"HEAR O HEAVENS AND GIVE EAR O EARTH for the Lord has spoken; Though I brought up and raised My children, they have rebelled against me.” Isaiah 1:2. This timeless scripture has been read and lamented for thousands of years at exactly this time of the year on God's calendar.

It has been read for millennia on the last Sabbath before the ending of a 3-week period of fasting known biblically as the Fasts of the 4th and 5th Months, and historically as “Three Weeks of Sorrow”. The fast began on the 17th day of God’s 4th month, the evening of July 22 on our 2024 Gregorian calendar, with the destruction of the Ten Commandments because of national idol worship. It continues through the 9th day of the 5th month of Av, to the evening of August 15 on our calendar.

To this day, the descendants of ancient Israel mourn the tragedies that happened during this period because of their national idolatry. The anniversary date of the beginning of Israel’s sorrow began around 3500 years ago on Tammuz 17 when the Ten Commandments were destroyed by Moses. Millions of Israelites had grown tired of waiting on God’s timing and took matters into their own hands. In a vain attempt to control their own national destiny, they formed their own image of worship, effectively waving it in the face of the Almighty whose actual presence on the mountaintop had just been witnessed by them a little over a month before. See last week’s lesson: https://www.facebook.com/fontanacommunitychurch/posts/pfbid0o8WMqTDxw8w3GWdx3bvUXu7sHkUwsYJPNXirL9c4YyP9HgMLYo8eTxhF6NHvM3XBl

Two years later on the 9th day of Av, 12 Israelite spies returned after 40 days of checking out the Promised Land. Most of them doubted the Lord could or would deliver what He promised. God’s response to their lack of faith was to make them wander an additional year for every day they spent doubting Him. At that time, that amounted to another 38 years wandering in the Wilderness. An entire generation would not enter the Promised Land. (Numbers 13-14, Deuteronomy 2)

The 9th day of Av also marks the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple 586/587 BCE. The great and mighty physical place of God’s presence on this earth, where He had chosen to “put His Name”, went up in smoke. More than 100,000 people were killed and millions of His chosen people were led away into Babylonian exile. (2 Kings 25:8-9; Jeremiah 52:12-13)

After the exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem, the Temple was rebuilt. Incredibly, in 70 AD, the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem for a second time on exactly the same day as the walls were originally breached around 500 years before.  On the 17th day of Tammuz, the assault began and continued for 3 weeks to the 9th day of Av. Two million people died, and another million were exiled.

To this day, it is believed that “baseless hatred” caused the once united people to attack each other from within, which made them weak and vulnerable to their enemy. The next year on the 9th of Av anniversary, the Roman army literally plowed Jerusalem with salt to make the ground sterile and fallow, in order to eventually build a pagan Roman city. This act directly fulfilled the prophecy in Micah 3:12. “Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field; Jerusalem will become a heap of rub, and the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.”

In the centuries since the Israelite pilgrimage to the Promised Land, many other controversial national disasters have occurred on the same anniversary date. To this day, the descendants of ancient Judah who have gathered in Israel, take this time period so seriously that, by law, restaurants and places of entertainment are closed on the eve of the 9^th day of Av, and the following day. They realize that God’s Word is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever”.

Perhaps we should all carefully consider this Parable written for the 9th of Av: Once a great artist desired to paint his greatest masterpiece and journeyed with his companion to the top of a high mountain to find the perfect view. After several days, the painting was complete, though the artist began to view his work at different angles to see what improvements might be made. He started walking backward, admiring his work. He continued to pace backward, focusing only on his painting, when he approached the edge of a cliff. When his friend realized the danger, he called out for him to stop, but the artist took no heed to his words. At the last moment, when he (the artist) was about to plunge to his certain death, however, his friend picked up a knife, ran to the picture, and began slashing it to pieces, destroying the masterpiece before the artist’s eyes. “What are you doing!” the artist cried out, having finally come to his senses. “Look behind you and you’ll see why I did it” replied the friend.

We Christians today are a lot like the painter in this parable. Unknowingly, could we be inching backwards toward the abyss of spiritual pride and arrogance? Will our own “baseless hatred” become our bottomless pit?

Consider this convicting word from God Almighty in Zechariah 7:4-6. “I received this message from the Lord All-Powerful. ‘Tell all the priests and the other people in this country this: ‘For seventy years you fasted and showed your sadness in the fifth month and the seventh month. But was that fasting really for me? And when you ate and drank, was that for me? No, it was for your own good.’”

Zechariah continues with good news for us, in spite of our religious shallowness. "Thus said the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month shall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah; but you must love honesty and integrity." Zechariah 8:19

Today, this ancient calendar date crosses the chasm of time to deliver a timely message for us deeply divided, troubled Christians. God’s directive for redemption is succinct: we must find our identity IN Christ, the Lion of Judah, not just profess Him: we must love honesty and integrity.

HEAR O HEAVENS AND GIVE EAR O EARTH for the Lord has spoken; “Though I brought up and raised My children, they have rebelled against me.” Isaiah 1:2.