PS News-400

#400:
FEAST OF NEW WINE
JEWISH MINOR FEAST OF TU B'AV
Signals of the End Harvest

What is the Significance of the Jewish Valentine's Day?
What is the Feast and does it relate to the Rapture?
Is there Typology of when Bride of Christ marries Groom?

by Luis B. Vega
for PostScripts News (PSN) | www.PostScripts.org
EMAIL: vegapost@hotmail.com

‘But look, they said, there is a Yearly Feast to YHVH in Shiloh, so they commanded the Benjamites: Go, hide in the Vineyards and Watch. When you see the Daughters of Shiloh come out to Perform their Dances, each of you is to come out of the Vineyards, catch for himself a Wife from the Daughters of Shiloh, and go to the Land of Benjamin....the Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the Number of Women they needed from the Dancers they caught. They went back to their own Inheritance, rebuilt their Cities, and settled them.’ -Judges 21:19-23

The purpose of this study is to consider the Minor Jewish Feast called Tu B’Av. It is the 15th of Av on the Jewish Rabbinical Calendar. This Feasts of Tu B’Av has a supposed connection to Pentecost and its possible Timing to the Rapture of the Bride of Christ. This Notion will be in the Context of how some are liking the End of the Grape Harvest Feast of Tu B’Av to the End of the Pentecost Harvest. In actuality, the New Wine Feast is when Pentecost began and perhaps the Feast of Tu B’Av is when it prophetically concludes. It commemorates the taking of Maidens in the Vineyards around Shiloh in Israel for the Tribe of Benjamin.

Due to the brief Civil War and Discipline against the Tribe of Benjamin, the majority of Fighting Men were decimated. The Tribe was on the verge of going Extinct and for the sake of the whole Nation, a Compromise was reached for their Fellow Tribesmen to continue the Tribal Lineage. As the story goes, the Virgin Women taken from Jabesh Gilead dressed-up in White and were told to Dance in the Vineyards when the grapes were to be harvested in that Season and Time of Year.

According to the Biblical account the Men of Benjamin that were left alive were instructed to lie in wait and to ‘Snatch’ or as some see it, ‘Rapture’ their Bride away. However, some Critics of the Elder’s decision insinuate that it was a ‘Rape’ rather than ‘Rapture’. In this case, the Women were taken from the City that the Men did not meet at the Required Times before YHVH at Shiloh. The following is the ‘Resolution’ made for Benjamin’s Wives.

‘The People grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the Tribes of Israel. Then the Elders of the Congregation said, What should we do about Wives for those who remain, since the Women of Benjamin have been destroyed? They added, There must be Heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a Tribe of Israel will not be wiped-out. But we cannot give them our Daughters as Wives’.

‘For the Israelites had sworn, Cursed is he who gives a Wife to a Benjamite. But look, they said, there is a Yearly Feast [End of Grape Harvest?] to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel East of the Road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and South of Lebonah. So they commanded the Benjamites: Go, Hide in the Vineyards and Watch.

When you see the Daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their Dances, each of you is to come out of the Vineyards, catch for himself a Wife from the Daughters of Shiloh, and go to the Land of Benjamin. When their Fathers or Brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get Wives for each of them in the War. Since you did not actually give them your Daughters, you have no guilt.

The Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the Number of Women they needed from the Dancers they caught. They went back to their own Inheritance, rebuilt their Cities, and settled in them. And at that Time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own Tribe and Clan, each to his own Inheritance. In those days there was no King in Israel; everyone did what was Right in his own Eyes’. -Judges 21:15-25

End of the Grape Harvest

Nearly all the Benjamite Men were killed for not attending the Appointed Feasts of YHVH and for their Sexual Perversion Practices, etc. It was these Women that were given to the Surviving Men of Benjamin. One has argued for a Double-Count of Pentecost being 99 Days from the ‘Marrow after the Sheaf Wave Offering’ to be somewhere in Mid-July. One has argued that if any Feast of YHVH exemplifies the Rapture event, it is at the Pentecost of Acts 2. But in 2nd Guessing, what if the Concluding Time-Frame involved this Tu B’Av Jewish ‘Valentine’s Day? It is about a 2-Week Time Discrepancy to see if it will be true, given the Year to be determined, etc.

However, it might be the case that the Double-Count of 99 days is correct to have been in Mid-July as the First-Fruits of the New Wine. But the Complete Grape Harvest is then commemorated on Tu B’Av. One is still of the Interpretation that the True Count of Pentecost is corroborated by Exodus 32. Aaron declared a Festival to be on Tammuz, the 4th Month. It was the Month Moses came down with the original 10 Commandments On Pentecost of Acts, the Holy Spirit came down and 3000 got saved, etc. This was the Day the Camp set up the Golden Calf and 3000 Died.

Thus, as noted, the notion of the Rapture being tied to Pentecost, assuming a Double Count would have been in the range of July in the Gregorian Calendar and the 4th Month of Tammuz in the Rabbinical Calendar. But there is that 2-Week range wherein the Wheat Harvest concludes up to the Feast of New Wine. Now some Proponents of the Tu B’Av Rapture Timing Theory contend that this Feast could have been when Boaz and Ruth got Married.

