Month 4 – Tammuz:  A Season of Judgement; A Call to Repentance

Tammuz is the fourth month on the Hebrew calendar.  It is considered a season of Judgment and Exile. This season includes all of Tammuz and half of next month, the month of Av.

There are six references to Tammuz (or the fourth month) in the Bible:

• Three of them tell the same story about when Babylon laid siege around Jerusalem for two years. In The fourth month of that second year, the famine in Jerusalem got so bad that the Babylonians could easily conquer the city.  They broke through the wall in the fourth month and killed and captured the Israelites.  The story is told once in 2 Kings (chapter 25) and twice in Jeremiah (chapters 39 and 52) and comes about because the people of Israel had turned away from God.
• Ezekiel 1-7 starts in the fourth month with Yehovah detailing Israel’s judgement to come. Then Ezekiel 8 refers to the idol named Tammuz as he’s describing his vision of the pagan worship going on in the temple and in the city of Jerusalem.  He prophecies about Yehovah’s pronouncement of judgment on the people and the destruction of the temple.  Indeed, history records that it was during this season that both of the first two temples were destroyed.
• This is also the month that Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of Yehovah’s commandments. On Shavuot, the people saw Yehovah’s glory on the mountain and made a covenant with Yehovah saying, “all you say, we will do.” They had made a marriage covenant with Yehovah, and just 40 days later during the month of Tammuz, Moses came down from Mt. Sinai to find the people worshipping the golden calf.
• In Zechariah 8, we are told that the fourth month will transform from a time of mourning to a time of rejoicing. The list of tragedies for Israelites and Jews in the fourth and fifth month are well documented. Traditional Judaism acknowledges “Three Weeks of Sorrow” from Tammuz 17 (the fourth month) to Av 9 (the fifth month) as a period of national mourning and repentance.

From Revelation to Judgement

So here we are, having just spent the last three months on the Spring Feasts, the Omer Count, Shavuot and the Season of Revelation, and all of a sudden our focus changes to judgment and exile.  But, I want to stay in this Season of Revelation.  It seems like it just got started, and it’s such a beautiful time.  Why do we have to focus on judgment and exile right now?

Remember, Joshua, Caleb and Moses had to stay in the desert (in exile) 40 years, even though they hadn’t sinned by refusing to go into the Promised Land (which is what kept the rest of the Israelites in the desert).  During those 40 years Joshua, Caleb and Moses were ministers to those who had sinned, and to the next generation which was being raised up to enter the Promised Land.  The revelation didn’t stop for Joshua, Caleb and Moses.  This is who we are to emulate in this season.  We have to use the revelation we were shown during the Season of Revelation to minister to the world around us.

Our Role in This Season

After this season of Judgment and Exile, the seasons continue with Comfort, Repentance and Atonement before we come again to the Season of Joy, and then the Season of Victory.

In the larger spiritual picture, the world is in this Season of Judgment and Exile now.  This is the time when Yehovah is seeking those who would repent and accept Yeshua as their atonement and enter his eternal Season of Joy and Victory.

This is our time to partner with Yehovah in seeking and training others for the Promised Land to come.  It’s our time to learn more and stand against idolatry and doubt that keeps us in exile, and instead continue sharing the revelation of Yehovah to others who are being called to the Promised Land.

Choose to be like Joshua, Caleb and Moses.  Minister to others during this Season of Judgment and Exile.

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