The 9th Day of Av (Tisha b Av) - The Most Cursed Day in Biblical History

The Ninth Day of Av (Tisha b'Av) — The Most Cursed Day in Biblical History

The Cross to the Crown Series

July 28, 2023 — Av 9, 5783

Shalom, friends. My name is Chadwick Harvey. You are with Faithful Performance. Tonight we gather as the ninth day of Av draws to a close on the East Coast — and for those in the Midwest, the West Coast, and Hawaii, you still have some time remaining in this solemn fast day. This is the most cursed day in Jewish and biblical history, and tonight we will walk through the events that have fallen on this single date across the centuries, and then turn to the prophet Zechariah for the beautiful word of what this day will become.

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HOW THE THREE WEEKS BEGIN

To understand the ninth of Av, we have to begin with Tammuz 17th. That was three weeks ago exactly. On Tammuz 17th in the second year of the Exodus, the children of Israel built and worshiped the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Torah. Moses came down, broke the tablets, burned the calf, and made the people drink it. Three thousand people died. Moses went back up the mountain and interceded for forty more days. No reassurance came. He went up a third time on the first of Elul and came back down on Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement — with forgiveness sealed and the second set of tablets in his hands. The Tabernacle was erected on Nisan 1 of the following year.

Then in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt — after Passover, after Shavuot, after the Tabernacle was completed — Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan. They returned on the ninth of Av. Ten of the twelve brought back a bad report. They saw the giants, saw themselves as grasshoppers by comparison, and discouraged the entire congregation from entering the land the Lord had promised. Only Joshua and Caleb brought back a faithful report. The result was forty years of wilderness wandering, and only those two men and their families entered the promised land from that entire generation.

This is the origin of the curse. The Lord established the ninth of Av as a fast day — and history has confirmed it with a precision that is not accidental.

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THE HISTORICAL EVENTS

The following events have all fallen on the ninth of Av. The statistical odds of this many catastrophes striking one people on one calendar date throughout history are not calculable. This is not coincidence. God is consistent with His calendar.

Both temples were destroyed on the ninth of Av. The first temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 586 BC. The second temple was destroyed in AD 70 under the Roman general Titus — and here it is important to remember, as Josephus tells us, that the legions of the eastern Roman Empire were composed primarily of Arabs, Turks, Syrians, and Egyptians. Titus himself was upset that the temple was destroyed; it was not Rome's objective. The people within those legions from the Middle East wanted it destroyed. The Arch of Titus in Rome still depicts the menorah and the sacred vessels being carried out. Two temples, centuries apart, on the same day.

The Romans subsequently crushed Bar Kokhba's revolt and destroyed the city of Betar, killing over five hundred thousand Jewish civilians, on August 4, 135 AD — the ninth of Av.

The Jews were expelled from England on July 18, 1290 — the ninth of Av. From France on July 22, 1306 — the ninth of Av. The Spanish Inquisition reached its culmination on August 3, 1492 — the ninth of Av — when the deadline for Jewish expulsion from Spain expired. That same day, Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand forced the Jewish people to convert to Catholicism or face death or exile, and those who chose exile had until the ninth of Av to leave. England, France, and Spain since that time have been shadows of their former selves.

Germany entered World War One on August 1, 1914 — the ninth of Av — an entry whose aftermath led directly to the Holocaust. SS Commander Heinrich Himmler formally received Nazi party approval for the Final Solution on August 2, 1941 — the ninth of Av. The mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka began on July 23, 1942 — the ninth of Av. The AMIA bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which killed eighty-five people and injured three hundred more, occurred on July 18, 1994 — the ninth of Av.

The Israeli disengagement from Gaza — the forced evacuation of eight thousand Jews living in Gush Katif — began on August 15, 2005 — the ninth of Av. President George W. Bush compelled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to order that evacuation of what is the land of the tribe of Judah, the covenant territory of Yeshua himself. Forty-eight to seventy-two hours later, Hurricane Katrina was on the shores of America, and we were evacuating New Orleans. Genesis 12:3 applies to nations as well as individuals: blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you.

