[Bas Relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome: "IUDAEA CAPTA" ("Judea is Vanquished"): Roman Emperor Titus's commemoration of the plundering of the Temple.]
This year, July 29th-30th was Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. On this day in 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and her temple. Then 656 years later, the Romans destroyed it again; and on the very same day. What should we make of this? Why did this happen? The Jewish community in Israel will have "Never Again" rallies to commemorate Tisha B'Av, as if to say "never again" will we let these disasters happen. But a glance at the writings of Jeremiah tell us that they had an equally determined and militant attitude the FIRST time around. And a glance at the prophetic words of Christ in Luke 21 and Matthew 24 tell us pretty much the same thing: despite the fact that they were determined this would not happen again. Clearly, some other attitude was needed to forestall the national disasters of providence that have afflicted the Jewish people historically. Jeremiah recommended national repentance. So did Christ. If military prowess and personal determination were all it took in those days, the Hebrew prophets wouldn't have spoken so much about national (and personal!) repentance.
Modern synagogues offer a special commemorative service on Tisha B'Av. "Tisha B'Av" means "ninth day of the month Av". They read from the Bible's Book of Lamentations, penned by Jeremiah, who gives credit to God for its verbal inspiration. Religious Jews will fast for 24 hours on this date.. A coincidence of dates: 586 BC and 70 AD? Yes, but there's even more of a coincidence:
On this same date in 1492, Spain, the greatest, most prosperous nation on earth, ejected all the Jews and banished them, permanently ending a centuries-old flourishing civilization of great wealth and learning. and subjecting these 300,000 refugees to piracy, shipwreck, starvation and enslavement in their forced haste to leave. This was done under the instigation of Torquemada, author of the Spanish Inquisition and the priestly confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the same royals who financed Columbus' voyage to America that same year. Ironically, it was the Muslim nations that welcomed these exiles in. The Sultan of Turkey asked the refugees: "Do you call Ferdinand a wise king, who has impoverished his country to enrich mine?" [History of the Jews, Heinrich Graetz, vol 4 p.396, as quoted in The Anguish of the Jews, Edw. H. Flannery, Paulist Press]
So Jews mourn that day. But Jesus also mourned that day. Christ mourned over the "Tisha B'Av" destruction of Jerusalem and its temple as stated in John 19:41. In fact, He actually wept, but not after it happened ... before it happened!
"Now as He drew near, He saw the City and wept over it, saying 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. ' " (Luke 19:44)
So Christ was a prophet that day, of things to come. But even today, the Jewish community continues in its refusal to give him any more credibility than simply saying He was a local rabbi who created a great controversy but added very little to Judaism. That's been their stated position for 2000 years. "He was a popular local rabbi. Beyond that, he wasn't the messiah and we didn't kill him." has been their repeated claim.
Yet it is this very view, that got me curious enough to investigate further the biblical claims of this man. Here's exactly what I mean: I seriously considered the Isaiah chapter 53 in the Jewish Bible.
Continue reading? Click https://chaim.org/isaiah-53
This year, July 29th-30th was Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. On this day in 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and her temple. Then 656 years later, the Romans destroyed it again; and on the very same day. What should we make of this? Why did this happen? The Jewish community in Israel will have "Never Again" rallies to commemorate Tisha B'Av, as if to say "never again" will we let these disasters happen. But a glance at the writings of Jeremiah tell us that they had an equally determined and militant attitude the FIRST time around. And a glance at the prophetic words of Christ in Luke 21 and Matthew 24 tell us pretty much the same thing: despite the fact that they were determined this would not happen again. Clearly, some other attitude was needed to forestall the national disasters of providence that have afflicted the Jewish people historically. Jeremiah recommended national repentance. So did Christ. If military prowess and personal determination were all it took in those days, the Hebrew prophets wouldn't have spoken so much about national (and personal!) repentance.
Modern synagogues offer a special commemorative service on Tisha B'Av. "Tisha B'Av" means "ninth day of the month Av". They read from the Bible's Book of Lamentations, penned by Jeremiah, who gives credit to God for its verbal inspiration. Religious Jews will fast for 24 hours on this date.. A coincidence of dates: 586 BC and 70 AD? Yes, but there's even more of a coincidence:
On this same date in 1492, Spain, the greatest, most prosperous nation on earth, ejected all the Jews and banished them, permanently ending a centuries-old flourishing civilization of great wealth and learning. and subjecting these 300,000 refugees to piracy, shipwreck, starvation and enslavement in their forced haste to leave. This was done under the instigation of Torquemada, author of the Spanish Inquisition and the priestly confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the same royals who financed Columbus' voyage to America that same year. Ironically, it was the Muslim nations that welcomed these exiles in. The Sultan of Turkey asked the refugees: "Do you call Ferdinand a wise king, who has impoverished his country to enrich mine?" [History of the Jews, Heinrich Graetz, vol 4 p.396, as quoted in The Anguish of the Jews, Edw. H. Flannery, Paulist Press]
So Jews mourn that day. But Jesus also mourned that day. Christ mourned over the "Tisha B'Av" destruction of Jerusalem and its temple as stated in John 19:41. In fact, He actually wept, but not after it happened ... before it happened!
"Now as He drew near, He saw the City and wept over it, saying 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. ' " (Luke 19:44)
So Christ was a prophet that day, of things to come. But even today, the Jewish community continues in its refusal to give him any more credibility than simply saying He was a local rabbi who created a great controversy but added very little to Judaism. That's been their stated position for 2000 years. "He was a popular local rabbi. Beyond that, he wasn't the messiah and we didn't kill him." has been their repeated claim.
Yet it is this very view, that got me curious enough to investigate further the biblical claims of this man. Here's exactly what I mean: I seriously considered the Isaiah chapter 53 in the Jewish Bible.
Continue reading? Click https://chaim.org/isaiah-53
