The name of the fifth month on the Jewish calendar (counting from Nisan), Av, literally means “father.” It is customary to add the name “Menachem,” which means “comforter” or “consoler”—so Menachem Av. Month of contrasts.
Tisha B’Av – Ninth of AV – the saddest day in Jewish tradition and Jewish calendar. Day of fasting and mourning
Mandate of ICEJ
Isaiah 40:1–3
1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
2 “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
The Jewish observance of Tisha B’Av is a mixture of Bible and tradition.
Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan in the month of Av.
Of the 12 spies sent to scout the land only two brought a positive report, while the others spoke in discouragement and fear.
Moses wrote they doubted God’s good intentions and caused Israel to sin.
Deuteronomy 1:26–27
26 “Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;
27 and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
Death of Aaron on the first day of AV
Numbers 33:38
38 Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month.
Destruction of First (Solomon’s) temple
The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE, and the people of Judah was sent into the Babylonian exile.
The First Temple's destruction began on the 7th of Av (2 Kings 25:8) and continued until the 10th (Jeremiah 52:12). According to the Talmud, the actual destruction of the Temple began on the Ninth of Av, and it continued to burn throughout the Tenth of Av.
2 Kings 25:8–9
8 Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.
Jeremiah 52:12–13
12 Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
13 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.
Destruction of the Second Temple
The Second Temple built by Zerubbabel and renovated by Herod the Great, was destroyed by Romans on the 9th of Av in 70 AD
This began the scattering of the people of Judea and the Jewish diaspora that lasted until modern times.
The Romans subsequently crushed Bar Kokhba's revolt on 9 Ab 135 CE.
Later on, other tragedies happened on Tish b’Av:
1290 expulsion of England’s Jews and 1492 banishment from Spain.
Today we are standing in the gap for God’s end-time purposes
The intersection of prophecy and history
Fulfillment of Israel’s destiny and divinely given identity
Dream of a homeland and Temple for God is deep in the Jewish heart
Psalm 132:1–5
1 Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf, All his affliction;
2 How he swore to the Lord And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “Surely I will not enter my house, Nor lie on my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids,
5 Until I find a place for the Lord, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
All Christians must know and respect the Hebrew calendar because it is the inspired word of God and the holidays are the “Feasts of the Lord”
However, obedience to God’s Word in the Spirit and not the letter of the law
2 Corinthians 3:5–6
5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Complete fulfillment of God’s promises will be brought about through Messianic faith when Jews and Gentiles are joined as “one new man” by faith as one Bride in God’s kingdom.
Acts 17:24–26
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
The purpose of remembering disasters in the month of Av is comforting- encouraging Israel
Jeremiah 32:42
For thus says the LORD, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them
Preparing the way of the Lord
Zechariah prophesies that the fast becomes a feast
Zechariah 8:19
19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’
Spirit of the Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) is to open the door to the presence of God
Ezekiel 46:1
Thus says the Lord God, “The gate of the inner court facing east shall be shut the six working days; but it shall be opened on the sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon.
Disasters and sufferings remembered during the month of Av point to the fulfilment of God’s good purposes for Israel – and the nations!
Romans 11:25–27
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
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