The watchmen are watching! Will Iran and Hezbollah attack Israel on the Hebrew calendar known as Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av)? Throughout history, the following catastrophes befell the Jewish people on this fateful day:
According to the sages, during the time of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites accepted the slanderous report of the Ten Spies, and a decree was issued forbidding that generation from entering the Land of Israel. (1312 BCE)
In 586 B.C. the Babylonian army destroyed Solomon’s Temple.
In 70 A.D. Titus and the Roman army destroyed the Second Temple.
In 135, Bar Kochba’s stronghold fell, ending Jewish independence.
In 1096, the Crusades began.
In 1290, England expelled its Jews. (Our Exploits Ministry held a Prophetic Summons in Hereford, England, to repent of that action.)
In 1306 France expelled its Jews.
In 1492, all Jews forced to vacate Spain under an expulsion order signed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. (We also helped the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) to stage a public repentance service 500 years later in 1992 in a public square in Toledo, Spain.)
In 1914, declarations for World War 1. Germany entered World War I on August 1–2, 1914 (Av 9–10, AM 5674), which caused massive upheaval in European Jewry and whose aftermath led to the Holocaust.
In 1942, plans for the Jews’ annihilation by Hitler… and the list has continued but God also promised a reversal of this pattern in Zechariah 8: 19!
The Book of Lamentations (מגילה איכה) is traditionally recited during Tishah B’Av to remember the destruction of the Holy Temple and other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. According to the website Hebrew for Christians, Lamentations is an acrostic poem that begins with the Hebrew letter Aleph in the word “eichah” (אֵיכָה): “How (eichah) lonely sits the city that once was full of people!” (Lam. 1:1). The sages note that this word “how (eichah)” could also be read as “where are you?” (אַיֶּכָּה, ayekah), God’s first question to Adam after he broke covenant in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:9). The midrash draws a connection between the lamentation of the LORD over Adam’s banishment from Eden and Israel’s banishment from Zion (Hos. 6:7). In both cases, the problem centers on the failure to ask where God is.
Both former Jewish Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this day in history.
Believers should take the call to this fast day seriously because of the current critical situation in the Land of Israel as Iran says it may deliberately attack Israel on this day of calamity.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah leaders can only envision destruction for Israel, but they don’t know that the God of Israel has promised to reverse the tragedies associated with the 9th of Av.
PROPHETIC PRAISE:
Despite the horrendous history and catalog of atrocities, God has promised to restore the fortunes of the Jewish people when they resettle in their own land. We thank you, Lord, that according to the prophecy of Zechariah 8:19, the Fast of the 9th of Av will become a feast day of rejoicing for what You will do for your people in the future when truly their fortunes are completely reversed and restored. Zechariah 8: 19 is a prophecy of the big reversal!
And the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me, saying: ‘Thus says the Lord of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth [9th of Av], and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the House of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons; therefore love you truth and peace.’ (Zechariah 8:19)
The above verse mentions four fasts. The fast of the 4th month mentioned in Zechariah 8:19 is the fast of the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz. In Jewish tradition Moses smashed the tablets on the 17th of Tammuz when he came down from Sinai and discovered the people worshiping a golden calf. This tragedy was deemed to be prophetic since it was on this date that the walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezar’s invading armies, leading to the destruction of the Temple three weeks later on the 9th of Av.
The fast of the fifth month, the 9th of Av, remembers all the tragedies of the Jewish people; this is the second most important fast among the Jews (only Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is more sober). On the eve of Tisha B’Av (9th of Av) it is customary to eat a boiled egg sprinkled with ashes.
The fast of the 7th month is Tzom Gedaliah, remembering the murder of the Judean governor Gedaliah.
The fast of the 10th month is 10 Tevet and remembers the fall of Jerusalem.
Besides Yom Kippur, there are also other fasts including the Fast of Esther as well as Ta’anit Tzaddikim, the fast of the righteous ones in memory of outstanding persons such as Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Josuha and Samuel.
A Ta’anit yachid is a personal or unique fast performed in private for personal needs.
We are living in momentous days when Israel’s fortunes are being reversed. Israel’s rebirth in 1948, her capture of Jerusalem in 1967, and her very existence are miraculous and prophetic. Both 1948 and 1967, no doubt, triggered prophetic countdowns.
The angel Gabriel’s word to Daniel (12:4) about the time of the end: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” For the first time in human history in the last half of the 20th century to now, there has been a transportation and knowledge explosion.
The understanding of early century Christian leaders and Jewish teachers was that Messiah would return after 6,000 years of history. These included Barnabas (c. A.D. 100), Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (c. A.D. 150), Lactantius (c. A.D. 325), and Methodius, Bishop of Tyre (c. A.D. 300).
My prayer for Israel, for the Church worldwide, for Israel’s enemies, and for anybody reading this who is struggling in life, is a joyous promise from the Book of Lamentations, written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3: 22-23)
