrist, something foretold in Daniel 9:27 and Isaiah 28:14-22. It must be emphasized that it is not the Rapture that ushers in the Tribulation but, instead, the signing of the seven-year covenant.

The Rapture will precede the Tribulation by some unknown period of time but does not actually start it; only the seven-year covenant can do so.
Copyright © 2005, Ariel Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
Yeshua is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah
The complete Messianic Bible Study of “The Basis of the Second Coming of Christ” is available as Catalog item #mbs-038.
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