Meditations for the Nine Days Part I

At the last hour, Adonai prompted me to design a focus for our local women for the Nine Days of the Three Weeks. The Nine Days begin tonight with the new moon of the Month of Av. During the Nine Days, introspection and mourning increase until Tisha B’Av. For more information about this season, click here, here, here, and here.

My premise is simple. But, for those new to commemorating this season, I’ve included information about how this time affects the Haftarah cycle, and general information about the number nine. I wrote the meditations with the assumption that one already is aware of the duality that exists in the number nine and the letter tet. Nine and tet reveal what is concealed inside through judgment, but with the hope of renewal and rebirth. If you are unfamiliar with this information, please read Moonbeams and the Moedim Part III, and the concise points listed under nine in Hebrew Numbers 1-10.

This post will include meditations for days 1-2, the new moon days. Part II has days 3-5, Part III has 6-7, and Part IV concludes with days 8-9.

 

Haftarot Cycle

The Haftarot Cycle changes every year at this season from being thematically connected to the Torah Portion, to being thematically connected to the Three Weeks and Elul. This change continues throughout the fall feasts, until the scrolls are rolled back to the beginning, and the new cycle begins anew with Bereshit (Genesis). The focus during the Three Weeks and the month of Elul is Sorrow and then Consolation. This encompasses ten haftarot portions (listed below). The remaining Haftarah portions for the year relate to the season of the fall moedim.

Haftarot of Sorrow 2020: Jer. 1:1–2:3 (read with Pinchas); Jer. 2:4–28, 3:4 (read with Mattot- Massei), Is. 1:1-27 (read with Devarim)

Haftarot of Consolation 2020: After Tisha B’Av, the haftarot move from the sorrow of The Three Weeks, to seven weeks of consolation, culminating with the “change” or “turn” of the year. Hopefully, we have repented and changed, and will be made new with the “change” or “turn” of new year at Rosh Hashanah. (1 Cor. 15:50-58)

The readings of consolation are as follows: Isaiah 40:1-40:26 (read with Va’etchanan); Isaiah 49:14-51:3 (read with Ekev); Isaiah 54:11-55:5 (read with Re’eh); Isaiah 51:12-52:12 (read with Shoftim); Isaiah 54:1-54:10 (read with Ki Tetze); Isaiah 60:1-60:22 (read with Ki Tavo); Isaiah 61:10-63:9 (read with Nitzavim / Vayelech).

 

Meditations for the Nine Days

Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 and Galatians 5:18-26. There are nine listed gifts of the Spirit and nine fruit of the Spirit. The following meditations for the Nine Days are based in these Spiritual traits.

 

 Day 1 – Av 1

Spiritual Gift: Words of Wisdom

Fruit: Love   

What is Biblical wisdom? Read James 3:13-18.

True words of wisdom and knowledge will have the traits that James describes. Tisha B’Av recalls the sin of the children of Israel listening to and believing the evil report about the Land made by ten of their leaders sent to spy out the Land of Promise. (Numbers 13-14)

This sin mirrors the reason that the second Temple was destroyed. In tradition, Israel broke the second of the two greatest commandments: to love thy neighbor as thyself. (Lev. 19:18) In other words, though they had the appearance of holiness, in their heart, they hated their brother, which made their worship of Adonai a lie.

Lev. 19:18 (TLV) You are not to take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am Adonai.

Mark 12:28-34 (TLV) One of the Torah scholars came and heard them debating. Seeing that Yeshua had answered them well, he asked Him, “Which commandment is first of all?” 29 Yeshua answered, “The first is, ‘Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30 And you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 “Well said, Teacher,” the Torah scholar said to Him. “You have spoken the truth, that He is echad, and besides Him there is no other! 33 And ‘to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love the neighbor as oneself,’ is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Yeshua saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared any longer to question Him.

1 Jn 4:20-21 (TLV) If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brother.

The Greek word for love in Galatians 5:22 is agape. Like it’s Hebrew counterpart, chesed, agape is much more than a feeling. Both agape and chesed require action, not emotion. True love is expressed through acts of kindness such as charity, caring for the sick, spending quality time, exercising patience and longsuffering with the lost or immature, etc.

Yeshua said, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mat 9:13 (NASB) He is quoting Hosea 6:6, where compassion is the Hebrew word chesed. Chesed is love, lovingkindness, mercy, compassion, grace, and loyal-love. To learn more about Biblical love or chesed, listen to this audio.

Mediate upon the following:

1 Cor. 13:1-13 (TLV)

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give away all that I own and if I hand over my body so I might boast but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag, it is not puffed up,

5 it does not behave inappropriately, it does not seek its own way, it is not provoked, it keeps no account of wrong,

6 it does not rejoice over injustice but rejoices in the truth;

7 it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things.

