Welcome back, friends! Yesterday we identified the saddest day on the Hebrew calendar, Tisha B’Av (“ninth of Av”). We learned why it is a sad day in Israel, and why it is marked with fasting and mourning. Today, we dive a bit deeper, and I think you will get a well-rounded picture of why Tisha B’Av is so sadly significant. It falls on July 23 this year, so is timely in today’s discussion.

Tisha B’Av – The Saddest Day on the Jewish Calendar

[Soon] Jews around the world will commemorate Tisha B’Av (the Ninth of Av) - the saddest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar.

For nearly 2,000 years, this has been a day of fasting, mourning, and remembering the greatest national tragedies to befall the Jewish people.

But Tisha B’Av is far more than a memorial of past disasters. It stands as a powerful reminder that God always keeps His Word - both in judgment and in restoration.

What makes this day so remarkable is not only what happened on it once, but how many pivotal events in Jewish history have occurred on this very date. From the sin of the spies in the wilderness to the destruction of both Temples, from expulsions and massacres to the darkest chapters of Jewish history, the Ninth of Av has become synonymous with national mourning.

The question is: Why this date?

Jewish tradition traces the pattern back to the wilderness.

It all began with the twelve spies.

After hearing the evil report of ten of the spies, the children of Israel rejected God’s promise and refused to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 13-14). According to Jewish tradition (Ta’anit 29a), the people wept on the Ninth of Av.

God’s response was sobering. Because they wept without trusting Him, this day would become a day of genuine mourning throughout Israel’s history.

Sadly, it did.

Here is what happened on or around this day throughout history:

▪️ The children of Israel rejected God’s promise and refused to enter the Promised Land after believing the evil report of the ten spies.

▪️ The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, sending Judah into exile.

▪️ The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans under Titus in AD 70 - exactly as Yeshua had foretold:

“Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
- Matthew 24:2 (NKJV)

▪️ Betar, the last Jewish stronghold in the Bar Kokhba Revolt, fell to the Romans in AD 135, ending Jewish sovereignty and resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews.

▪️ Emperor Hadrian plowed Jerusalem under, rebuilt it as the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina, and banned Jews from entering their own holy city.

▪️ The Jews were expelled from England in 1290.

▪️ The Jews were expelled from France in 1306.

▪️ The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, ending more than a thousand years of Jewish life on the Iberian Peninsula.

▪️ The First Crusade unleashed horrific massacres against Jewish communities throughout Europe in 1096.

▪️ World War I broke out in 1914, setting in motion the chain of events that ultimately led to the Holocaust.

▪️ The mass deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp began in 1942.

▪️ Numerous other expulsions, pogroms, massacres, and persecutions of the Jewish people have occurred on or near this very date.

Coincidence?

Not if you believe that God means what He says.

Why did God allow these things?

The destruction of the First Temple came because Judah persisted in idolatry and rejected God’s prophets.

The destruction of the Second Temple came after Israel rejected her Messiah. As Yeshua wept over Jerusalem, He declared:

“If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!… because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
- Luke 19:41-44 (NKJV)

God’s judgment is never arbitrary. It is always righteous.

But judgment is never God’s final word.

The same God who scattered Israel also promised to gather her.

The same God who judged Jerusalem promised to restore her.

The same God who allowed the Temple to be destroyed has promised that the Messiah will one day reign from Jerusalem.

Even Tisha B’Av itself will not remain a day of mourning forever.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah.’”
- Zechariah 8:19 (NKJV)

Christian friends, pray for Israel today. Not only are Jewish people remembering some of the worst days in their history, but it is also a time for the God of Israel to make Himself known to His uniquely called people. Pray that eyes will be open and hearts will be tender toward the truth of God’s loving provision for them, and His promise to restore them. Indeed, the Messiah will once again reign from Jerusalem and those who have eyes to see and hearts to follow will escape the wrath that is to come prior to Jesus’ reign from Jerusalem!