b)
Second Kings 25:8 identifies it as the seventh day of the fifth month.
c)
It would seem that TISHA B’AV splits the
difference between the Jeremiah and the Second Kings passages. There is no contradiction,
disagreement, opposition or inconsistency in the two passages under consideration.
(1)
Given that the task of wrecking a city is not reasonably completed in a single day, the
difference in the dates is inconsequential.
(2)
What they agree on is that the events
occurred in the fifth month, which is the
month of Av in the Jewish calendar.
4)
TISHA B’AV is the day when the Jews remember the loss of both Solomon's temple and the second temple.
In their respective years, it was around this day that: a)
The first temple, which had stood for 410 years, was torn down in 586 BC.
b)
The second temple, which had stood for 420 years, was torn down in 70 AD.
5)
On the evening before TISHA B’AV:
a)
A Jew will eat a last meal alone.
b)
That last meal will be followed with a fast during the day in an attitude of mourning.
c)
During the day, they, the Jews, will read from Lamentations.
4.
The last chapter of Jeremiah records the end of Jerusalem.
a.
When the food supply failed, the siege engines of Nebuchadnezzar also broke through the city walls, and the war was over.
b.
Most of the survivors were packed off to Babylon, but the poorest of the poor were left in the land.