2 Kings 6:1 English Standard Version
The Axe Head Recovered
1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.
This section of 2nd Kings 6 is an interesting read but in it you will not see the word tribulation translated here but it is here. It is the Hebrew Word tsar which is used to describe tribulations in other passages. Here in the ESV it is translated too small, in the KJV it is too strait.
The issue is emotional. It is the same attitude revealed when one is told about the narrow gate in Matthew 7:13-14. It is an emotional response to conditions. Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah and lived a life on the straight and narrow. It was a life too restrictive for his followers.
It should also be noted that these were not prophets but the sons of prophets. The restrictive life of Elisha was too narrow for them, emotionally it was a tribulation, too restrictive. It is one of those emotional issues when we follow a leader who is totally sold out to God. We see the dangers in being funneled into a narrow gap, with no escape. We fear an ambush, an attack coming from the enemy. It is emotional and does not mean that the enemy is going to attack, nor successful if he does.
These are not the Great Tribulations of biblical prophecy where the enemy of Christ is making his last stand.
Acts 14:21-23 English Standard Version
21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Tribulations are not just for the end times.