Today is the ninth (Tisha) of the month of Av. This day is the remembrance of the destruction of both the first and second Temples, and numerous other disasters in Jewish history. (Note the date appearing in Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6; II Kings 25:3)
On this day the book of Lamentations is read. People fast, weep, mourn.
This year in Jerusalem, it feels like the Day of Atonement. Everything is closed. The mood is somber. The fear of the Lord is in the air.
Lamentations is a profound book, although not easy to read. It is written in ancient poetic form; and the verses are arranged in an alphabetic acrostic. How could a beautiful song be written by Jeremiah in the moment of this disaster? That is part of the point. The pain and disaster came out of his heart as prophetic poetry.
The voice of the spirit of the city of Jerusalem cries out to God in the midst of the poem. It is the voice of a woman crying out to her husband or father. She says: We have sinned. You have punished us. We are destroyed. Everything is ruined. Yet have mercy. Remember that we are your beloved people, in your beloved city. Lamentations 5:16 – The crown of our heads has fallen down. O woe unto us for we have sinned.
The prophetic voice in the scroll flows and mixes together the feelings of the prophet Jeremiah, of the spirit of the city, of the people, of God, of the Messiah. The interplay of the perspectives reminds one of the Song of Solomon, but in an opposite parallel theme. Lamentations is more likened to a divorce, while Song of Solomon to a romance.
Of course, Lamentations, as a book of faith, contains the constant element of hope and future restoration. Yet, the majority of the book is expressing the pain and shock at the tremendous punishment and righteous judgment of God. The pain and the love are mixed together.
Lamentations 3:48 – My eye flows down rivers of water over the breaking of the daughter of my people.
I feel this pain. Perhaps we all do. It is a godly pain, not self-pity. It is feeling the destruction of what was once good, holy and precious. It is the pain in the heart of God. It does not deny the future hope and restoration but feels the pain in the process. It is like Yeshua weeping over Lazarus' death, even though he was soon to be raised (John 11:35).
So much destruction and pain has happened this year in our families, congregations, prayer houses, sexual sin, lies in social media, antisemitism and anti-Zionism, gender confusion, war, terrorism, Jihadism, diplomatic injustice, academic reverse-think, and perhaps above all, people just hating one another.
Jewish tradition states the reason for the destruction of the first Temple to have been the three worst sins of the Torah: Bloodshed, sexual immorality, and idolatry. The reason for the destruction of the second Temple is "Sin'at Khinam" שנאת חינם hating without a cause. That sin is considered to be the root of the other sins as well.
[Actually, the Bible does not say "hatred without cause" but they "hated Me without cause" – see Psalm 35:19; 38:19; 69:4 and John 15:25. It is a prophecy of the unmerited hatred of Yeshua, part of the Messianic prophecies about the Messiah being rejected first by our people, before being accepted.]
My heart is broken with all the pain and destruction. God Himself experiences incomprehensible pain because of our selfishness and sin. Let's join our hearts together for this holy, grieving spirit, even as we believe for the final future redemption.
Lamentations 5:21 – Return us unto You, O Lord, and we will return. Renew our days as before.
Gaza War Prayer List
Please keep praying with us during this current war in the Middle East. Here is a simplified list of prayer topics without further explanation at this time:
Compassion for Gazans
Strengthen Arab Christians
Revival in Lebanon and Iran
Break Tyranny of Jihadism
Peaceful Coexistence with Israel
Destroy Hamas
Demilitarize Gaza and West Bank
Deradicalize Gaza and West Bank
Cooperative rulership in Gaza
10. Wisdom for Israeli leaders
11. Accuracy for Israeli soldiers
12. Protection for Israel soldiers
13. Truth in Media
14. Truth in Academia
15. Truth in Diplomatic
16. Return of Hostages
17. Healing of Wounded
18. Return of Vacated residents
19. Healing traumatized nation
20. Healing strife in Israeli society
21. Expansion of Abrahamic Accords
22. Prophetic prayer intercession
23. Correct Bible teaching on Israel
24. Unity between Israel and church
