What the Bible says about Jacob's Trouble
(From Forerunner
Commentary)
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It is important to understand
that these 70 prophetic "weeks" do not happen all at once.
Verse 25 shows that there will be a span of seven weeks, and
then a second span of 62 weeks. Yet historically, the second
block of time did not happen right after the first. Obviously, 7 + 62 equals only 69
weeks, so one "week"—a span of seven years—still remains
after verse 25. Verse 27 fills that in, showing that the
Messiah's confirming of the covenant covers that final week:
"Then [H]e shall confirm a covenant with many for one
week." Combining verses 26 and 27, we
see that, in reality, the first half of that final week has
also already taken place: It was the 3½ years during which Jesus
Christ confirmed the New Covenant with the church, was
cut off in the middle of the week, and brought an end to
animal sacrifice and offering. Perhaps this explains why, after
Jesus' resurrection, the disciples ask Him if He would now
restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts
1:6). They were probably thinking, "Wow, what a week!
And it's only half over!" Knowing the prophecies, they could
see that many of the elements of Daniel
9:24 had been or were being fulfilled. Realizing that
they had just made the New Covenant, they probably expected
that the second half of the week was about to come to pass,
too, and that the Israelites and the holy city would be the
beneficiaries. No wonder they assumed it was time for the
Kingdom to be restored! Instead, Jesus tells them that it
was not for them to know the times or seasons—meaning the
timing of when the prophecies would all be fulfilled—and
instead they would receive the Holy Spirit and become
witnesses of Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends
of the earth (Acts
1:7-8). We, too, should recognize that 3½
years are still left of His confirmation of the covenant—the
same one we have made—and what remains of the prophecy
relates to Jerusalem and the people of Israel, as Daniel
9:24 shows. Thus, there will be a span of 3½
years at some point in the future, during which God will
fully accomplish those six elements found in verse 24, and
the beneficiaries will be physical Israelites. Though we
will not know for sure until it happens, those 3½ years may
correspond with the time of Jacob's Trouble, the reign of
the Beast, the treading down of the holy city by Gentiles,
and the persecution of the woman's offspring, as related in
Revelation 12. Related Topics: 70
Prophetic Weeks | Daniel's
Prophecies | Jacob's
Trouble | Prophetic
Week | Second
Half of Week
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Clearly, these prophecies have not yet
been fulfilled. To date, God has
not actually scattered Israel among all nations.
Historically, He did not use the Assyrians to scatter Israel
so much as He used them to resituate Israel to
locales south of the Caspian Sea, in what is now northern
Iran. In process of time, God further resituated
Israel through a number of migrations into rather localized areas
of the earth, such as northern Europe, the British Isles
(including Ireland), the North American continent,
Australia, and New Zealand. Notice that these areas are isolated from
the capitals of the Gentile world. The British Isles and New
Zealand are islands; Australia is a continent-sized island.
North America is separated from other northern hemisphere
power centers by two large oceans. These lands to which God led
Israel were generally under-populated before Israel invaded
them and displaced the aboriginal—Gentile—populations. These
aboriginal peoples did not constitute the bulk of Gentiles.
Far from it. The majority of the Gentiles lived, and
continue to live, in areas isolated from the lands of
national Israel. The Gentiles are concentrated in the Middle
East, Africa, Asia, the Asian Subcontinent, and South
America, as well as in certain areas of southern and eastern
Europe. With the exceptions of the State of Israel and South
Africa, Israelite migrations to these Gentile areas have
generally not been extensive to date. So today's world looks like this:
The Gentiles are concentrated in certain areas of the
world, while Israel is concentrated in other areas
of the world. Relatively low numbers of Gentiles live among
the Israelites, and, again in relative terms, even fewer
Israelites live in Gentile areas, such as Asia, the Indian
subcontinent, and Africa. Clearly, those Israelites residing
in South Africa make up an exception to the pattern.
