The Talmud in Sanhedrin 98b records a startling range of opinions about the suffering that will precede the Messiah—and whether it can be avoided.
Rabbi Elazar's students asked him: what should a person do to be spared the birth pangs of the Messianic era? He answered: engage in Torah study and acts of kindness. Abaye said to Rabba: you have both Torah and kindness—why are you afraid? Rabba replied: perhaps sin will cancel the protection, based on the precedent of Jacob, who had God's personal assurance of safety (Genesis 28:15) yet was still "greatly afraid" (Genesis 32:8). Even a divine guarantee may be voided by sin.
Rav taught that the son of David will not come until the Roman Empire spreads through the Land of Israel for nine months—the length of a pregnancy. The metaphor is deliberate. Redemption is a birth. And birth requires labor.
The debate over whether redemption requires repentance produced one of the Talmud's sharpest exchanges. Rabbi Eliezer said: Israel will not be redeemed until they repent. Rabbi Yehoshua said: even without repentance, when the appointed time arrives, God will raise a king whose decrees are as harsh as Haman's, and Israel will be forced to repent. Alternatively, God will simply redeem them regardless—because a fixed date exists, independent of human action.
Rabbi Eliezer cited (Jeremiah 4:1): "If you will return, Israel, return to Me"—making repentance a prerequisite. Rabbi Yehoshua cited (Daniel 12:7): the redemption is set "for a period, periods, and a half"—a fixed timeline with no conditions. Rabbi Eliezer was silenced. He had no answer to Daniel's verse.
The tension is left unresolved. Does redemption depend on us, or on God's calendar? The Talmud presents both views and refuses to choose.