8 Love never fails—but where there are prophecies, they will pass away; where there are tongues, they will cease; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;

10 but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is partial will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 But now these three remain—faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

All of the spiritual gifts are useless without the first fruit of love (agape and chesed). One doesn’t need to “feel” love in order to act with love. In this way, loving one’s neighbor is a choice with clear Biblical parameters to follow.

During the first day of the Nine Days, repent for not fulfilling the commandment to love one’s neighbor as thyself. Pray and ask Adonai to help you to love the way that He loves. The following questions can support this endeavor.

Questions

1. Consider these nine verses: Lev. 19:9-18. Have you transgressed any of these instructions on “how to love thy neighbor?” Be honest.

 

2. Words of wisdom can only come forth from a heart that knows their “first love” intimately. The traits of chokmah (wisdom) mentioned in James 3, mirror Paul’s treatise on love in 1 Corinthians 13. Why do you think this is so?

 

3. It’s easy to see how the sin of ten spies broke the first commandment – to love Adonai. But, can you also see how this sin portrays “hating” one’s brother?

 

4. Do you find that your idea of love and God’s idea of love are different?

 

5. Do you think that we justify our hate (with its resulting actions towards others) and claim that we are acting righteously? Give an example.

 

Day 2 – Av 2

Spiritual Gift: Words of Knowledge  

Fruit: Joy

 As mentioned on day one’s meditation, words of knowledge will be firmly rooted in the traits of James’ “Wisdom from Above.” In Greek, knowledge is gnosis. Gnosis is found in the Septuagint in many places, including this verse from Hosea:

Hos. 4:6 (NASB) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

The Hebrew word for knowledge in the verse above is da’at. Both gnosis and da’at can imply simple head knowledge. But true knowledge (da’at) is intimate, and reproducible. Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore a son. One might have wisdom in an area, but until it can be reproduced or produce life, it is not Biblical knowledge.

Pro 24:3-4 (NASB) By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; 4 and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

One is destroyed for lack of knowledge, like a tree that fails to produce fruit. Essentially, this is a lack of intimacy with Adonai and His Torah (law). Forgetting the Torah stunts growth and leads to destruction. Without intimacy with Adonai and His Word, one cannot reproduce, and building (of the House) stops. Consider Peter’s words below, especially verse eight. Knowledge is something that grows, like a tree, and increases as one continues to seek the will of Adonai.

2 Pet. 1:2-11 (NASB) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; 11  or in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

The result of operating in godly da’at is spiritual fruit, harvest, and joy! This fills the rooms of Adonai’s House with treasured vessels, which are His people.

Is. 26:19-21 (NASB) Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits. 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. 21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.

When Yeshua quoted Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9:13, He equated chesed (love) with knowledge through parallelism:

Hos. 6:6 (NASB) For I delight in loyalty (chesed) rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge (da’at) of God rather than burnt offerings (olah).

Chesed and Da’at are much more desirable than the holy sacrifices, even the whole burnt (olah) offerings. Why? Because when we fulfill these actions, we are elevated, by a much higher force. They embody the fullness of Adonai, and those that practice chesed and da’at, grow and transform much more quickly into the image of Messiah. By pursuing these righteous virtues, one has little time or energy to pander to the wiles of the flesh.

One that has the knowledge of Adonai knows that His correction, discipline, and punishment is for one’s good, which will eventually produce joy and blessing. Our loving Heavenly Father chastises those whom He loves. (Heb. 12:6, Pr. 3:12) Those that know Him to be a loving Father, do not fear discipline, but seek to apply the wisdom it bears so they may learn from it.

Pro 23:12 (NASB) Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge.

Pr. 18:15-16 (NASB) The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. 16 A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.

When the House of Judah went into Babylonian captivity for her sins, she mourned, just as we would. One thing they didn’t forget, as her sister Israel did, was the Holy City, Jerusalem. While you remember the glory of the former Temples, the Holy City, and the exile during these Nine Days, keep the following Psalm close to your heart. It is recited every day, except on Shabbat and the moedim, during the Birkat Hamazon (blessings after meals). Even when we are full and satisfied, may Jerusalem be at the forefront of our minds as our chief JOY.

Ps. 137:1-9 (NASB) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung our harps. 3 For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” 4 How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy. 7 Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, “Raze it, raze it to its very foundation.” 8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us. 9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

 

Questions

1. Read Psalm 51. David repents and mourns over his sin with Bathsheba. Yet, he trusts that Adonai will renew and restore him. Where does David say that joy comes from? (vs. 8,12)

 

2. How do you define joy?

 

3. The last Torah Portion during the month of Av is Re’eh,[1]meaning “See.” Count the number of times rejoice (joy) is found in this portion. Is joy a feeling or a choice?

 

4. Recall a time when you lacked intimacy with Adonai. How did this affect your da’at or knowledge of Him? Was your “joy” affected as well?

 

---

[1] Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17