Beware of Tisha B’Av, the Jewish 9/11!
Millions of Jews are approaching their Tisha B’Av Memorial this week with dread and fear, wondering what will happen that day in their current war. It will be this Wednesday evening sunset, (our August 2nd) through Thursday sunset (our August 3rd). Orthodox Jews always observe it, but even many Jews who normally ignore it will likely participate this year. However, it is not a happy holiday. It is rather a day of mourning and crying out to God for deliverance.
The Jewish Equivalent to our 9/11 The “Tisha B’Av Memorial” is the Jewish equivalent of our 9/11 except it is much older. “Tisha” means ninth and “B’Av” means “of Av,” the Jewish month of “Av,” which has long been the eleventh month in the Jewish calendar. In our military, and in most of the rest of the world, including Israel, the date is written day/month/year. Since this is the year 5766 in the Jewish calendar, they could write Tisha B’Av this year as 9/11/5766, or the 9th day of their 11th month and their 5766th year. This day has a terrible history of bad things happening for Jews.
Kadesh-Barnea The earliest sad event, for Israel, identified with this date is Israel’s faith failure at Kadesh-barnea, found in Numbers 13 & 14. Moses and Israel were in the wilderness. They sent 12 spies up into Canaan to see if they could take the Land as God had promised them. The spies returned with glowing reports of a good land but ten of the spies gave a defeatist report, resulting in the sad failure of Israel, weeping in unbelief, not willing to obey God’s command to take the land.
Jewish oral tradition preserved in the Mishnah claims the Kadesh-barnea failure happened on the ninth day of Av. If so, that would make it the original “Tisha B’Av.” Tradition further quotes God saying, “You have cried before Me without cause; I shall determine this to be a time of weeping for you all your generations.” This sad event at Kadesh-barnea is certainly in Scripture, but we are not given the month and day; only that it was about 1450 B. C. (Scofield & Ryrie). It is clear in Numbers 14 that God was angry with the unbelief of the children of Israel, and sentenced them to forty years in the wilderness before entering Canaan. But there is nothing in Scripture that there would be continuing punishment for Jews on the ninth of Av for all generations.
Babylonian Captivity However, it is very clear that the Jewish captivity in Babylon began on “Tisha B’Av,” or clearly on the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and carried most of the Jews away to Babylon (586 B. C. on our Christian calendar). Centuries later, on that same date, the 9th day of Av, (70 A. D. in our calendar), General Titus and his Roman army destroyed Jerusalem a second time. More than one million Jews were slain and the rest scattered to all parts of the world. Since God allows no other location for a Jewish temple, the Jews have grieved and prayed for restoration of their temple since then.
We are approaching the 5th Anniversary of our 9/11 Memorial, (a sad time for us as well), but if the dating of Kadesh-barnea is accurate, the Jews have had their 9/11 Memorial for more than 3000 years. Many other events, tragic to the Jews, have also occurred on that date through the centuries, such as the beginning of World War I.
The Bible does not predict any future tragic events on the Jewish 9/11; however, such events could happen. The Jewish month of Av normally falls across our July and August and varies from year to year due to their different “leap year” type calendar corrections. “Tisha B’av” is always observed on the 9th day of Av in the Jewish calendar.
Jewish Tisha B’Av Observance Jimmy DeYoung, a Christian journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1991, gave more information about “Tisha B’Av” in the September, 2002 issue of his newsletter, UNTIL. He described how many orthodox Jews observe their “9/11 Memorial” whenever the 9th of Av comes. On this “fast” day they sit on the floor in their synagogues, or on low benches, as a sign of mourning. Thousands of Jewish faithful throng to the “Western Wall” in Jerusalem to pray for God’s protection and for the temple to be re-built by the next “Tisha Be’av.”
Especially this year you can be sure that IDF soldiers will be on their highest alert this Wednesday evening and Thursday; that the Western Wall in Jerusalem will be crowded with praying Jews, and that Jews will gather in synagogues all over the world to cry out to God for deliverance and protection.
Let’s Join Them In Prayer Therefore, it is especially appropriate for us to pray this Wednesday night and Thursday for the Peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-8). Pray that Messiah Jesus Christ will reveal Himself and bring peace to our world. Amen!
© 2006, By D. B. Martin