This Sunday is the Fast of Tammuz – a day most Christians will not be aware of. The fast is normally on the 17th of Tammuz but this year the 17th is Shabbat, so the fast is moved to the 18th of Tammuz.
The 17th is noted in Zechariah 8:18-19, “Again the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot came saying: ‘Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth month will become joy, gladness and cheerful moadim. Therefore, love truth and shalom!’”
and possibly Jeremiah 39:2, “On the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the city wall was broken through.”
and Jeremiah 52:6-7, “In the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled, going out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was near the king’s garden—even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They were heading along the way of the Arabah.”
In Jeremiah the 9th of Tammuz is noted, which the Talmud suggests was an error and the 17th was meant.
Nevertheless, the fast memorializes three events with a bearing on Believers in Yeshua our Messiah:
- Moses breaks the tablets 40 days after Shavuot (Pentecost)
- The Temple ran out of sheep during the Babylonian siege
- Jerusalem’s walls were breached in 69AD leading to the destruction of the Temple
The fast is a lead-up to the 9th of Av (August 7 this year) that has been a catastrophic day in Jewish and Biblical history.
And Your Point Is?
Everything that has happened in Biblical history points forward to both Messiah Yeshua and the world to come. For example, the exile in Babylonia created further developed the memorization learning style and ekklesia (gatherings for study and worship) that we saw in the 1st Century and continue even today. It is how the Good News spread.
Moses’ anger at the Golden Calf is fodder for many messages about idolatry and the need to wait upon the Lord no matter what. And the destruction of the 2nd Temple dispersed Jewish people (believers and non-believers) and gentile believers, and continues to impact Judaism and today’s Christianity.
If you wish to observe the fast, it is from sunrise and sunset Sunday. You don’t have to fast if there is a medical reason and children should not.