Tisha B’Av

Tisha B’Av

July 29-30, 2009

Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av on the Hebrew calendar) is a day burdened with grief. This day is commemorated with a fast from sundown July 29 to sundown July 30. The fast begins just before sundown, until the following evening, as on Yom Kippur, differentiating it from other fasts that begin at sunrise. The entire book of Lamentations is traditionally read during this fast.

So what happened on this day?

1. The Lord decreed that all the Jews who were saved from the Egyptian bondage will die out in the desert and be deprived from entering Eretz Yisroel because of the sin of the spies. (Bamidbar, Leviticus 14:26-38).
2. The first temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed on Tisha B'Av by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer in 586 BCE.
3. The second temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av by Titus and his Roman soldiers in 70 CE.
4. In 135 CE, during the time of Rabbi Akiva, the Romans captured the fortress city of Beitar, the last stronghold of the leaders of the Bar Kochba revolt, and Bar Kochba along with tens of thousands of Jews were massacred.
5. Exactly a year later, the Roman Emperor Hadrian built a heathen temple on the temple mount and rebuilt Yerushalayim as a pagan city, renamed Aelia Capitolina, which the Jews were forbidden to enter.
6. On this day in 1190, the anti-Jewish riots and the mass suicide of the Jews of York, England, occurred.
7. On this day in 1290, King Edward I signed the edict compelling the Jews to leave England.
8. In 1492, by order of the Spanish inquisition under Ferdinand and Isabella, the expulsion of 200,000 Jews from Spain, after centuries of cultural and spiritual growth, occurred on this date.
9. The First World War broke out on Tisha B'Av.
10. Fifteen years later, on this very same date, the Arabs began their riots in the city of Yerushalayim, which resulted in great tragedy, including the Jewish massacre in Chevron (Hebron).
11. Deportation of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto began on this day in 1942.

So what can we do?

• FAST
• PRAY for the peace of Jerusalem and salvation of the Jews
• DONATE time and/or money to bless the land of Israel
• ATTEND a synagogue service (messianic recommended)
• TREAT your body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit
• SUPPORT an organization with God-ordained/biblical goals

(One such organiztion is The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement--an organization of Israeli believers--marches to the Temple Mount annually on Tisha B'av (among other dates) to hasten the return of Yeshua. Their goal is "the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our lifetime in accordance with the Word of G-d and all the Hebrew prophets and the liberation of the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation so that it may be consecrated to the Name of G-d.")

Tisha B'av is about mourning and remembrance, but it is also about challenge and hope. It's important to understand the past and the history of this day, but it's more important to look forward to the coming of Yeshua, who is the embodiment of the Temple. Our hope and our future rest on the promises of God and His word!

Photo: Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez. Notes: From The Voice of the Lord: Messianic Jewish Daily Devotional. This excerpt is by Russ Resnik, the Executive Director of the UMJC; From www.TorahTots.com; from www.templemountfaithful.org;