The Fast of Tisha BAv and the return of Adonai Tzidkenu-1

A view from the Mount of Olives of the Temple Mount where the First and

Second Temples once stood.

“And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you, to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.’”  (Jeremiah 26:4–6)

Amid rockets, tunnels, and death, begins Tisha B’Av, the day of fasting on which Jews mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples that stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Although the Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, increasingly Muslims are rioting there, protesting Jewish access to the location of the ancient Holy Temples. On Thursday night, July 24, at the end of Ramadan, thousands of Hamas-loving Arabs broke through Israel police barriers on the Temple Mount.  After the police were instructed to temporarily abandon the Mount in the face of tensions over Operation Protective Edge, Arabs burned down the police station, smashing riot gear, office equipment, and computers full of data. Tisha B'Av comes at a time when the Jewish state is reeling from a string of funerals for the too many young men fallen in Operation Protective Edge—the battle to protect Israel from the barrage of Hamas rockets and destroy hundreds of Hamas terrorist tunnels built to infiltrate Israel. Hamas missiles steadily fall on Israeli population centers and even on Gazans.  And Israelis mourn the loss of the innocents on both sides. In the midst of this horror, in preparation for the fast that begins tonight, many will eat the traditional seudah mafseket, a small final meal eaten without conversation while seated on the floor.  This meal often consists of a hard-boiled egg, a symbol of mourning, and a piece of bread sprinkled with some ashes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows UN Secretary General Ban

Ki-moon remains of a rocket fired by Hamas terrorists at Israel.

Jeremiah Warns of Impending Destruction

Tisha B'Av (Av 9) is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.

The event that established the 9th of Av as a day of fasting and mourning is the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC, an act that had been prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:6). The destruction wasn’t immediate; God gave the people much forewarning. Babylon had successfully laid siege to Jerusalem without destroying the Temple around 605 BC, taking Daniel and many Israelites captive. As well, the Prophet Jeremiah had very vocally warned the people of the coming destruction for many years.  He repeatedly called for repentance, which could have prevented the destruction of the Temple.

 

Jeremiah, by Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel)

In Jeremiah 36:1–24, the prophet had even written God’s warning in a scroll, which was read aloud before the Temple court. Then, it was read to King Jehoiakim, a king who vacillated between paying tribute to Egypt and then Babylon, and then Egypt again when it appeared to be more powerful than Babylon. As a show of defiance, Jehoiakim burned the scroll and unsuccessfully tried to take Jeremiah captive.  (Jeremiah 36:26) Like so many of us do in the face of a word of correction, or something we consider an affront, the king wanted to silence the messenger. God then instructed Jeremiah to rewrite the warning on a second scroll, calling again for repentance.  He also added the following prophecy: “Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, ‘Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?’  Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah:  He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.  I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.”  (Jeremiah 36:29–31) With this, Jeremiah prophesied both the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of Jehoiakim, and the demise of his line on the throne of David.