Israel, War and Tisha b'Av - Amy Joy Hess - http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2014/2276/print/
Israel put a Gaza power plant out of commission on Tuesday, while the UNRWA announced it found a rocket cache in a third school in Gaza. The Hebrew month of Av began Sunday night, and as rockets continued to shoot at Israel, the Jews will mourn through the final nine days that began with the Fast of Tammuz and end with Tisha b'Av-the day commemorating the destruction of the Jewish Temple.
All public transportation will be silenced, all restaurants will remain closed in Jerusalem the evening of August 4th as the sun sets. The Hebrew day of great tragedies, Tisha b'Av, will begin at sundown. In remembrance of the destruction of both the First and Second Temple on the 9th of Av hundreds of years apart, tens of thousands of Jews will gather at the Western Wall to pray and petition the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Jewish hearts around the world will long in unison for the future Temple, the one to be established when the Messiah comes.
Then an air raid siren will likely blare out and force everybody to hustle to safely.
As thousands of missiles shoot at Israel from Gaza and children have to hide in bomb shelters, the Jews gaze at the Temple Mount with even more longing than normal. The Iron Dome protective shield had successfully shot down most of the rockets raining on Israel, but there is always the fear some will slip through. Los Angeles resident Edmon J. Rodman wrote recently, "[W]atching the news one night and seeing a video of an Iron Dome missile intercepting a Gaza rocket, I found myself saying, 'God, don't let it miss.' Then I thought that Jews around the world were probably saying that simple prayer, too. I began to get some insight into why we mourn on the Ninth of Av."
This year, the Three Weeks of Mourning have been particularly meaningful to the Israelis as they hear air raid sirens and flee to underground hiding places. They read from Lamentations, the traditional book used to prepare their hearts for Tish B'Av:
"How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!"
- Lamentations 1:1
While the United States and United Nations have called for a truce to allow aid into Gaza, Cairo's efforts to broker a ceasefire have so far been stymied. Nearly 1200 Palestinians have been reportedly killed during the recent conflagration, while 53 Israeli soldiers are dead along with three Israeli civilians.
UNWRA, the United Nation's main relief agency in Gaza, has reported that hundreds of thousands of Gaza refugees have sought safety in schools after Israel warned neighborhoods to evacuate before being bombed. A major part of the danger for civilians in Gaza is that Hamas has hidden rockets and other weapons in hospitals and schools, putting their own people in danger and garnering world sympathy when Israel bombs these weapons sites anyway.
UNRWA reported it found another weapons cache in a Gaza school Tuesday. According to Reuters, UNWRA spokesman Chris Gunness said, "This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of U.N. property."
Israel has said it needs another week to destroy the tunnels that Hamas terrorists have dug under the border for potential invasions of Israeli towns.
The Temple
Many Jews look forward to the day when the Messiah will come, when the Temple will once again rise up on the Temple Mount, and the Messiah will bring justice to the Holy Land and the whole world. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute has long promoted this as a time of expectation for the Temple, rather than a time of mourning.
Many disasters have befallen the Jews on the 9th of Av throughout history. According to Jewish tradition, this was the day that God told the Children of Israel they were prohibited from entering the Promised Land because of disbelief. They were forced to wander in the desert forty more years until that adult generation had died out. That tragic day was just the beginning...
On the 9th of Av in
*586 BC, Solomon's Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonian captivity began;
*AD 70, the Second Temple, which stood during Christ's ministry, was destroyed by the Romans precisely as Jesus predicted in Luke 19;
*AD 135, the famous Bar Kokhba revolt was squelched when Bethar, the last Jewish stronghold, fell to the Romans;
*AD 136, the Roman Emperor Hadrian established a heathen temple to Jupiter on the site of the Jewish Temple. Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city, and renamed the land as Palestina, to distance its Jewish heritage. The date when the Temple area was plowed under by the Romans was the 9th of Av.
Thus the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, has become a symbol of all the persecutions and misfortunes of the Jewish people, for the loss of their national independence and their sufferings in exile. Above all, it is a day of intense mourning for the destruction of the Temple.
A Day of Mourning... And Future Joy
Tisha b'Av is marked with sadness and fasting from food and drink. Observant Jews avoid bathing or washing clothes or enjoying entertainment like music or movies. On this day the Jews are reminded of their tragic history. Yet, this day is also expressly linked with Israel's glorious destiny. The Jews also look forward to the ultimate rebuilding of the Temple, to a time when Tisha b'Av will become a day of joy and gladness (as it was foretold in Zechariah 8:19).
We do know that the Temple will be rebuilt because Jesus, John, and Paul all make reference to it (Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1, 2; 2 Thess 2:4). We also know that a future Temple will be desecrated by the Coming World Leader when he sets himself up to be worshiped (2 Thess 2:3-4). It is possible this prophetic event will also take place on Tisha b'Av - and may happen in the not-too-distant future.
Meanwhile, may we continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY PROPHECY WEBSITES...............................
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