Rosh Kodesh
The Following are special dates for our serious consideration that we might take the time to honour theme. May these enrich your walk with the Creator of the Heavens.
YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 66: 22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says YHWH (the Lord), “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says YHWH (the Lord.) Shalom!
Tammuz- The Month of Sight
Introduction: The month of Tammuz is related to the concept of sight or perhaps even better vision. This month is related to the tribe Reuven since Leah named him to allude to sight Bereshiyth (Gen) 29:32) “because YHWH [HaShem] has seen my humiliation.” This explains why Sefer Yetzirah associates Reuven with Tammuz.
When we look to the four Parashiyot [torah portions] commonly read during Tammuz we find sight plays a major role. Sight is the bodily function that must be rectified during Tammuz. The majority of the time that Moses’ spies spent in the holy land was during the month of Tammuz. They saw the land with eyes that lacked faith, eventually bringing back an evil report that cost the people 40 years of wandering in the desert. The Midrash tells us that Korach [Korah] foresaw that his family would put forth a leader the Navi [Prophet] Samuel & saw that 24 groups of his descendants would prophesy through the divine spirit. Mosheh also foresaw this but it was for his descendants since his children repented and were spared his fate.
Tammuz therefore as we see is also a time of Judgement, so it is a time to correct our vision:
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget her skill. (Ps. 137:5)
During the fourth Biblical month of Tammuz, the traditional period called the “Three Weeks” begins. In Hebrew, the Three Weeks is “bein hametzarim”, literally, “within the straits.” This name comes from a verse in the Book of Lamentations (Eicha), which is read on Tisha B’Av (9th of Av):
Judah has gone into captivity, under severe affliction and hard servitude; She dwells among the nations, She finds no rest; All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits (bein hametzarim). The roads to Zion mourn Because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; Her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, And she is in bitterness. (Lamentations 1:3-4 NKJV)
Hametzarim is like Mitzrayim (Egypt), a tight, narrow place of pressing. Think of being constricted or pressed. Bein Hametzarim is a traditional time period on the Jewish calendar that marks additional restrictions as a way to mourn over the destruction of the Beyth Ha Mikdash [the Holy Temple].
Remembering the loss of the Temple is a difficult concept for most Believers to grasp. Since we know Yeshua, a type of Living Temple [Jn 2:18-22] and read Shaul [Paul] (who described our physical bodies as a type of Temple of the Holy Spirit[1 Cor 3:16-17]), there is a tendency to view the physical Temple as an unnecessary or invalid prescription for approaching YHWH (God). We must be careful of supersessionism [replacement theology] and all its facets.
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. (Is. 66:10 KJV)
My hope is that you will be encouraged to recognize and observe the Three Weeks and the fasts on the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av after contemplating the significance and importance of why these events are commemorated and the Temple is mourned. The verse below demonstrates that fasting in the fourth and fifth months has Scriptural and historical value:
“Thus says YHWH [the LORD] of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’ (Zec. 8:19)
If we really understood the majesty and holiness that existed during the times when the Temple stood, we too, would deeply mourn its loss. The Temple was central to Biblical worship. How one approached the Holy One of Israel was tangible and certain. A worshipper knew where to go and what was required of him. He knew where the presence of the Holy One resided, who his mediator was, and understood the various levels of kedushah (holiness). In other words, the manifestations of sacredness were obvious to all who approached, regardless of one’s status or intellect.
This heavenly pattern has not changed. If we fail to learn the blueprint for YHWH’s House, we are missing the heart of worship. The Jewish people have preserved the work and worship at the Temple in the daily prayer services. Three or four times a day, a prayer request for the restoration of the Temple and its services is made. Within the Amidah (both weekday and on Shabbat), the Avodah is recited:
Be pleased, O Lord our EL [God], with your people Israel and with their prayers.
Restore the service to the inner sanctuary of your Temple,
and receive in love and with favour both the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayers.
May the worship of your people Israel always be acceptable to you.
And let our eyes behold your return in mercy to Zion.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who restores his divine presence to Zion.
This does not include the many times it’s repeated in the Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals) Can you imagine making this petition multiple times daily to the Holy One?
