AMERICAN MINUTE

9TH OF AV: THINK TWICE BEFORE MESSING WITH ISRAEL

Bill Federer recounts fascinating history, coincidences of the Holy Land

Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. on the date in the Jewish calendar 9th of Av, or Tisha B’Av. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans on the same date, Tisha B’Av, in 70 A.D.

Rome’s destruction of the Temple began in 66 A.D., when Roman Emperor Nero appointed General Vespasian to put down a revolt in Judea. Almost immediately, Rome experienced chaos.

Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D. His successor, Galba, was assassinated within eight months. His successor, Otho, committed suicide within two months. His successor, Vitellius, was executed within eight months. Vespasian was the next Emperor and his son, Titus, continued the conquest of Judea. Titus surrounded Jerusalem and starved inhabitants for months. Titus ordered Jewish deserters from Jerusalem to be crucified around the walls.

By the end of July, 70 A.D., the Roman Army broke through the walls. Jerusalem was completely conquered by Sept 8, 70 A.D. Historian Josephus recorded that over a million Jews were killed in the siege.

According to historian Eusebius, Romans hunted down and killed all descendants of the royal line of David. The Jewish Temple was so completely destroyed that only the foundation stones were left, which are the bottom rows of the Wailing Wall.

Jewish Temple treasures were carried off to Rome, as shown on the Arch of Titus, and were used to finance the building of Rome’s Colosseum. The Colosseum was so named as it was next to Nero’s 100 foot high bronze Colossus Statue depicting the Roman sun god Apollo, modeled after the 100 foot high bronze Colossus Statue of Rhodes depicting the Greek son god Helios. France’s gift of the Statue of Liberty – the New Colossus was modeled after it.

Emperor Vespasian caught a slight illness in 79 A.D. that led to severe diarrhea and death. His last words were: “Oh dear! I think I’m becoming a god!”

Titus became the next emperor and two months later Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Bay of Naples, including the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Thousands of Romans were buried alive under feet volcanic ash. Then, in the spring of 80 A.D., Rome caught fire. Flames burned out of control for three days and nights destroying much of Capitoline Hill, the Temple of Jupiter, Pantheon and Pompey’s Theater. Then followed the worst outbreak of plague that Rome had yet endured.

Titus decided to dedicate the Colosseum to commemorate his victories in the Jewish wars. For 100 days, thousands were killed in executions and gladiatorial fights, in addition to 5,000 animals.

Following the games, Titus died after just two years in office. He is rumored to have been poisoned on orders of his brother, Domitian, who became the next emperor.

In 135 A.D., on the date Tisha B’Av, Roman Emperor Hadrian had another 500,000 Jews massacred at Betar during Bar Kokhba’s revolt. Emperor Hadrian believed the source of Jewish rebellion was their faith, so he executed Jewish scholars, prohibited the Torah and the Hebrew calendar, and burned the sacred scroll on the Temple Mount.

In an attempt to completely erase Jewish history from the land, Emperor Hadrian renamed the province of Judea “Syria Palaestina” and renamed the city Jerusalem “Aelia Capitolina.” Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem on pain of death.

Eusebius wrote in his “History of the Church” (ser. II, vol. I, book IV, chapter VI): “The Last Siege of the Jews Under Hadrian – The whole nation was prohibited from this time on by a decree, and by the commands of Hadrian, from ever going up to the country about Jerusalem. For the emperor gave orders that they should not even see from a distance the land of their fathers. Such is the account of Aristo of Pella. And thus, when the city had been emptied of the Jewish nation and had suffered the total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, it was colonized by a different race, and the Roman city which subsequently arose changed its name and was called Aelia, in honor of the emperor Aelius Hadrian.”

Cassius Dio wrote in “Roman History” (69.12): “At Jerusalem Hadrian founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a war of no slight importance nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites planted there.”

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Eusebius wrote in “Demonstratio Evangelica” (8.3; 405, circa 314 – 318 A.D.): “Jerusalem … is even now like a quarry, all the inhabitants of the city choosing stones from its ruins as they will for private as well as public buildings. And it is sad for the eyes to see stones from the Temple itself, and from its ancient sanctuary and holy place, used for the building of idol temples, and of theatres for the populace.”

Emperor Hadrian’s reign was the beginning of the contraction of the Roman Empire, with Hadrian’s Wall across the whole of Britain marking the Empire’s furthest extent.

Jews were later allowed to enter Jerusalem once a year to pray at the Western Wall on Tisha B’Av.

The Land of Israel was invaded or occupied by:

• 135 A.D. Roman Empire
• 390 A.D. Byzantine Empire
• 614 A.D. Sassanid Persians
• 635 A.D. Umayyad Caliphate
• 750 A.D. Abbasid Caliphate
• 909 A.D. Fatimid Caliphate
• 1071 A.D. Seljuk Turks
• 1099 A.D. Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
• 1187 A.D. Ayyubid Sultanate
• 1260 A.D. Mongolian Empire
• 1291 A.D. Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
• 1517 A.D. Ottoman Sultanate
• 1660 A.D. Druze Dynasty
• 1799 A.D. French Napoleon
• 1844 A.D. Tanzimat Ottoman Empire
• 1864 A.D. Ottoman Vilayet of Syria
• 1917 A.D. Britain Mandate

For centuries, people across the world desired to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, including Abraham Lincoln.

