TISHA B’AV (9th of Hebrew Month, “Av”)

SHALOM!

This year 2017, TISHA B’AV is from:

EVENING OF Monday 31st July to EVENING OF Tuesday 1st August.

Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av (Jul. 31 – Aug. 1, 2017), is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which we fast, deprive ourselves and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period of time during which we mark the DESTRUCTION OF THE HOLY TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.

 

(VITAL) HISTORY:

1313 BCE: The spies returned from the Promised Land with frightening reports, and the Israelites balked at the prospect of entering the land. YAH decreed that they would therefore wander in the desert for 40 years.

 

Both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date. The First Temple was burned by the Babylonians in 423 BCE and the Second Temple fell to the Romans in 70 CE, unleashing a period of suffering from which our nation has never fully recovered.

The Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans in 133 CE ended in defeat: The Jews of Betar were butchered on the 9^th of Av and the Temple Mount was plowed one year later on the same date.

Later on in our history, many more tragedies happened on this day, including the 1290 expulsion of England’s Jews and the 1492 banishment of all Jews from Spain.

• FIRST TEMPLE DESTROYED 586 BCE also known as BC

– Jeremiah 39:1-2, Jeremiah 52:1-6, 12-13

• SECOND TEMPLE DESTROYED 70 CE also known as AD and the Jews became exiled from their land

 

It is usually a TIME OF FASTING AND MOURNING.

Note that our MOURNING WILL BE TURNED INTO DANCING and YAH (GOD) will BRING HIS PEOPLE HOME (Jeremiah 31:10-14; psalm 30:11)!

 

WHAT DO WE DO ON TISHA B’AV?

We are encouraged FAST, PRAY and to READ the BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS on this day.

As BELIEVERS IN AND FOLLOWERS OF YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH who was Jewish (of the Israelite Tribe of Judah), we are SPIRITUAL JEWS through the BLOOD OF YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH!

We all therefore should be concerned on this day and cry out to YAH asking HIM to having MERCY on us and deliver us from the hand of the enemy (Satan, the devil) who is constantly seeking to DISPLACE US!

 

THE FIRST AND SECOND TEMPLES WERE A SYMBOL OF YAH’S DIVINE PRESENCE AMONG HIS PEOPLE as shown in the Book of Exodus when Moses was instructed by YAH to construct a TABERNACLE / TENT / SANCTUARY OF MEETING WITH YAH! The Israelites were to set up their tents around the TABERNACLE as instructed according to their various tribes. The TABERNACLE which was a SYMBOL OF YAH’S PRESENCE was right in the CENTRE for all to view and connect with.

One of the reasons the TEMPLES was destroyed by the Romans and the Israelites exiled from their PROMISED LAND was because of DISOBEDIENCE TO YAH.

We need YAH to have MERCY on us and TURN OUR MOURNING INTO DANCING as well as RESTORE US HIS PEOPLE AS STARS OF THE SKY as told Abraham (and not DUST OF THE EARTH as told Jacob because of his sin against Esau and his father Isaac).

 

SOME ENCOURAGING WORSHIP SONGS

The following song is in line with the THEME for TISHA B’AV:

 

BECAUSE YAHUSHUA (YAH’S SALVATION) LIVES, I CAN FACE TOMORROW Song (by Praises For Yahweh Band):