However, when God scatters Israel to all nations, the
exception will be the rule. The present plight of Israelites
living in South Africa will become Israel's commonplace
plight everywhere. To this day, God has not yet
scattered Israel among the Gentiles en masse,
not yet sifted them "among all nations." Today's demographic
reality does not look at all like the population
distribution of which God speaks in Deuteronomy 28, Ezekiel
20, or Amos 9. This level of scattering is yet
to come. A number of scriptures appear to connect
this vast displacement of Israelites with Israel's fall and
the time of "Jacob's Trouble." For example: One-third of you shall die of the
pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and
one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will
scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out
a sword after them. (Ezekiel
5:12) Does the scattering mentioned
here occur before Israel's fall or after? As
an approach to that question, it may be instructive to
compare Matthew 24 with Ezekiel 5. Note, however, that the
order in which the terrible events cataloged in them is not the
same. Comparing the number of thens in Matthew 24
with the number of thens in Ezekiel 5 suggests
another difference. Matthew wins out, with his ten to
Ezekiel's two. As Herbert Armstrong so often pointed out,
Matthew 24 is sequential—first this, then that,
"immediately after" the other. However, aside from the last
clause of Ezekiel
5:12, where it is quite obvious that the
sword will follow the third God has scattered "to all the
winds," there is no explicit idea of sequence in the Ezekiel
passage. Nothing in verse 12 (or in its companion, verse 2)
argues for a sequence of events: first pestilence, then
famine, then war, then scattering. Even though war is
mentioned in this passage after pestilence and
famine, the war of which God speaks could cause—and hence, precede—the
pestilence and famine. Historically, this is not at all an
unusual sequence. War comes first, causing famine. So, it is possible, even
plausible, that some part of the prophesied scattering could
take place before the pestilence. It could even take
place in a time of relative peace and
prosperity. Of course, none of this denies
the fact that the final dissolution of the nations
of modern-day Israel will not be accompanied by vast,
involuntary migrations. That will certainly be the case.
Yet, given the magnitude of the prophesied
sifting/scattering, it remains plausible that God may at
least begin to scatter Israel before her national
destruction, using as His vehicle the widespread "open
borders" established by a globalized international
community. Such borders would facilitate easy migration from
nation to nation (just as between Canada and the United
States today). Charles Whitaker Related Topics: Gentile
Nations | Gentiles | Israel's
Destruction | Israel,
Migration of | Israel,
Modern | Jacob's
Trouble | Scattering | Scattering
of Israel | Sifting
of Israel
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The last phrase of verse 28, “as
is clear today” (New English Translation [NET]) is an
important time marker. The GNT renders it, “where they are
today.” The New Living Translation [NLT] has it,
“where they still live today.” Translator Robert Alter puts
it, “as on this day.” In the light of that phrase,
consider that the people to whom Moses spoke
were not then scattered, not uprooted. Their land was not
one of “brimstone, salt, and burning debris.” Nor does that
description fit the lands to which the Assyrians exiled the
ancient House of Israel, for the areas south of the Caspian
Sea are reasonably well-watered. Further, the terminology of
the passage cannot describe the lands to which Israel
migrated, lands that are among the most favored on earth:
the productive lands of Northern Europe, North America,
Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. By using this short phrase, Moses
indicates that he speaks of a “generation to come” (verse
22), one in the distant future, even beyond Israel's
circumstances today. He is seeing into the time of Jacob's
Trouble, when Israel's land, ravaged by war, would become
environmentally degraded in the extreme. Only then, in this
period of extreme distress, will the lands Israel occupies
come to resemble ancient Sodom, destroyed by God long
ago (Genesis 19). Those of the “generation” of
which Moses speaks, whether Israelite or Gentile, understand
that the vast desolation they witness is the result of
Israel's idolatry, in violation of the covenant (verses
25-26). Moses describes a time beyond our present
circumstances when God will have “uprooted” apostate Israel
from the lands to which He scattered her centuries before,
the lands to which ancient Israel migrated. In short, Moses
sees a land that has “vomited out its inhabitants” (Leviticus
18:25). The verb “uprooted” (verse 28)
evokes the striking image of pulling up plants from their
roots. It virtually always appears in contexts of God's
wrathful action against a sinning people, as in Ezekiel's
lamentation for the princes of Israel, recorded in Ezekiel
19:10-14: Your mother was like a vine in a
vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches
by reason of abundant water. Its strong stems became rulers'
scepters; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was
seen in its height with the mass of its branches. But the
vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the
east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and