One ethnic group. One calendar date. Century after century. These things do not happen by statistical chance. The Lord is making His point.

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THE PERSONAL APPLICATION

We have Messiah inside of us. He dwells in our temples. The holy temples in Jerusalem were destroyed because the people rejected the Torah, rejected the prophets who came to warn them, and refused to return to the Lord. Jeremiah was warning them for nineteen to twenty years. Zedekiah would not listen. Isaiah was warning them. Ezekiel was warning them. The prophets had two purposes: to call the people back to Torah so they would not be destroyed, and to prophesy about the Day of the Lord and the coming of Messiah. Both temples were destroyed for the same reason: Torah rejected in 586 BC, Yeshua as Messiah rejected in AD 70. Both on the same day.

The personal revelation of this fast day is this: if He allowed His own temples to be destroyed because His people would not return to His ways, what does that say about our own temples? We are the dwelling place of His Spirit now. We must soberly examine our own hearts. Not with fear that brings paralysis, but with the healthy fear of a God who is serious about His Commandments.

Jeremiah 36-39 is the passage to read for this fast day. Particularly chapter 39. Nebuchadnezzar — the most powerful ruler in the ancient world — commanded his captain of the guard to find the prophet Jeremiah and do whatever Jeremiah told him. The king who was destroying Jerusalem protected the prophet who had been warning Jerusalem to repent. Even in judgment, God protected His servant. That is the kind of faithfulness available to those who remain loyal to Him.

We need Jeremiahs today. People who do not flee the darkness, who stand in it and speak the truth, who call the people back to the Lord. Not because it is safe, but because the Lord is calling.

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ONE NEW BODY, ONE NEW MAN

One of the most important things to understand about the ninth of Av is that it is not only a Jewish day — it is a God day. Paul declares in Ephesians 2 that Gentile believers were once strangers from the covenants — the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants — aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. But with the blood of the Lamb, we are no longer strangers. We are grafted in. The Commonwealth of Israel is now our Commonwealth.

This means the ninth of Av is our day to observe as well. Not because we want to perform Jewish ceremonies, but because we love the God of Israel, and His calendar belongs to all who are grafted into His Kingdom. Whenever someone says "that's a Jewish thing" in response to the Sabbath, the feast days, or the new moons — that person has just created division in the body of Messiah. They may not mean it that way. But replacement theology, which says God replaced Israel with the Church, is a form of anti-Semitism whether it knows itself to be or not. It divides what Paul spent his entire ministry trying to unite.

Paul's message in nearly every letter — Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians — is one new body, one new man, Jew and Gentile together under Messiah. The disciples asked Yeshua in Acts 1, just before His ascension: are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said it is not for you to know the times and the seasons — the moedim, the divine appointments. He is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. That Kingdom will have one law: Torah. Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, two prophetic witnesses, declare that in the millennial Kingdom, the Torah will go forth from Jerusalem to all nations. The rod of iron in Revelation 19 establishes it.

Both Judaism and Christianity have errors. Orthodox Judaism does not receive Yeshua as Messiah and has added oral traditions that He came against directly in Matthew 23 and Mark 7. Modern Christianity has removed the feast days, the Sabbath, and the calendar and replaced them with Roman traditions that are not found anywhere in the Holy Bible. We are all seeing dimly — that is what Paul says in First Corinthians. The response is not to entrench deeper into our traditions but to lower our ego and our pride and ask: what does the Holy Bible say? Whatever it says, accept it. Whatever it does not say, reject it.

We are one. Zechariah 8 says it. Paul says it. The millennial Kingdom will demonstrate it. The first one to lower their pride and say "I see partly and I need you" is the one closest to the heart of God in this matter.

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THE PROPHETIC REVERSAL — ZECHARIAH 8

In Zechariah 8:18-19, the prophet speaks directly to this fast day and its three companions:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: the fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall become joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.