Though Jerusalem and the Temple are central to Jewish prayer and thought, it is foreign to most Christians. The Temple is typically thought of as an antiquated relic, and a lesser form of approaching Elohim [God]. Yeshua/Yahushua didn’t think like this. Shaul [Paul] didn’t think like this. In fact, the only people that I can find in the Bible that openly spoke against the House of Adonai were enemies and adversaries of the Most High. Consider Ezekiel’s words:
And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. (Ezek. 43:6-7)
The earthly should reflect the heavenly. Once we “see” the heavenly pattern, we should be ashamed and REPENT!
The Call
Join with me this year in mourning for the House of YHWH. The Three Weeks begin on the 17th of Tammuz with a fast day from dawn until nightfall; this commemorates the first breach of the walls of Jerusalem before the 1st Temple was destroyed. Mourning continues and escalates up to the 9th of Av, when another fast from sundown to sundown commemorates the actual destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples. Take this time to focus on the House of Adonai. Measure the pattern. Study its form, its ordinances, and its laws. Weep for our captivity and exile. Be like those that dream…
PSALM 126
Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity.
A Song of Ascents.
1 When YHWH [the Lord] brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 YHWH The Lord has done great things for us; We are glad. 4 Restore our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the South. 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. 6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
In the Bible, the word ‘Tammuz’ is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14. The term denotes a Babylonian Mighty One [God] and the sin of idolatry, which caused the destruction of the first Temple. The month of Tammuz is referred to as ‘the fourth month’ in Jeremiah 39:2.
There are always two days of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, the celebration of the new moon. The first day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz falls on the 30th of Sivan. It is said that on the third day of Tammuz, that YHWH [God], at the behest of Joshua, caused the sun and the moon to stop. This brought about 36 uninterrupted hours of sunlight, in order to give the conquering army of Israel time to exact vengeance from their enemy, the Amorites (Joshua 10: 12-13). The battle in which the sun stood still took place in Givon, in the Ayalon valley in central Israel.
The 17th day of Tammuz is a fast day. This fast is referred to in the Bible (Zecharia 8:19).
The Mishna Taanit 4:3 (Oral Law) lists five tragic events of Jewish history that happened on the 17th of Tammuz:
1.Moses smashed the first tablets on seeing the golden calf.
2.During the period of the first Temple, the besieged population of Jerusalem could not obtain an animal for the daily sacrifice.
3.The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans during the second Temple period.
4.Apustamus, a Roman officer, burnt a Torah scroll.
5.An idol was placed in the holy Temple.
The 17th of Tammuz signifies the commencement of the three weeks of mourning over the destruction of the first and second holy Temples. This period is traditionally called ‘between the straits’, ending during the following month, on the 9th of Av. During these weeks marriages are not performed, and it is customary to refrain from attending public performances of music and dancing. Ashkenazi Jews traditionally do not cut their hair or shave during this time. According to the Talmud, in messianic times the 17th of Tammuz will be transformed into a day of joy.
According to the great medieval commentator, Rashi, the last words of the Torah, “and all the great awe that Moses did before the eyes of all of Israel”, refer to the breaking of the tablets, which took place on the 17th of Tammuz. The fixing of our eyes is to realize that the broken fragments we see belong to a greater whole, which has shattered, but which can be repaired. Therefore in this month we have the opportunity to correct our sight & restore our vision to be in alignment with YHWH [Adonai/Lord] the Elohim [God] of Yisrael. Let our vision always be to see this bitter exile ended by announcing the arrival of Mashiach speedily in our days because Yahshua Ha Mashiach said this too:
MattithYahu [Matthew] 23:38-39 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH [the Lord!’]”
Events that occurred during the Month of Tamuz:
03 Tamuz: Joshua stops the Sun (1273 BC).
05 Tamuz: Ezekiel receives his chariot vision (592 BC) Ez 1:4-26.
09 Tamuz: The walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezzar II (423 BC).
17 Tamuz: Golden calf/ Moses breaks the Tablets (1313 BC), Jerusalem walls breached (AD 69) – Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the 2nd Temple, Roman general Apostomus burned the Torah & placed an idol in the Temple.
18 Tamuz: The golden calf destroyed.
