Prophecy, Eschatology and the Hebrew Mind
By Dr. Roy Blizzard
Prophecy. It is the "in" thing. People are talking about it, writing about it. "Prophetic News", "The World in Prophecy", "End Times Newsletter", plus a spate of others cross my desk every month. People want to know about it. People want to hear about it. People want to read about it. It is exciting. It is sensational. It lets us know that the end is near and helps us to prepare for Messiah's coming which, by all accounts, will be "soon."
If you want to get a crowd together today, just announce a teaching on prophecy, or organize a prophecy conference! Only one thing will attract a bigger crowd — a miracle service! People want to know about prophecy. They want to see a miracle. I will admit that it is exciting and frequently sounds so good.
There is only one problem. It is basically wrong. The root of the problem is an inability on the part of the occidental Western mind to understand Hebrew apocalyptic literature. It is an inability to project oneself back 2,000–2,700 years in time to a culture and a language totally foreign to the Western mind of today and try to interpret the allegorical, the abstract, into prophecies, literalisms.
In Hebrew, there are three different words that are translated in English so as to imply a look into the future. The first is roeh (רֹאֶה). In Hebrew, it is resh aleph hey (ר־א־ה) from the verb ra'ah (רָאָה), which means "to see." The roeh (רֹאֶה) was a seer and it is used in Isaiah 30:10 of the seers as a class.
The same word is used for Samuel in 1 Samuel 5 and implies one who sees or knows things, although not necessarily futuristic. Their seeing could be likened to a "word of knowledge," or a "word of wisdom."
The second is chozeh (חוֹזֶה), which also means a seer, or a visionary, one who sees visions. The verb is chazah (חָזָה), and a chazon (חָזוֹן) is a vision. It is used frequently of prophets such as Gad, Amos, Iddo, Jehu, as well as of historical writers who are known as divre hachozim (דִּבְרֵי הַחוֹזִים).
2 Chronicles 33:18 implies one who perceives with the inner vision. Although it can mean to "see," as in an ecstatic state such as Isaiah and Ezekiel, it can also mean to see with intelligence, or from experience, and is frequently used synonymously with navi (נָבִיא). The word most commonly translated as "prophesies" in English is the Hebrew navi (נָבִיא), which means a spokesman, a speaker, one who speaks forth.
In its oldest form, the verb navah (נָבָה) denoted religious ecstasy, sometimes accompanied in the ecstatic state with song and music. In its later form, it meant, essentially, religious instruction with only occasional futuristic predictions. In most instances, the futuristic predictions were peripheral to the message and not the heart of it.
In primitive stages of development, traces of the primitive arts and practices of soothsaying and divination can be found, but the idea of seeing things veiled from the common eye and declaring the things just seen to the people of God soon becomes characteristic of the true prophet. It was his or her privilege to understand and know God's will and to communicate His will and words to the people.
Somehow, it has escaped the Western world that the ideas, the images, and theologies of both the Old and the New Testaments relative to the "end of the days," the "end time," or simply "the end," are all Hebraic and must be understood in the broader context of Hebrew eschatology.
Eschatology comes from the Greek to eschata, denoting "the end of days," or in Hebrew acharit hayamim (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים), or haketz (הַקֵּץ), "the end." Eschatology expresses the hope of greater things to come for Israel and for mankind. These views begin with the patriarchs and are solidified with Moses in Israel's final victory over the nations of the world.
The prophets sound forth the coming judgment with the "day of the Lord," a time when God's wrath is to be directed against all the ungodly, and a time for salvation of the righteous. It becomes a day of wrath for the pagans, a day of triumph for Israel. The final destruction of the heathen world empires is a feature in many of the later prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Haggai, etc., in contrast to the salvation promised to Israel (Isaiah 34, 35).
The origin of the term, "day of the Lord," is obscure. Although Amos is one of the first to use the term yom YHWH (יוֹם י־ה־ו־ה), the idea certainly dates from a period of time much earlier than his. There is a hint of a general belief in a future time found in the Accadian ina almti, which means simply, "in the future." Nonetheless, by the time of Amos (8th century BCE), the idea that there was a time coming when God would bring His people a complete victory over their foes and lead them into an age of everlasting peace and prosperity was common.
In addition to this concept of the "day of the Lord," prophets from the time of Amos onward spoke of a Messianic future through the reign of a "son from the house of David," an age of bliss, perfect peace and harmony among all creatures, a new heaven, and a new earth (Isaiah 11:1–10; 65:17–25). In this Messianic kingdom, death would be swallowed up and the righteous raised from the dead, and all would behold the glory of the Lord (Isaiah 24:21; 25:8; 26:19). The idea of a resurrection was first expressed by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37) in reference to the Jewish nation.
Under the influence of Persian theology, the resurrection was made a part of the "day of judgment." The clearest expression of this belief is in Daniel 12:12, and from the time of Daniel onward, a concept of resurrection and of life after death becomes a focus of mainstream Jewish thought. There is no basis in the Old Testament for retribution for the soul after death. Under the influence of Babylonian and Persian theology, the ancient Hebrew concept of Sheol (שְׁאוֹל) is replaced by Gehenna (גֵּיהִנּוֹם), the valley west and south of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Since it had been defiled as "the place of the Topheth worship of Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 32:35)," it was cursed by Jeremiah, who predicted that the valley would be filled with corpses to be burned and rot like "dung upon the face of the earth" (Jeremiah 7:32; 8:3).