withered. As for its strong stem, fire consumed it. Now it
is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. And
fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots, has consumed
its fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no
scepter for ruling. (English Standard Version [ESV]) In verse 12, God angrily plucks
up the vine whose stems have grown into “rulers' scepters,”
towering above others. The image of the highly productive,
well-watered vine—perhaps “influential” might fit as
well—transplanted into a “dry and thirsty land” (verse 13),
is reminiscent of the Sodom-like land Moses mentions in Deuteronomy
29:23. It is clear, then, that
Deuteronomy 29 describes God's future scattering, His
uprooting of Israelites from their burned-out land during
the time of Jacob's Trouble. Charles Whitaker Related Topics: Degeneration
of Israel | God
Regathers His People | God
Scattered Israel | God's
Scattering of Israel | God's
Wrath against Sinning People | Jacob's
Trouble | Scattering
and Gathering
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Deuteronomy 30 contains the
premier discussion of the restoration of Israel in the
Scriptures. While there may be passing intimations of
Israel's restoration earlier, it is in this passage that God first
introduces most of the significant themes that accompany
later treatments of that restoration. The historical setting
is Moab, probably about sixty days before the children of
Israel crossed the Jordan River, entering the Land of
Promise after almost four decades of wandering. Moses died
shortly after he delivered this message from God, and after
thirty days of mourning,
the people obeyed Joshua's command “to go in to possess the
land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.” See
Deuteronomy 34 and Joshua 1. It is vital to remember, however,
that Moses' message is not merely historical but prophetic;
the great leader here introduces the concept of a future restoration
of Israel. Note well: He clarifies that his audience is “you
and your children.” He understands that he is addressing not
only those standing before Him that day on the east side of
the Jordan River, but all the descendants of the children of
Israel as well. This prophecy pertains to today's descendants
of Israel. In verse 1, Moses establishes the
timeframe of the prophecy: When Israelites come to consider the
things that have happened to them, “the blessing and the
curse which I have set before you.” In the time of Jacob's
Trouble (Jeremiah
30:5-7), the folk of Israel will reflect,
he says, upon both—that is, both the blessings and
the curses. Importantly, it will not be just the agony
involved in the afflictions that Israelites will consider in
their distress during the Tribulation, but they will
contemplate the blessings as well. Israelites will reflect
upon the blessings of liberty, prosperity, and peace they
enjoyed for decades in the lands of their exile (Northern
Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.),
generation after generation, comparing those
blessings against the curses of disease, deprivation,
slavery, death, and scattering they are experiencing
wholesale in the land of their enemies, where they are held
captive. This prophecy explains why God
has determined to prosper Israel in this time of her
seemingly boundless decadence, blessing her today
despite her high indebtedness, her deindustrialization, and
the unprecedented prevalence of her peoples' failing health.
It appears to us an unseasonal prosperity, irreconcilable
with the depth of America's current depravity. Does God reward sin?
Why is Israel experiencing this prosperity now? One reason
is undoubtedly that, during the Tribulation, God wants to
ensure that the blessings enjoyed by this last generation
of Israelites stand out in their minds from the curses they
experience in the Tribulation—and stand out in all the
starker relief, as day differs from night, light from dark.
This is an application of what psychologists call “Treatment
Learning.” God will use both—blessings and
curses—to send Israelites a powerful message. At the end of Isaiah
10:22, God makes an essential point in this
regard: “The destruction decreed shall overflow with
righteousness.” The destruction God has proclaimed for
Israel will be like an overwhelming flood, uniquely vast and
deep. Overpowering. Unescapable. Unstoppable. But for all that, it will be in righteousness.
It will be just. Isaiah means that God will fulfill all righteousness,
the blessings and the curses of Deuteronomy 28. In
fact, this is another way of saying He is faithful to the
terms of the covenant—all aspects of the covenant, positive
and negative. In Jeremiah
16:18 (New English Translation), God
says He will punish Israel “in full” for her sins. But
afterward, the blessings He will offer repentant Israel will
be beyond belief. In Matthew
3:15, Jesus tells
John the Baptist that it is proper for him, John, to baptize
Him in order to “fulfill all righteousness.” At least in
part, this phrase means that Christ does not take half
measures, but fully loves and obeys God. He takes action to
meet God's standards of justice while, at the same time,
acting in mercy. He does everything right, punishing in
justice, healing in mercy. In the context of His end-time
dealings with Israel, God makes this principle explicit in Jeremiah
31:10: “He
who scattered Israel will gather him, and
keep him as a shepherd does his flock.” God's scattering and then His
gathering of Israel is yet another application of,
respectively, His severity and His goodness.
