“From the straits I called to Yah” Psalm 118:5
“The fast of the fourth month” in Zechariah 8:19 refers to an ancient memorial on the 17th of the month of Tamuz in the Hebrew calendar, a time set aside to soberly remember the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The three-week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is known as “the Dire Straits” (or Between the Straits, see Lamentations 1:3 “All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits”.)
The period of the Dire Straits starts on the 17th of Tammuz (the month before Av) when Jerusalem’s walls were breached, it’s fall, the destruction of the two Holy Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on the same day, the 9th of Av, and the Jews going out of their land to Exile – the first time to Babylon for 70 years, and the second to a far greater Diaspora throughout the world for about 2000 years.
The Jews have experienced many calamities over the years, and it is amazing to learn that most of those calamities have occurred on the same day of the year, the 9th of Av.
The Destruction of the Jerusalem Temples, especially the Second Temple, changed the path of Jewish History and of the nation, dispersing the Jewish People among the nations, yet they have survived against all odds. They went through persecution, expulsions and relocation, suffering and calamities. Nonetheless, the wisdom and learning of Jewish tradition was not only preserved, but it also flourished in many countries, enriching the world in many ways.
The 9th of Av, Tisha b’Av, commemorates a list of catastrophes so severe that Jews believe God set them aside for suffering.
Some of the catastrophes and calamities that happened to the Jews on the 9th of Av:
- The First Temple was also destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE). Five centuries later (in 69 CE), the Romans drew closer to the Second Temple, ready to torch it. The Second Temple was destroyed the same day as the first.
- When the Jews rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed in 133 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar. The date of the massacre was the 9th of Av!
- One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, our nation’s holiest site.
- In 1290 CE on the 9th of Av, the Jews were expelled from England.
- In 1492, the Golden Age of Spain for the Jews came to an end when Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand ordered that the Jews be banished from the land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Jews were given exactly four months to leave the country. The Hebrew date on which no Jew was allowed any longer to remain in the land where he had enjoyed freedom and prosperity was the 9th of Av.
- World War II and the Holocaust, was actually the outcome of World War I that began in 1914. The day that Germany declared war on Russia, which set the First World War into motion was on the 9th of Av.
Is it by chance, or is it part of a Divine plan that has spiritual meaning? It may not be understood by the human mind, but God has a purpose and a plan that will be fulfilled in His time.
- In modern times, the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005 occurred on the 9th of Av.
According to God’s plan, He intended the 9th of Av to be a day of joy and celebration. When He led the people of Israel out of slavery from Egypt into the Promised Land in the year 1313 BCE, the 9th of Av was the day they were to enter the land of at Kadish Barnea (the short distance from Egypt to the land of Israel.) Spies had been sent into the land and brought back the good fruit of the land to taste. However, 10 of the spies (besides Joshua and Caleb) gave a negative report to the people, lacking faith in God and full of fear. They said to the people that it would be better to go back to Egypt than to be killed by the giants of the land. Because of their unbelief, the day of joy turned into a day of mourning.
God was highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His miracle working power and sent the people back in a long course of 38 years through the desert of Sinai until that whole generation died there, and only their children had the privilege of entering and possessing the Promised Land. (Num. 13-14)
One day, the people of Israel will look upon the pierced Yeshua (Zech. 12:10,) they will proclaim, Baruch haba b’shem Adonai (Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Matt. 23:39.) Yeshua said that on that day they will see Him again, but this time they will see Him as He is: their Messiah and Savior. They will mourn for Him as for the firstborn Son. (Zech. 12:10). And then, All Israel will be saved. (Rom. 11:26) On that day God will turn the mourning into great joy again.