The fast of the fourth month is Tammuz 17. The fast of the fifth is the ninth of Av. The fast of the seventh is Tishri 3. The fast of the tenth is Tevet 10. All four will become feast days — moedim, divine appointments — in the millennial Kingdom. They will be as joyful as Passover. They will be as celebratory as the Feast of Tabernacles. Every morning, every lamentation, every calamity associated with these days across history will be reversed. The fast will become a feast. And we need to understand God's calendar to understand what Zechariah is saying — he is not speaking of April, May, July, or October. He is speaking of the biblical months that God ordained at creation.

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TUBA AV — THE DAY OF LOVE

Six days from now — on Av 15 — the anointing of this month shifts completely. That day is called Tuba Av, the Day of Love. From the tragedy and morning of the ninth of Av, the calendar pivots into an explosion of joy, happiness, and contentment. The sages have said that among all the feast days and appointed times on the biblical calendar, there are two that stand above the rest in terms of joy: Yom Kippur and Tuba Av. Mark your calendars. This is the day when Elohim granted Israel permission to intermarry between the tribes — the day the boundaries came down and the people were united in love. It is a picture of what the millennial Kingdom will be in full.

We will cover Tuba Av with more detail when it arrives. But let it set the horizon for this fast day: you are not ending in mourning. You are ending nine days of reflection and entering six days of transition. And then comes the Day of Love.

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FIFTY DAYS TO THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

Here is a number that should give every believer pause. From the ninth of Av to the Feast of Trumpets is exactly fifty days. Fifty is the number of Jubilee — of freedom, of liberty. The Feast of Trumpets is when the books are opened for individuals and for nations, and the verdict is sealed ten days later on Yom Kippur.

The calendar connects continuously. Passover to Shavuot: fifty days. Shavuot to Tammuz 17: forty days. Tammuz 17 to the ninth of Av: three weeks. Ninth of Av to the Feast of Trumpets: fifty days. Every number is intentional. The Lord is declaring something in that fifty: from the most cursed day in Israel's history, fifty days of Jubilee lead to the day the books open. It is a call to enter the remaining fifty days with urgency, prayer, and purpose.

We have entered the culmination of the cross-to-the-crown journey. Sight in Tammuz. Hearing in Av. Repentance in Elul. Then the Feast of Trumpets, the ten days of awe, Yom Kippur. Get on God's calendar, beloved. Get intimate with Him on His times. There is no better investment of the days we have remaining before the books open.

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THE SECOND COMING GEOGRAPHY

The ninth of Av also points us forward prophetically. Isaiah 63 describes Yeshua approaching Jerusalem at His second coming: who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah? Yeshua answers: it is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. And when asked why His garments are red, He says: I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. He is coming from the south — from Bozrah and Edom, which are in modern southern Jordan and northwest Saudi Arabia.

Isaiah 19 places Him on a cloud going to Egypt first. Deuteronomy 33:2 — written by Moses in the plains of Moab, not at Sinai — declares: Yahweh came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones. This is not past tense describing the Exodus. Moses is writing a prophecy of the future Second Exodus, when Yeshua will meet the remnant of Israel at Mount Sinai in Arabia and lead them north through Edom and Seir to the Mount of Olives, fulfilling Zechariah 14. At that meeting, the old covenant will transition into the full expression of the New Covenant — the Torah written on their hearts and their minds, just as Jeremiah 31:31-33 declares.

He is going to reveal Himself to Israel just as Joseph revealed himself to his brothers — unexpectedly, in love, after all the pain. That is the ultimate reversal that the fast days of this season are pointing toward.

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CLOSING

The ninth of Av is ending. For those of us who fasted, may you have had an easy fast. For all of us, may this day have produced in our hearts what it was designed to produce: a sober and loving examination of why the holy temples were destroyed, and a renewed commitment to keeping our own temples undefiled.

He is going to turn this day into a feast. The ninth of Av will be a moedim — a divine appointment — in the millennial Kingdom, as joyful as Passover. One day we will celebrate it alongside the Jewish people and understand fully why the mourning was turned into dancing.

We are fifty days from the Feast of Trumpets. Use them well.

May God bless you. May He keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you His grace. May He lift up His countenance upon you and your family and give you His everlasting shalom. My name is Chadwick Harvey. You are with Faithful Performance.