{"id":270,"date":"2016-07-05T11:54:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T16:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/?p=270"},"modified":"2016-07-05T11:55:52","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T16:55:52","slug":"the-fasts-of-tammuz-and-ab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/?p=270","title":{"rendered":"The Summer Fasts of Tammuz and Ab"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_271\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-271\" class=\"size-full wp-image-271\" src=\"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/destruction_of_temple_small.jpg\" alt=\"destruction_of_temple_small\" width=\"600\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/destruction_of_temple_small.jpg 600w, https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/destruction_of_temple_small-300x162.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-271\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Francesco Hayez, 1867.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Zechariah 8:19 &#8211; <em>Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Fast of Tammuz, which we will celebrate this year on July 24, and the Fast of Ab on Aug. 14, mark off a season of mourning. The first fast reminded Jews of the day when the wall of Jerusalem was breached by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. (and later by the Romans in 70 A.D.). The second fast designated the complete destruction of the Temple and Israel carried off\u00a0into captivity. The focus is\u00a0on the idolatry that brought God\u2019s judgment upon them, and a search to rid themselves of any idolatry within.<\/p>\n<p>The medieval Jewish commentator Maimonides said that all these fasts would\u00a0cease in the times of the Messiah. So Zechariah\u2019s prophesy points to God\u2019s final victory, which as believers we celebrate from our position as \u201cseated with him in the heavenlies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zechariah 8:19 &#8211; Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/?p=270\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}