Interestingly, Paul enunciates the concept of God's goodness
and severity in the same passage where he writes of God's
restoring Israel, Romans
11:19-27. Charles Whitaker Related Topics: Balancing
God's Goodness and Severity | Blessings
and Curses | Declining
in Righteousness | Degeneration
of Israel | Destruction
of America | Destruction
of Israel | Fugitives
fleeing from Tribulation | God
Punishes in Love | God's
Scattering of Israel | Goodness
and Severity of God | Great
Tribulation, The | Israel's
Restoration | Israel's
Return to the Promised Land | Jacob's
Trouble | John
the Baptist | Jordan,
Crossing Over | Joshua | Moab | Remnant
of Israel | The
Goodness and Severity of God | Zeitgeist
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The context is "[the] children of
Israel" being "gathered one by one" (verse 12). "They . . .
who are about to perish" seems to refer to the peoples of
Israel enduring the time of Jacob's Trouble. The turning
point, then, and the beginning of deliverance, is when "the
great trumpet will be blown." The Olivet Prophecy correlates
to this, for Jesus
Christ says, Then the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth
will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will
send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
will gather together His elect [chosen people] from
the four winds, from one end of heaven [the Greek word
is plural— "heavens"—referring to things within earth's
atmosphere (e.g., "the four winds") rather than to the
heaven of God's throne] to the other. (Matthew
24:30-31) The trumpet is a symbol of
considerable consequence in the Old and New Testaments. In
general, it can signify an alarm of war, a call to assemble,
or a command to march (see Numbers
10:1-10). The fourth annual holy day is the
Feast of Trumpets, a "memorial of blowing of trumpets, a
holy convocation" (Leviticus
23:24; Numbers
29:1). Psalm
81:3-5 indicates Joseph was released from
prison in Egypt on the Feast of Trumpets, making for rich
symbolism regarding the future release of Israelite
captives. God,
through the prophets, often uses "Joseph" to represent, not
just Ephraim and Manasseh, but also all of Israel (see Ezekiel
37:16-19; Amos
5:6, 15; 6:6; Obadiah
1:18; Zechariah
10:6). In addition, God caused the walls of
Jericho to fall after seven successive days of trumpets
sounding (Joshua
6:4-20). Various end-time prophecies show
that a trumpet precedes the Day of the Lord (Joel
2:1; Zechariah
9:14-16), when Jesus Christ returns as King
of kings and overthrows the nations of this
world, establishing the Kingdom
of God on earth. The resurrection
from the dead is also connected to a mighty
trumpet blast (I
Corinthians 15:52; I
Thessalonians 4:16). While the book
of Revelation tells of seven trumpets
(Revelation
8:2—11:15), when the last one
sounds, "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever
and ever!" (Revelation
11:15), indicating He has returned. This
all shows that the timing of the Second
Exodus in general corresponds to the return
of Christ. David C. Grabbe Related Topics: Day
of the Lord | Feast
of Trumpets | Israel's
Restitution | Israel's
Restoration | Jacob's
Trouble | Last
Trumpet | Regathering
of Israel | Release
from Bondage | Release
from Captivity | Release
from Slavery | Return
of Jesus Christ | Scattering
of Israel | Second
Exodus | Trumpets,
Blowing of
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This is what must happen before
the Second
Exodus. Notice that it is called "Jacob's
Trouble," not either "Israel's Trouble" or "Judah's
Trouble." Both houses will experience it. God causes
Jacob's descendants to be greatly troubled because of their
sins. This time of unprecedented crisis—"none is like
it"—corresponds to the time of "great tribulation" of which Jesus
Christ warns: "Therefore when you see the
'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him
understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains. . . . For then there will be great tribulation, such
as has not been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no
flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days
will be shortened." (Matthew
24:15-16, 21-22; emphasis ours throughout) Luke's version of the Olivet
Prophecy uses different language to describe the same time
and events: But when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let
those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those
who are in the country enter her. For these are the days
of vengeance, that all things which are written may be
fulfilled. . . . For there will be great distress in
the land and wrath upon this people. And they will
fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into
all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke
21:20-24; see Revelation
11:2; emphasis ours) Just as Christ reassures us in Matthew
24:22 that this will not be the complete
end of mankind, Jeremiah promises that Jacob will be saved
out of his trouble. Even though that "day" is great, and
like nothing we have seen before, it will not be the end of
Jacob.
