If you have a broad and clear grasp of Old Testament history, then you should be able to dive right into Heiser’s stuff and be able to stay afloat. Most people lose track because all they know about such history is the events recorded in the Bible, and they are often pretty shaky about that. They are often not well informed on those events between Malachi’s prophecy and the birth of John the Baptist.
We don’t need to recount the entire Maccabean Period, but there are some items that most people don’t think about when they read the New Testament, the Gospels in particular. The Maccabean Revolt destroyed the biblical order of government for Judea. The Maccabees were a minor priestly family, not even part of the higher priestly clans. They led a revolt that pushed them to prominence such that the royal family ceased to rule at all. The Maccabees did not displace the High Priesthood; they displaced the royal family.
Thus, you hear mention of the Hasmoneans, a reference to the Maccabees and their surviving heirs who became rulers-in-effect. They were the ones to subdue the Edomites and force them to convert to the Covenant of Moses at the point of the sword. But the Edomites had their own ruling families, and when the Herod clan rose to prominence, they forcefully married into the Hasmonean clan to become Judean royalty.
This was all in the back of the disciples’ minds when they kept asking Jesus about restoring the Kingdom under Moses. Jesus was teaching the accurate meaning of Moses and was also of the ancient royal family of David. Herod himself was paranoid about a restored monarchy under someone like Jesus. His heirs were mixed about the paranoia, but the Romans were very worried about it, because they know the history. The Roman imperial court rather liked the Herodeans and wanted to keep them in power.
Jews zealous for restoring the Kingdom of Israel had some expectations about what any promised Messiah had to do. More than restoring their materialistic vision of shalom, they had some very substantial expectations about what that restoration would mean. You see, the Northern Ten Tribes were not home yet. As far as Jews were concerned, they were still in exile. Yes, they had a problem with the Roman imperial government interfering in everything, but that was not such a big issue against the restoration from exile. This is what “all Israel must be saved” meant to them (Romans 11:25-32). Paul said it would happen after the Gentiles came into the Kingdom.
They did not quibble about the Gentiles being saved and brought into the Kingdom. However, that could not happen without the restoration of the Lost Tribes of Israel. This is what was really behind the tumult when Paul mentioned going to the Gentiles on the steps of the Roman fortress (Acts 22). To them, it sounded like he said he would go to the Gentiles without going to evangelize the Lost Tribes.
Keep in mind the fundamental question of who is “Israel” under Christ. Paul said in Galatians that Israel is those who have the spiritual DNA of Abraham, not his physical DNA.
Now it will make more sense when you examine the questions Heiser raises in his podcast: Naked Bible 101: Jesus, the Exile, and the Tribulation and the one following.
In the first one, Heiser points out the problem of evangelicals forcing a literal reading of the prophetic texts when they would not use that approach anywhere else in their lives. English is notorious for figures of speech and metaphors. Why must they force that approach on a Hebrew dialog when Hebrews were even more mystical in their use of language? As previously stated, the key is to understand how the Jewish writers of the Second Temple Period looked at things, because Jesus and the New Testament writers would have started from that body of understanding.
Heiser notes this is actually a new thing in academia, something that came into prominence only in the past 20-25 years in the Biblical Studies community in regard to eschatology. Here’s the list of items the researchers found:
1. The tribulation is tied to the restoration of Israel and the End of the Exile.
2. A righteous remnant arises during the tribulation.
3. The righteous suffer and/or die during the tribulation. This sometimes includes the suffering and/or death of a messianic figure.
4. The tribulation is tied to the coming of a Messiah, sometimes referred to as the “Son of Man.”
5. The tribulation precedes the final judgment.
6. The tribulation is depicted as the eschatological climax of Israel’s exilic sufferings, often through the imagery of the Deuteronomic covenant curses.
7. The tribulation has two stages: (1) the preliminary stage, and (2) the Great Tribulation.
8. The tribulation precedes the coming of an eschatological kingdom.
9. An eschatological tyrant, opponent, or anti-Messiah arises during the tribulation.
10. Typological images from the Old Testament are used to depict the tribulation.
11. The tribulation is tied to the ingathering and/or conversion of the Gentiles.
12. The tribulation has some kind of atoning or redemptive function.
13. The Jerusalem Temple is defiled and/or destroyed during the tribulation.
14. The tribulation precedes the resurrection of the dead and/or a new creation.
We can see that this sounds a lot like the NT view. However, we can note that the OT prophets said Judah would be restored, but don’t mention the Northern Tribes in that promise (example: Jeremiah 30). Thus, the restoration of the Lost Tribes is pushed out into the far future. Meanwhile, the time of Jacob’s Trouble will be severe, echoed in places like Daniel 12 and sounds like Jeremiah.
The point is that Jews were convinced that the appearance of the Messiah must mean that the exile of the Lost Tribes was ending. Moreover, the Diaspora would have to return, as well. That Jesus offered no solution to this problem is part of their rejection of His claims. He went to the Cross alright, but the Lost Tribes and Diaspora were still out there, so Jesus could not have been the Messiah.
This explains the disciples’ question in Acts 1:7. They were wondering about that issue. He told them to set that aside, that the real key to the birth of the Kingdom was the coming of the Holy Spirit, not a change of population, governments and geography. Keep in mind what Pentecost (Hebrew: Shavuot) celebrated: It’s the giving of the Covenant. But it’s also the timing of harvest, AKA “ingathering”. That was a symbol of bringing the Lost Tribes home. Pentecost was supposed to end the exile.
Jesus said that the coming of the Holy Spirit anointing was the real answer to that hope. That shoots big holes in a lot of so-called “prophecy teaching” in mainstream churches. In many ways, what Jesus said about the term “Great Tribulation” in Matthew 24 refers to something that already happened. In Luke’s version (Luke 21), he’s much more clear about this referring to the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Yet, it’s obvious Scripture sees things happening in cycles, patterns that repeat across time and space. Don’t forget “already-but-not-yet”.
