Tisha B’av

Tisha B’av

Sadness and grief are natural, human reactions to a serious loss. It often hurls us into the arms of our God for comfort. We look to Him and trusted friends for help in examining ourselves and our relationship to the lost object of our love. It is through grief that we face the painful reality of losing something that we love, whether it be our parent, our child, our spouse, our friend, or even our childhood, our home, or our health. They are all losses. Besides grieving our own losses, we are touched when a friend is grieving a loss. Even our Lord Yeshua wept when He saw His friends grieving at Lazarus’ death.

Today, on August 10, 2008 (the 9th of Av or Tisha B’av on the Jewish calendar), the Jewish people grieve over the great losses and tragic events in their history. As Christians, we are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Therefore, the Jewish history and family tree is our history and our tree. Her losses become our losses and her mourning our mourning.

I believe that the Gentile Ruth’s heart toward her Jewish mother-in-law was, “Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live; your people shall be my people; your God shall be my god; and your losses and grief will be my losses and grief.” May the Lord make us sensitive to the pain of our ancestors.

According to the sages, here are some of the tragedies that happened on the 9th of Av:

1. In 586 BC, the First Temple (built by Solomon) was destroyed by the Babylonians. One hundred thousand Jews perished, and millions were exiled.
2. In 70 AD, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus. Again many Jews died and many were exiled. This destruction was prophesied by Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) in Matthew 24:2.
3. In 135 AD, the Jewish Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. A stronghold of over 100,000 Jews was slaughtered.
4. In 1290, an official decree was signed, expelling all the Jewish people from England.
5. In 1492, the large Jewish community in Spain was expelled from the country.
6. In 1914, WWI broke out when Germany declared war on Russia. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed.

Let us also remember that although this day reminds us of the hatred aimed at God’s Chosen People, it can also remind us that God has preserved His people, in spite of Satan’s continual attempts to destroy their hope. “Am Y’israel Chai!” (”The Jewish people live on!”). And, indeed, soon, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:26), and we will all rejoice together–forever with our Messiah, Jesus!

“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her (Isaiah 66:10).”

This entry was posted on August 10, 2008 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Jewish Roots, Messianic Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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