Jeremiah 30:5-7 does not detail why that
time is one of tribulation. The only clue we have in these
verses is that God compares it, not just to a woman in
labor, but to a man in labor. This is certainly an
unusual symbol, but the picture of the sorrows and pains of
labor and childbirth elsewhere helps us to understand what
it portends. For example, Isaiah
13:6-8 prophesies: Wail, for the day of the LORD is
at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands will be limp, every man's heart will
melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take
hold of them; they will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
they will be amazed at one another; their faces will be like
flames. A similar illustration appears
in Isaiah
26:16-18: LORD, in trouble they have
visited You, they poured out a prayer when Your chastening
was upon them. As a woman with child is in pain and cries
out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her
delivery, so have we been in Your sight, O LORD. We have
been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were,
brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance
in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Paul also uses this symbol in I
Thessalonians 5:1-3: But concerning the times and the
seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to
you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the
Lord so comes as
a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and
safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor
pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. (see
also Isaiah
66:6-24; Jeremiah
4:31; 13:20-27; Hosea
13:12-16; Micah
4:9-10.) Overall, the symbol is one of
anguish, sorrow, intensity, great discomfort, and pain. The
prophets contain scores of examples of God's anger at the
sins of His people. It is with good reason that the
prophecies mention that only a "remnant" will return: Even
though the descendants of Jacob will ultimately be saved,
the percentage of the current hundreds of millions of
Israelites and Jews who survive that trouble will probably
be small (see Isaiah
10:20-21). However, how this
illustration is applied is interesting. When it applies to
God's enemies, the emphasis is clearly on the pain, anguish,
sorrow, and fear of what is ahead (Jeremiah
49:20-24). But when it refers to Israel, as
in Jeremiah 30, there is always hope that
the pain will be turned to joy,
just as with a physical birth (Isaiah
66:8-9). It is painful, but a tremendous
blessing is promised to come when it is over (compare Jesus'
use of this metaphor in John
16:21). A hint of this hope appears in Jeremiah
30:7: "But he [Jacob] shall be saved out of
it." The pain and the anguish will not end in total
annihilation. Certainly, a dear price will be paid in human
lives, but the peoples of Jacob will survive and be
blessed—both physically and spiritually David C. Grabbe Related Topics: Abomination
of Desolation | Birth
Analogy | Birth
Pang Metaphor | Days
of Vengeance | Gentiles,
Times of the | Great
Tribulation, The | Jacob's
Trouble | Olivet
Prophecy | Pains
of Labor Metaphor | Times
of the Gentiles | Tribulation | Vengeance,
Days of
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Notice how different verses 18-19
sound from anything being spoken by the peoples of Israel
today. After Jacob's Trouble, Israel will actually grieve
and moan due to the correction she receives. She will beg to
be brought back to God.
Verse 20 shows the unmistakable compassion and feeling that
God has for His people, and His determination to lift them
out of the pitiful physical and spiritual condition they
will be in at that point. Verse 21 tells of Israel
reversing the course of her migration millennia ago, "Set
your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went.
Turn back. . . ." Israel comes to this condition and pleads
for God's restoration before she makes the Second
Exodus, just as Israel cried out in Egypt
to the God of their fathers, and then God delivered
them. If this is correct, the identity
of Israel will be recognized sometime
during Jacob's Trouble, but before the Second Exodus takes
place. If the patterns of Israel's
history remain consistent, God will remind Israel of her
obligation to Him, which will include the knowledge of who
Israel is. She will not listen—Israel has rarely listened—so
God will cause the nations of Jacob to go through such
"trouble" as they have never experienced. Though God does
not revel in destruction, He knows best what it will take to
turn His people around. In the end, the repentant people who
remain will be willingly led back to the Promised Land. David C. Grabbe Related Topics: Identity
of Israel | Israel's
Identity | Israel's
Repentance | Israel's
Return to the Promised Land | Israel,
Identity of | Jacob's
Trouble | Promised
Land | Remnant
of Israel | Second
Exodus
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We need to remember that this was
originally given to ancient Israel, and the wording applies
first of all to the physical people of Israel. However, it
contains a spiritual anti-type that we can apply to the end
time. In both the type and the antitype, Christ is
doing the judging. In the end-time fulfillment, this occurs
right before the catastrophe of the Great Tribulation, the
time of Jacob's Trouble when things will get really
terrible. When the Lord stands on the wall, He says, "Look,
this is what you have to be like. You have to be able to
stand here next to this plumb
line and measure yourself to the vertical
to see how upright you really are." He also says, "I will not pass by
. . . any more." This means that judgment is coming, and
however this judgment falls, that is it! The first six
verses of chapter 7 record two other visions. In those
visions, the prophet had said, "Please God,
Israel is such a small people. Will you please pass us by
this time?" He means, "Will you please have mercy and not
punish us?" and both times God replied, "Okay, Amos. Because
you have asked Me for this, I will pass by." Now, in this
vision of the plumb line, He says, "This time I am going to
exact My judgment. I will pass sentence and execute the
penalty." What does He pass sentence on?