4 Ezra 7:36, the Assumption of Moses, 10:19; 2 Baruch 85:12–13 add further details from Testamental writings to the eternal suffering to be endured by the wicked. Gehenna (גֵּיהִנּוֹם) was pictured as having seven levels (Sotah 10b), each lower than the other, and has seven names: Sheol (שְׁאוֹל), Abbadon (אֲבַדּוֹן), "pit of corruption," "horrible pit," "mire of clay," "shadow of death," and "nether parts of the earth." It is also called Tophet (תֹּפֶת) (Isaiah 30:33), and there are seven kinds of pains experienced there (2 Esdras 7:81). Genesis Rabbah 28 says that the generation of the flood will be released in due time, whereas Tosefta Sanhedrin 85 declares, "the punishment of those who have led others into heresy will never cease."
The "abode of the righteous" is spoken of as having three levels (1 Enoch 8), each higher than the other, the uppermost being next to the abode of God. In this paradise of God, man returned to the original peace and joy of Gan Eden (גַּן עֵדֶן), the Garden of Eden, as it was before Adam's sin (Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 36:55).
The Dead Sea Scrolls are replete with references to the end of time and about a time of judgment when God will judge both angels and men and the end of the world in some great cosmic conflagration. Because of God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17), the more mystical of the apocalyptic prophets and writers expected a new Jerusalem built of sapphire, gold, and precious stones, with gates, walls, and towers of marvelous size and wondrous splendor. The expectation included a heavenly temple, miqdash shel ma'alah (מִקְדָּשׁ שֶׁל מַעְלָה), coming down from on high. The scroll of The War Between the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light (1 QM 2:1–6) gives instructions on how the priests and Levites are to function in the new temple. The famous Temple Scroll, translated by Professor Yigael Yadin, on display in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, presents detailed description for the construction of the new temple along with the instructions for ritual purity, sacrifices, and festivals.
It is important to note that all these eschatological themes are Jewish — the "day of the Lord," the "last days," the "war of Gog and Magog," the "gathering of the exiles," the "Messianic age," the resurrection, the "final judgment," the "Messianic banquet," the "new heaven and new earth." They are all Jewish theological concepts. Why is that important — that they are all thoroughly Jewish both in spirit and conception? The Hebrew language is realistic; whereas, the Western mind is idealistic. The Biblical prophets were filled with divine enthusiasm. Their messages were filled with allegory and metaphor. In a state of inspired ecstasy, the prophet would often speak forth things fully understood only by them and, therefore, subject to varying interpretations. Thus, it was that the rabbis frequently disagreed as to its proper interpretation. It was not uncommon for one to make some pronouncement or prediction that failed to come to pass not at all unlike some contemporary end-time prophets. Not only the year of redemption, but even the very month and day was fixed by those who calculated the end. According to Rabbi Joshua (Mekhilta, Pisha 14), it was to occur on the 14th day of Nisan. Since none of the calculations proved true, the scholars concluded that when the Messiah would come was one of the things that was hidden from men (Sanhedrin 97a). Even more striking was the pronouncement, "May the bones of those who calculate the end rot, for they say: 'Since the time has arrived and He has not come, He will never come (Sanhedrin 97b).'"
Herein do we see a very real danger in playing with prophecy. The danger is in the idea that Messiah is coming "soon." 2013 Reasons Why the Lord Will Come in 2013 during the Feast of Tabernacles, to be exact! If my theology states that the Lord is coming soon, whether "soon" is tomorrow, a month from now, or a year from now, it still leaves time for me to exercise my own will and then allows time to repent. The theology of the "soon" coming of the Lord is subject to grave abuse. One says, "I can buy this car and not have to make any payments for six months and drive it until the Lord comes and never have to make a payment," or some other idea just as absurd. But, it has been done! It is being done! Nowhere in the teachings of Jesus is the idea that the coming of Messiah will be "soon." Rather, His coming will be sudden, as a thief in the night, at a time when you think not. Therefore, the clear injunction is, "Be ready, for at a time when you think not, the Son of Man cometh." In other words, if you do not believe that the Messiah could come NOW, at any moment, your theology is wrong! Rabbi Jose, in Derek Eretz Rabah 11, taught that "He who announces the Messianic time based on calculation forfeits his own share in the future." In the Mishnah, Order Moed, Tractate Chagigah, Chapter 2, Mishnah 1, it states, "Whoever puts his mind to these four matters, it were better for him if he had not come into the world: what is above, what is below, what is in front, what is behind, for [it continues in the commentary] these speculations lead to no result whatever and do not even serve any useful academic or philosophical purposes, but only cause a falling away from true moral teaching" (Mishnah, Blackman, Judaica Press, Volume 2, 494). Biblical faith is very much a religion of today, now. Remember the teaching of Jesus, "Take no thought for the morrow, what you eat, what you drink, or what you wear. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (the demonstration of God's power in action through your actions) and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:31-34). It's an admonition we would all do well to heed.
