It was over a few year period....roughly thirty-five years ago....that my wife and I and our son would get in the car and drive for about forty-five minutes to what was then....Borders Bookstore....in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh. Barnes & Noble grew after the liquidation of Borders. I might return with a Christian book or a current events book....but every time I would come home with a newspaper copy of the Jerusalem Post....which sold for $5 at the time. Today I visit the Jerusalem Post Internet site multiple times every day!
So today the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz and The Times Of Israel are all reporting on an archaeologist find....in an on-going dig in the City of David....of large timbers that were burned in the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.! This is really pretty amazing....for these burnt timbers....probably from a roof they say....to have survived. The reason given is that plaster in the house may have melted over the timbers....preserving them....but what is really amazing is that this find came days before the solemn fast known as the....Ninth of Av....(the Jewish month of AV)....or Tisha B'Av!
On this day in history....the first temple was destroyed....and the second temple was destroyed....and before that....it was the day that the twelve spies returned to report to Moses....and told him that that people they saw were much too strong to go against. The people heard this....and panicked....and regretted ever leaving Egypt. God was not happy....to say the very least....and the Jews were condemned to wander around the wilderness for the next forty years!
So this day....the Ninth of Av....is a most solemn day! Those who honor that day....(not all Jews do so)....as part of the tradition....are not even to exchange pleasantries with each other! Well....this discovery came days before the Ninth of Av....or....Tisha B'Av!
The following paragraph from a July 2020 post describes my feelings on this...."The dates of the future feasts of Israel are always only a click away for me or anyone who feels that surely major prophetic events will occur on these days. This isn't date setting for we do not know the years....but we do know that God's future plans for the Jewish people will most likely revolve around their feasts. To prognosticate on this is more than problematic....but to ignore it is being careless to God's warnings to us." On another occasion I described it this way...."This is not date setting! This is....mind setting....Set your minds on things that are above, not the things of earth." (Colossians 3:2 ESV)"
Tisha B'Av 2026 begins about forty eight hours from now....Wednesday at sundown....July 22....and ends at nightfall the next evening....Thursday....July 23. Jerusalem time is seven hours ahead of us....so sunset on Wednesday is 7:43 PM....or 12:43 PM our time in Pittsburgh.
