Tisha B’Av - Creation Moments

Matthew 24:1-2
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

One of the most solemn days of the year for the Jewish people is not a biblical holy day. No, this national day of mourning – known as Tisha B’Av – is commemorated because of the catastrophes that happened to Israel throughout history on the ninth day of the month of Av.

Excavated stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, knocked onto the street below by Roman battering rams on the ninth of Av, 70 AD According to rabbinic tradition, five disastrous events took place on the ninth of Av. We have time to mention just three. It was on the ninth day of Av in the year 587 BC that King Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians after a two-year siege. The people of Judah were then sent into Babylonian exile.

Nearly seven hundred years later – again on the ninth of Av – the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 AD. This date also marks the beginning of the Jewish exile from the land of their fathers, an exile that continued for almost nineteen hundred years.

The third event we will mention today happened in the year 132 AD. It was on the ninth day of Av that the Romans crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt, killing more than 100,000 Jews and ending the Jewish hope of overthrowing Roman rule. Since many Jews believed Bar Kokhba to be the long-awaited Messiah, this was a tragedy of epic proportions.

Even more tragic is that so many Jews back then and today do not realize that the Messiah has already come … and is coming again! Tell every Jewish person you know that their Messiah is Jesus!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for the Jewish people who have suffered so greatly throughout the centuries. Never let me forget that Your Son came to us through the line of Judah to be the sacrifice for our sins. Amen.

Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisha_B’Av. Photo: Excavated stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, knocked onto the street below by Roman battering rams on the ninth of Av, 70 AD.