The Wilderness Tribulation
Footsteps of Messiah
Part Three
Last, week, we examined the "pre-wilderness wilderness" footsteps of Messiah. As with the plague of darkness, there is a separation occurring, not just of Israel from the nations, but of repentant Israelite who has light in her dwelling from Israelite who does not. This week, we will look at the next wilderness: Yet, another “woman” goes to the wilderness. She is characterized by virtue:
- “Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.” (Re 12:6)
The midrash to the Song of Songs explains why the woman Israel is in the wilderness and gives specific predictions about how the serpent will pursue her. The midrash refers to Isaiah 59:15 concerning this tribulation as a time when “Truth became absent [ne-ederet] and refraining from evil seemed foolish.”
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“If the truth is to be absent among the pre-Messianic generation, then to where will it go? It will go and dwell in flocks [adarim] in the wilderness.” 2§29
The midrash says that truth will not become completely absent, or else it would have said, “Truth IS absent.” Instead, it implies a gradual disappearance of truth from society. The expectation is that the older, righteous, scholars of that generation will die, and those left will grieve and become anxious because so many troubles will come upon the righteous communities. The righteous will become so repulsed by the corruption of their generation that they will band together in groups and leave society to live in the “wilderness,” where truth will continue to exist in a limited way.
Even in this state of “wilderness” separation, harsh decrees will be constantly renewed and sent against Israel, perhaps explaining Babylon’s presence in the wilderness as well. “While the first trouble is still extant, another one comes and joins with it." John's Revelation describes the serpent as pursuing the woman into the wilderness, but the earth "helped" her by swallowing the flood of wickedness that would have drowned her.
As an example of how the serpent gradually ramps up tribulation with successive evil decrees against the Covenant People, review the governments’ (Germany, Hungary, etc.) successively more severe laws passed against the Jews leading up to the Holocaust. (“We thought they were our friends...”-Netflix documentary The Last Days). Those who remained too long often did so because their primary identity was as a citizen of that country, and religious identity was second. At this stage, an Israelite MUST maintain his or her identity as Israelites FIRST, and anything else, no matter how patriotic, must be second.
The midrash identifies another tribulation of the Footsteps:
- “Young people will shame the old, and the old will rise before the young. A son will not be ashamed to commit sins in the presence of his father” [fatherhood and the role of parents is diminished; Micah 7:6]. The footnote says that “social conventions will become inverted to the point that old people, who should be respected, will themselves subscribe to the new order and give reverence to youth.” 2§30
- “In the pre-Messianic era, the leaders will only appear to be leading the nation; in reality they will be following the whims of the masses.” 2§29
How many commercials today portray the children as the heroes and their parents as dim, bumbling idiots? Grown men and women refuse to be called "Mr." or "Mrs." because "it makes me feel old." In politics, entertainment, business, and every other Babylonian system, public opinion deceives the wicked into thinking it gives them control and power. It is riding a wild, red animal, though, that turns and devours anyone who disrupts its appetite of the day. A politician who believes he or she is riding the tide of public opinion will find himself or herself drowned by it. It is whimsical, twisting in so many directions that real morals and ethics can no longer be heard, for the "Woman" has retreated to the wilderness. The unchangeable truths of Scripture are heard only weakly within Babylon's systems.
In spite of the peril of this generation, they can take hope because they are hearing the footsteps of Messiah. The darkness preceded the Tenth Plague, the death of the Firstborn. The unripe figs, or unrepentant sinners, within Israel must first be pruned off in the darkness so that there will be none to discourage those who overcome to begin the Greater Exodus. In a sense, their withdrawal to the “wilderness,” or withdrawing from wickedness, is a pre-exodus. This fragrance can be smelled even in tangible darkness. It’s possible that it will be hard to detect them, and this is why Messiah "sniffs" to judge as he sorts the flocks in the wilderness. He is checking for the fragrance of Israel the Vineyard's grape blossoms (So 2:12-13; Is 11:4).
Why did the ancient rabbis believe that Israel will continue to be tested and sorted in the wilderness? A student in our online class pointed out this passage:
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As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I assuredly shall be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord GOD. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who revolt against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they reside, but they will not enter the land of Israel. So you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 20:33-38)
Ezekiel hints that there is an “Egyptian” wilderness where Israelite rebels were purged, perhaps alluding to the pruning of the rebels in the plague of darkness or some of the earlier plagues.
He also refers to a “wilderness of the peoples” mirroring the Egyptian wilderness of reckoning. The wilderness is somehow created through “wrath.” In that wilderness, Israel will be judged “face to face.” They will “pass under the rod,” a phrase associated with Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. The Egyptians hated shepherds, for they worshiped the sheep. A sheep must pass UNDER the rod for reckoning of resurrection.
