Page 150 - Biblical Backgrounds

comfortable working with the Romans. They were collaborators and traitors, but enjoyed the financial
benefits of their work. Tax collectors are a great example. Others, such as Herod the Great, were in
power specifically because of the Roman rule and therefore were not as opposed as the more religiously
devoted Jews were.

These sentiments of oppression and divine disfavor from Yahweh led many to revolt against Roman rule
in the Jewish and Roman wars from 66AD to approximately 135AD. The first war took place from 66 AD
to 73 AD. The second from 115AD-117AD. The third was the Bar Kokhba rebellion from 132 AD to 136
AD. The war this course is most concerned with is the first one. The war was sparked when the Jewish
rebels killed 6,000 Roman soldiers. The Romans would destroy Jerusalem and the temple as a result.
This war takes place after the other epistles have been written. It likely takes place before Hebrews was
written. This is because the temple destruction of 70AD and the sacking of Jerusalem are not mentioned
in the letter. What is mentioned is that the Jews are pressuring the Christians to come back to
Jerusalem. The author is emphatic that the Christians should come out from among them and seek the
city that is to come, the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 10:10, 10:16, 12:22, and 13:14). The Christians are
told that if they go back, they will perish, die with the Jews, and not see the New Jerusalem, as they will
be dead. The author calls to mind the Jews who did not enter the promised land because they died in
the wilderness.

Whoever wrote Hebrews, the author is clearly steeped in Jewish thought and argumentation. The
Christians, in large part, did come out from among them. The Jews have never forgiven the Christians for
abandoning them to Rome at that time. This
background matters because many today take the
warning passages as warnings that Christians will
lose their salvation if they go back to Jerusalem
and Judaism. That was not what the letter was
pointing out to the original recipients. Knowing
the background allows you to understand what
the warnings were meant to convey at that time.
They were a practical warning that if you go back
to the Jews and Jewishness, you will perish with
them. In 70AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem
and the temple. The destruction of the temple
was a source of great sorrow to the Jewish
people. The Romans naturally celebrated their
victory. The Arch of Titus was built in Rome around 81 AD and commemorates the carrying off of the
temple treasures. The menorah can clearly be seen.

The dates of the first war are correct, from 66 AD to 73 AD. That means that the war took place before
the writing of Revelation around 90AD. One can see how some would see the chasing of the Jews into
the wilderness as a potential backdrop to the imagery of Revelation. The need for Messiah’s rescue
would also be clear as well. It may well have been in the author's mind. However, that does not render
the timeline of Revelation or the reality of the prophesied events as imagery as well. Multiple problems
arise for the view that it does. These problems include the lack of a seven-year peace treaty, the lack of
a re-established temple in the kingdom to worship at, the lack of the second coming of Christ prior to
the kingdom as was prophesied, and the lack of Jesus reigning on the throne in physical Jerusalem. So
while the possibility of the war as a backdrop is real, it does not adequately serve to reclassify the
prophetic aspects of the epistle as purely apocalyptic literature.

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