The "high places of Isaac"
indicates idolatry, as do the "sanctuaries of Israel." He
says He will "rise with the sword against the house of
Jeroboam," meaning that He will wreak a great deal of
vengeance upon the leadership of the nation for leading the
people away from God and into disaster as they have. This is very serious. At the time
of the end, when God appears with the plumb line, the end it
at hand. His judgment will come soon. He is about to react
violently, exacting the sentence that He thinks is fair and
necessary. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Related Topics: Amos,
Prophecies of | End
Times | God's
Judgment | God's
Judgments | Great
Tribulation, The | Idolatry | Jacob's
Trouble | Jeroboam | Plumb
Line | Prophecies
of the End Time | Type
and Antitype | Type/Antitype
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Obadiah 10 had named the Edomites'
great sin:
"violence against your brother Jacob." The four subsequent
verses tick off a number of illustrations of the Edomites'
violence toward Israel, providing an expanded description of
their transgression. The prophet's first example (in
verse 11), the only one requiring explanation, is that they
"stood on the other side." This Hebraism indicates they
"stood aloof," a description of their haughtiness. God is
emphasizing their attitude here. Literally, the phrase
reads, "stood from in front of them," a roundabout way of
saying that the Edomites considered themselves too good to
stand with them. In other words, because of their
pride, they stood off to the side or in front of them,
effectively separating themselves from their brother. Their action reflected their
hearts, saying, in effect, "Do not confuse us with them!" It
indicates an attitude of great superiority, of haughty pride
and separation. Thus, instead of standing with Israel in her
defense, they stood aside and let the enemy do what it
would. Edom did
not behave as a brother nation should have. Even had the
Edomites not been directly engaged in the hostilities
against Israel, this act alone reveals that their loyalties
were solidly with Israel's enemy. The New King James Version poorly
translates verses 12-14, rendering them in the past tense,
when the Hebrew text relates this story in the future tense.
The difference in tense transforms a castigating historical
narrative into a more appropriate and stern warning against
future activity: But do not gloat over the day of
your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice
over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not
boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of My
people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his
disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth
in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads
to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in
the day of distress. (English Standard Version) Specifically, what is the day of
Israel's calamity? Jeremiah
30:5-7 provides the answer: For thus says the LORD: "We have
heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child?
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a
woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas! For that
day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of
Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it." Jesus also spoke about this
distressing day in His Olivet Prophecy: For then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor ever shall
be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be
saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be
shortened. (Matthew
24:21-22) "The time of Jacob's trouble,"
more commonly known as "the Great Tribulation," is a period
of intense hardship and war for the people of Israel. It is
generally thought that it will last three and a half years (Daniel
7:25; 12:7; Revelation
11:2; 12:14; 13:5),
until Jesus
Christ returns in power to defeat the Beast
and his armies and to rule all nations (Revelation
19:11-21). According to Jesus' description,
it is a time of global holocaust; if God did not intervene,
all life on earth would cease! The warnings in Obadiah
12-14 are directed toward the Edomites
alive when that day arrives, perhaps not very long from now.
We may have seen a precursor of the fulfillment of this
prophecy, when, on and after September 11, 2001, television
news programs broadcast images of Palestinians gloating and
dancing in the streets in the West Bank, giving out candy,
and shrieking in giddy celebration. Such a scene is likely
to happen again when the Great Tribulation fully comes upon
the nations
of Israel. At that time, the people of Edom
may not have a great deal of power over the nations of
Israel, and the prophecies do not indicate that they will.