Whatever this “wilderness of the peoples” is, it allows the Holy One to judge His people and prune away the rebels. Just being drawn into the wilderness is not being “home free.” It is possible to revolt there. Once pruned away, the remnant is renewed in a bond of covenant. They will enter the Land.
Practically, what does this mean? Perhaps it explains why we read this statement in Revelation:
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Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Re 20:6)
If those who pass under the rod at the resurrection (The Feast of Trumpets) in the wilderness are those who have part in the first resurrection, then it might explain those who were drawn into the wilderness, but they rebelled and revolted and therefore did not “enter the Land.” They may not be resurrected until the second resurrection. They “came out” to the wilderness, but they did not “go in” to the Land. The Mishnah speaks of many non-Jews who will identify with the Torah covenant in the last days, yet when the severe tribulation comes, they will kick over their sukkot and run away. Sobering, yet a challenge for self-examination. We keep Torah when it makes us feel special and righteous, but will we keep it when it makes us feel persecuted and forgotten of Heaven? It's no accident that the wilderness journey of the Israelites is referred to as "Sukkot of Glory" or "Clouds of Glory." An Israelite can self-destruct in the wilderness. It doesn't mean she's not saved or she won't be resurrected to life. It may mean, however, that the journey suffers a significant time out.
The midrash circles the interpretation of the Song of Songs 2:12-13 text back to Moses/Aaron-Joshua/Elazar as the pairs of “blossoms” who have appeared in the Land. The implication is that these prophecies are like a collapsible telescope, moving through history until a final fulfilment. In other words, the entire body of Scripture may inform the final generation of the footsteps of Messiah. Moses and Aaron were the first pair of blossoms to tell Israel to arise from Egypt. Forty years later, the second pair of blossoms, Joshua ad Elazar, led them across the Jordan to the Land. It is expected that Messiah and Elijah will be yet another pair of blossoms to do both: lead Israel out of Egypt (the nations) and lead them over the Jordan.
The patterns of the Exodus from Egypt (serpent kingdom) will parallel the patterns of the exodus from Babylon (beast kingdom) and the patterns of the exodus from Mystery Babylon.
- ...the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its fruit, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along! (So 2:12-13)
This turtledove voice is identified with Joshua’s at the Passover season, who spoke to the leaders to “pass [avar] in the midst of the camp and command the people saying...in another three days you will cross this Jordan to come to take possession of the land.” (Joshua 1:11) Avar is the root of Ivri, a Hebrew, one who crosses over like Abraham.
The time had come to zamir (prune/cut off) the Canaanites from the Land. In this reading, the “blossoms” who appeared in the Land were the princes of the Twelve Tribes who would assist in leading the Israelites over the Jordan and taking possession.
In this layer, the two turtledoves (tor/tyarim), or “good guides” in the play-on word, are not Moses and Aaron, but Joshua and the Kohen HaGadol, Elazar. Having left the last generation in wilderness, especially those who committed whoredom with the Golden Calf and the Midianite women, a new generation is poised to go into the Land of Promise. This generation, too, must be circumcised as “ripened fruit.”
These twelve “blossoms,” or tribal princes, would be described poetically as “zamir,” or cutting the Land into the tribal inheritances.
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Once the Canaanites were pruned away [zamar] and the tribes were settled in the Land of Israel, then the first fruit (bikkurim) sacrifices would be brought from the seven species. In the baskets brought to the Temple, the figs were arranged decoratively atop the other species. The vineyards would blossom, giving forth the fragrance of grapes designated for the wine libations in the Temple. This would be a joyful occasion, a time for singing shirim and zmirot. 2§27
To zamar is to prune, and a song is a zmir! Prune away the rotten fruits, and those who go up to Jerusalem will sing zmirot! Sound familiar?
Which takes us back to the plague of three days and three nights prefigurative of the darkness of death and the resurrection. From these the Israelites would “Arise, and come away." The unrepentant Israelites were the unripe figs, blown away in the three days of darkness in Egypt (Re 6:13). Pruned. And pruned again in the wilderness.
The repentant Israelites were the ripened figs fit for gifts and fragrant first fruits in the Temple services. They were also the fragrance of the grapevines during the time of pruning, pointing to their circumcision for applying the blood to the doorpost. In a sense, their survival of the ninth plague was a sign they were sealed over to the tenth. Because they had "light in all their dwellings," they were distinguished for the journey ahead. They had a foretaste of the resurrection where there is no darkness in the Holy City. To others, though, it was only darkness.
As the darkness grows darker, the light of the righteous should shine ever brighter. Preserve truth in the wilderness of Egypt; preserve truth in the wilderness of the peoples. In the darkness of tribulation, the righteous will emit the aromas of life from the ripe figs and the vineyard. They are evidence of the fragrant “blossoms” of life awaiting the arrival of Messiah Yeshua and Elijah:
- But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (2 Co 2:14-16)
SHABBAT SHALOM!