The Library of Congress has a scrapbook with an account by Rev. N.W. Miner of Springfield, who officiated Lincoln’s burial, in which are recalled President Lincoln’s last words while at Ford’s Theater with his wife: “Mrs. Lincoln informed me that … the very last moments of his conscious life were spent in conversation with her about his future plans. … He said he wanted to visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the Saviour. He was saying there was no city he so much desired to see as Jerusalem.”

In 1917, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration establishing the Jewish homeland. On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel came into being again. In 1967, exactly 50 years after the Balfour Declaration, the city Jerusalem was once again under Jewish control.

Jerusalem was reaffirmed as Israel’s capital with “The Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel,” passed in 1980.

The United Nations was created in part to protect the Jews after they had suffered though the Nazi holocaust, and one of the first acts of the United Nations was to recognize the state of Israel.

Sept. 15, 2015, begins the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The U.N. Security Council has threatened to vote to divide Jerusalem and take a third of Israel away to create a Palestinian state.

Many are concerned what may happen if the United States supports this turn against Israel.

The timing of this is unique, as the vote would take place near the time of the fourth consecutive “blood moon” – a series of four lunar eclipse occurring on Jewish feast days. This rare occurrence has historically been at times of major events in Jewish history.

Just as the Roman Empire experienced a series of disasters after it forced Jews from the land, some consider more than coincidental the timing of various events relating to the United States and Israel:

• On Oct. 30, 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed the Oslo Accord pressuring Israel to give “land for peace.” The next day, “the perfect storm” hit New England causing damages over $100 million, including 30 foot waves demolishing the home of President George H.W. Bush at Kennebunkport, Maine.
• On Aug. 23, 1992, President George H.W. Bush pressured Israel with the Madrid “land for peace” agreement. The same day, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida causing $30 billion in damages, destroying over 180,000 homes.
• On Jan. 16, 1994, President Bill Clinton met in Geneva with Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad to discuss Israel giving up the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. Within 24 hours a 6.9 earthquake devastated Southern California.
• On Jan. 21, 1998, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was snubbed at the White House when President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refused to have lunch with him. The same day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal erupted.
• On Sept. 28, 1998, Secretary of State Albright detailed another “land for peace” agreement requiring Israel to surrender 13 percent of the West Bank and Gaza. President Clinton met with Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, followed by Arafat telling the United Nations there would soon be a Palestinian state. The same day, Hurricane Georges hit the Gulf Coast causing $1 billion in damages.
• On Oct. 15, 1998, Yassar Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu met in Maryland to discuss Israel giving up 13 percent of the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for “peace.” Two days later, tornadoes hit Texas leaving $1 billion in damages.
• On Dec. 12, 1998, President Clinton arrived in the Palestinian area to discuss Israel giving up “land for peace.” The same day, President Clinton was impeached.
• On May 3, 1999, Yasser Arafat had scheduled a press conference to announce a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. The same day, the most powerful tornado storms to hit the United States whipped through Oklahoma and Kansas.
• On June 8, 2001, President George W. Bush sent Secretary Tenet to Jerusalem with a proposal to exchange land for a “roadmap to peace.” The same day, tropical Storm Allison hit Texas causing $7 billion in damage and closing George Bush Airport for two days.
• As part of a U.S. brokered deal, Jews were forcibly evacuated from Gaza, with the last Jewish residents being dragged out on Aug. 22, 2005. The very next day, a tropical depression in the Atlantic turned into Hurricane Katrina and headed straight for New Orleans, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate. Property damage in New Orleans exceeded $81 billion. Nearly 2,000 people died. It was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Instead of “peace,” Hamas took over Gaza and began digging tunnels and firing thousands of rockets into Israel.

In a day of prayer and remembrance, Sept. 8, 2005, President Bush stated: “Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in our Nation’s history and has caused unimaginable devastation and heartbreak throughout the Gulf Coast Region. … Communities … decimated. … Lives … lost. … Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans are suffering great hardship.”

Though not a call to repentance as past presidents had proclaimed, President Bush did end his day of prayer and remembrance with: “To honor the memory of those who lost their lives, to provide comfort and strength to families of the victims. … I call upon all Americans to pray to Almighty God and to perform acts of service. … Across our nation, many selfless deeds reflect the promise of the Scripture: ‘For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.'”

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Discover more of Bill Federer’s eye-opening books and videos in the WND Superstore!

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My comments: The ignorance of God and His Word is Overwhelming--God the Creator and maintainer of Israel. His Promise to Abraham Stands: "All the Land that you see I will give to you and your Offspring FOREVER." (Genesis 13:15) God Almighty KEEPS His Promises. Those who Curse Israel are CURSED. (Genesis 12:3)