Today, their strength is limited to suicidal terrorist
attacks, but they still have the ability to mock, to
pillage, and to take advantage of any sign of weakness. God
says in Obadiah
6-9 that He will remove their wealth, their
wisdom, and their courage, but they will still be able to
gloat when they see Israel fall. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Related Topics: Edom | Edom's
Demise | Edom's
Gloating | Edom's
Haughtiness | Edom's
National Deflation | Edom's
Pride and Arrogance | Edom's
Violence against Jacob | Edomites | God's
Judgment | Great
Tribulation, The | Haughtiness | Jacob's
Trouble | Palestinians | Terror
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If God had
changed His purpose, the sons of Jacob would indeed have
been consumed. However, because God has a purpose that He
has been working out from the very beginning, He looked
beyond what these people were doing to destroy and remove
themselves from His purpose. God, in a sense, overlooked
what they were doing—all the way to the future, to the
conclusion of His purpose for them. God says, "I change
not." He has never altered His purpose from the beginning. John W. Ritenbaugh Related Topics: Covenant | Covenant
Relationship | God's
Faithfulness | God's
Master Plan | God's
Plan | God's
Promises | God's
Promises to Abraham | God's
Purpose | Jacob | Jacob's
Trouble | Promises
of God | Promises
to Abraham | Promises
to Israel | Promises
to Patriarchs
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The Bible shows us the damage
caused when God's people do not believe how special we are
to Him. How do we keep our love from going cold? We must go
to the source to replenish it. Where is that source? Where
does real love come from? The answer is found in I
John 4:19: "We love Him because He first
loved us." The next verse, Matthew
24:13, reinforces this thought: "But he who
endures to the end shall be saved." Jesus sets
up a contrast. Verse 12 describes people without faith in God's
love for us growing cold and not enduring.
In verse 13, "but" suggests that those with faith in His
love will endure and be saved. What happened over the past
decade or so is nothing compared to what is ahead for some
of us. The time of Jacob's trouble will be terrible. Many
will face famine, pestilence, and persecution. Friends and
family may turn on us. Church members will die. When all
this happens, there may be no physical evidence to see how
much God loves
us. How will we endure those times? We will, but only if we
absolutely believe in how special we are to God, how much He
loves us. That is the faith we will need to endure any
trial. Pat Higgins Related Topics: Endurance | Enduring
Hardship | Enduring
Persecution | Enduring
Privation | Enduring
to the End | Faith | Faith
as Antidote to Fear | Faith
in God | Faith
in God's Providence | Famine | God's
Love | Jacob's
Trouble | Love
for God | Love
of God | Persecution | Persecution,
Enduring | Pestilence
|
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We have not reached this point in
the fulfillment of these prophecies, but the evidence from
our culture shows that we are on their cusp. Enough is
happening for us to know that we are beyond this
tribulation's preliminary stages. The times are becoming
increasingly dangerous, and not just to one's physical life. The English word translated as
"tribulation" comes from the Greek thlipsis. It means
"a pressing pressure." We might compare it simply to
"stress," but what it really describes is a stressful stress.
In other words, it is not ordinary but something exceeding
the ordinary. It is a stress more intense than
run-of-the-mill everyday stress. In this context, even the
ordinary, everyday stress is very intense, even to where
life itself may hang in the balance. Because Jesus also
mentions enduring in context with a spiritual love (Matthew
24:12-13), we must also consider spiritual stress
due to distraction, luring one away from the Kingdom
of God and God's purpose, and to strong
challenges to break from the love of God as
part of the tribulation. This is already occurring through
the easy availability of entertainment. Now it comes right
into our homes by way of television and the Internet,
besides the glittering, eye-catching, desire-producing
inducements to shop for goods so readily available. These
things can easily lure us into time-wasting, spiritual
lethargy. All of this is taking place
within a framework of constant, wearying news events of
fearful violence, terrible accidents, political corruption,
natural disasters, disease, and economic problems that may
eventually affect every one of us. Constant bad news, with
little hope of
relief, is an intense, wearying stress. Much of the stress
of these times is being generated by information overload. Life has always been difficult
for most people who have ever lived, but nobody in all of
history has had to live virtually an entire lifetime under
the constant intense pressures of the end time. We are
living in a period unique in the history of man, according
to Jeremiah
30:7, ramping up to "the time of Jacob's
trouble"—a time so intensely stressful that the
world has never seen its like. Jesus
compared the time of the end to the time of Noah, but even
here, the intense pressures will be greater than they were
during Noah's day. Noah's time is just the best example of
what it will be like, but Jacob's Trouble will be even
worse. John W. Ritenbaugh Related Topics: | Distraction | Doctrine | Information
Overload | Jacob's
Trouble | Lures
of this World | Stress | Tribulation
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What
the Bible says about Jacob's Trouble
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