Heaven Bound

“So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin  …….. So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.”  Judges 21:20, 21, 23

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In October 2013 I had the blessing and privilege of spending three weeks in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, Israel also known as the West Bank. I along with a large group of others from around the world were there as volunteers to pick grapes and olives as a way of blessing Israeli farmers.

As I think back on that time …the vineyards in Shiloh …. vines heavy with large clusters of ripe grapes I can vividly imagine beautiful young ladies dancing among the vines radiant in white in anticipation of their soon betrothal. And while this event as recorded in the book of Judges dates back to ancient times it is still observed in contemporary times and is regarded as a Valentines Day of sorts in Israel to this day as you can see in the photo below. Here a young woman (in red) is seen being comforted by a friend as she sits at a table across from a photo of her boyfriend who is still being held hostage by Hamas. Jerusalem Post

Ready to Marry

Tu B’Av is the 15th of Av and corresponds to August 19th on our calendar this year which would be tomorrow as I write.  And the imagery of brides being plucked away is so consistent with our anticipation of the rapture that we would be remiss not to take note.

But what more can we learn about this one of a kind day? 

I found this on Chabad.Org:

“The 15th of Av (known as Tu B’Av) is a most mysterious day, celebrated this year on August 19, 2024 …. The Talmud tells us that many years ago the “daughters of Jerusalem would go dance in the vineyards” on the 15th of Av, and “whoever did not have a wife would go there” to find himself a bride. And the Talmud considers this the greatest festival of the year, with Yom Kippur (!) a close second!”

Its interesting how they reference the Talmud but not the book of Judges where it originated and perhaps it is because the Bible does not speak as to whether this became an ongoing event but according to the Talmud it did. It is also interesting how Tu B’Av is considered both mysterious and the most important festival of the year including Yom Kippor! Now, Chabad.Org is not Messianic so we get this information from a purely Jewish stand point.

So, why would they assign such importance to a lesser know festival such as Tu B’Av?

Could it be because Messiah is coming for his bride?

 And while that is yet hidden from them they suspect that somehow this little known and somewhat mysterious festival is of great importance. 

And it will be should the  harpazo or catching away of the bride take place on this special day marking the beginning of the grape harvest … which would make sense because the Church is associated with barley and wheat but never grapes.

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. Revelation 14:9

Av 9 and Av 15

is also worth noting that Tu B’Av comes six days after Tisha B’Av on Av 9 which is the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar due to the destruction of both temples and a series of other calamities that occurred on that same date.

But long before the Av 9 tragedies regarding the temples there was the tragedy of the bad report given by the spies to Moses in Numbers 13.

And because of the bad report and the faithlessness of the people God ordained that they should wander 40 years in the wilderness and that none of that generation would be alive to enter the Land of promise. That generation would have to die out first

We read the following from Wikipedia which is taken from the Talmud:

“At the end of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, the last remnant of the generation of the sin of the spies, which had been forbidden from entering the Promised Land, found that they were not destined to die. For forty years, every Tisha B’Av the Israelites made graves for themselves in which they slept expecting to be their last night; every year a proportion of them died. In the 40th year, the fifteen thousand who had remained from the first generation went to sleep in the graves and woke up the next day to their surprise. Thinking they made a mistake with the date, they kept sleeping in graves until they reached Tu B’Av and saw a full moon. Only then did they know they were going to enter the Land of Israel with the new generation”.

Now whether it actually happened this way or not I dont know but it certainly fits the rapture theme of the dead rising from their graves and the bride being caught away as described in 1 Thessalonians.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

And if that were not enough there is also a full moon which is both a supermoon and a blue moon from Sunday August 18th through Wednesday August 21. This particular moon is known as a Sturgeon Moon which is a type of fish. And of course, we know a fish has long been a symbol for Christians.

Will the next few hours bring about our deliverance? Only the Lord knows but based on all the information related to the time period we are in I say, why not?

And as always,

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper who love thee ” Psalm 122:6

Watching and waiting with YOU for the soon return of Jesus! Cindy

• Shiloh in Hebrew means Messish and in Israel is pronounced “she low” as opposed to “shy low” as it is often pronounced here. It comes from Genesis 49:10 … ” the scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a law giver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be“.