Israel 101- Month of Thammuz 5782
This is a time to worship the King of glory in Spirit and truth, a time more than ever to be intentional with our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a season to check our roots as this is the beginning of the Summer Months and we must be sure that we are planted by streams of living water. It is a month of worshipping from the place of victory on the foundation of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Yeshua to the right hand of the Father.
This means we worship, pray, and prophecy not for the victory, but from the victory. It is a moment of spiritual eyes being opened, of encountering the King glory in a new way, and of standing on the promises of Elohim unflinching in the face of adversity. This is what the month of Tammuz is all about, but it’s the opposite of what the fallen kingdom of darkness wants us to believe. According to Scripture, this season and the beginning of next month is a time of Israel’s disobedience to Adonai, resulting in calamity and judgment. So how is it possible that we should expect all of the above amazing things if the opposite is the case in Scripture? The answer is simple, but can also be easy to miss amidst all of the current noise on the world stage.
VICIOUS CYCLE OF TAMMUZ
4 months have passed since the beginning of the Biblical New Year. Now, as we begin this 4th Biblical month we can’t help but see the glaring parallels between what happened on the Biblical timeline also happening now. The main difference now is that what was happening primarily to Israel in Scripture during this month is now a global event. In Exodus, on the 4th month of the year, Israel created a golden calf to worship, instead of YHWH, fearing Moses had died upon Mount Sinai. There was pandemonium and chaos as Israel worshipped the golden calf, with Exodus 32:25 clearly telling us, “Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of mockery among their enemies…” Sound familiar to the scenes we are seeing around the world?
In the times of Israel’s exile in Babylon a similar thing was happening in Jerusalem when Adonai and the 4 living creatures appeared to Ezekiel in the 4th month and showed him the idolatry of the citizens and leaders of Zion, as well as those he was exiled with (Ezekiel 1-8). There was complete contempt and rebellion against the Great I Am during that time. During the same exile in Babylon, this idolatry led to the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon breaching the walls of Jerusalem on the 17th day of Tammuz (Jeremiah 39:2) before destroying the temple on the 9th of Av three weeks later. In 70 A.D. the Temple was again destroyed on the 9th of Av by Rome.
Starting to see a pattern? These tragedies are now referred to as the 3 weeks of sorrow, a time when the Jewish people, from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av enter into a time of mourning, repentance, and reflection ended by a day of fasting on the last day. Now the question is, for us as Believers in Yeshua, is such mourning, repentance, and reflection also expected of us? The answer is critical for the Body of Messiah in this season and the seasons to come. In case you were wondering if these tragedies happening on the 17th of Tammuz were just a coincidence, here is a short list of more tragedies that happened to the Jewish people on that specific day as well.
TRAGEDIES THAT HAPPENED TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE ON THE 17TH OF TAMMUZ
- Moses breaks the Tablets
- The daily sacrifice in the Temple was discontinued
- Jerusalem’s city walls were breached by the army of Nebuchadnezzar
- King Manasseh had an idol placed in the Holy Sanctuary of the Temple
- The Torah was burnt by Apustemus, a Greek oppressor who served Antiochus Opiphinus who brought about the wars of the Maccabees in Israel.
MORE RECENTLY
- In 1239, Pope Gregory the 9th ordered the confiscation of all manuscripts of the Talmud.
- In 1391, more than 4,000 Spanish Jews were killed in Toledo and Jaen, Spain.
- In 1559, the Jewish quarter of Prague was burnt and looted.
- In 1944, the entire population of the Kovno ghetto was sent to the death camps.
- In 1970, Libya ordered the confiscation of all Jewish property.