This is pure Conjecture and one would not agree with it for the following Stipulation that is clearly noted in the Book of Ruth. The Bible states that Ruth stayed with her Mother-in-Law until the End of the Wheat Harvest. This cannot also then overlap with the End of the Grape Harvest of Tu B’Av. They are not the same Harvest Types and Timing, etc. Nonetheless, the End of the Grape Harvest would make sense of this ‘Additional Time’.

Keys of Timing
However, purely based on the 49+50 Day Double Count, the Timing of the Pentecost New Wine Count is set to when Passover starts. This has been one’s Working Theory. It has to do with the Number of Disciples, 120. It is significant as that is how many Disciples were present when Pentecost, ‘Had Fully Come’ and the Holy Spirit came down on the Disciples as they met in the Temple. It is mentioned that, as they were Speaking in other Known Languages, most supposed they were Drunk with the ‘New Wine’, not being 9am yet.

This suggests that Pentecost 'Fully Came' when the New Wine Feast was to commence, not its Harvest. Thus, the Day of Pentecost coincides then with the Day of New Wine as the same ‘Feast’. Also, the main significance of the Number 120 is that it is prophetically indicative of how long the Maturing Process of the Wheat Harvest is. That is, Jesus states that there would be 4 Months and then the Harvest. Thus, one is more convinced that the Rapture would take place at Pentecost, at the New Wine correspondence, whatever that Year that will be. And one also contends that it will be on that Precise Day.

It can be but based on the suggested Timeline of Boaz and Ruth as a Type, the Wheat Gathering of the Harvest is when Pentecost ‘Had Fully Come’. It is then the Period of the In-Gathering of the Wheat Harvest that ended on the Feast of New Wine Festival. However, in one’s Perspective of when the Rapture will be has been illusive in a sense that it required 3 Keys in one’s Assessment. The 3 Keys are like a Combination Lock that one turns. All 3 ‘Numbers’ have to match to say with certainty the Rapture will take place. But this is the Dilemma in venturing to ascertain the possible Raptures Timing.

Case in point about the ‘True’ Pentecost Rapture possibility. The 1st Key is taking into account a 49 days + 50-Day Double-Count that suggests a timing in Mid-July. The 2nd Key is to take into consideration if the Rapture Event is to even occur on Pentecost or shortly thereafter. Then the 3rd Key is, ‘What Year?’ Thus, it is a Multi-Layered Prophecy Riddle to crack that has to all match its Combination. The 1st 2 Factors are based upon sound Biblical and one’s Interpretation that is based on the Solar Year. But the 3rd Variable of ‘What Year’ is the Elusive Factor as that is totally unknowable. So, what Year it will be, it will remain to be seen. If not, then the Watch Cycle continues. The ‘Watch’ will continue until the next Pentecost New Wine Anniversary of a Mid-July Time-Frame.

However, ‘Prophetic Time’ is running out if one bases the ‘Generation’ at 70 to 80 Years. However, what Calendar? Consider also that the Jewish Year equivalent is staggered, etc. Thus, whenever the New Wine Feast will occur, it is the strongest Contender of when the Rapture is to take place, in one’s Estimation. Thus, are the 2 Feasts an overlap of Tu B’Av and the New Wine Feast as a Type or Picture of the ‘Snatching’ of the Maidens in the Vineyard? No. But both are a Euphemism for the Church Age Bride of Christ that is to be Raptured, nonetheless. If the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is to occur at such a Time, that remains to be seen. But if it did, how ironic and Jealous would the Jews be as they too are hoping for their Messiah.

Wedding Dress
Their Groomsman to come, will not be for them. Instead, He, Jesus will have come for a ‘Gentile’ like Ruth. As some may not be aware of, back in 2015, a Bridal Dress was placed atop the Citadel of David in Jerusalem. It was as if to Beacon or call the Messiah by the Jews to get His Attention that ‘she is ready’. Israel is not Ready. That Time was very peculiar because it occurred during the Time of the Summer Harvest and how Tu B’Av of that Year occurred on a Blue Moon. There was much Excitement as it led then to the last of the Tetrad Blood Moons, which was a Supermoon that occurred on the Feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles.

As the Years have passed, this Minor Jewish Feast of Valentine’s Day gets revisited as the Cycles of YHVH’s Feasts are considered for the possible Rapture Timing. But to reiterate, this Feast does appear to tie in some Loose Ends and connect Pentecost with a Timing of a ‘Snatching of Brides’. It could be perhaps the Bookend to the New Wine as in the Acts 2 Pentecost that occurred in Jerusalem, next to the temple. This is the Time and Place that one argues was and is corresponding to the Beginning of the Grape Harvest, etc. It is after all, Jerusalem that is likened to the Bride. This is also seen in the New Testament Book of Revelation where the New Jerusalem will be coming down from Heaven as a ‘Bride Adorned for her Husband’, etc.

The Minor Feast of Tu B’Av is a very Mysterious; one that is tied to a Profound and Prophetic Implication as it relates to the Bride of Christ. Note that the Maidens danced in Shiloh where the House of GOD was situated also. It should be noted that although this Tu B’Av is a popular Feast with the Christian Watcher Community, it is perhaps also a Bookend from the New Wine Festival to the End of the Grape Harvest. There is only 1 Month, approximately from the First Fruit of the New Wine made at the Acts 2 Pentecost to the Mid-August Grape Harvest though. There is not enough Time for a Full Grape Growing Season. This is one Discrepancy to consider.

Now if the Rapture is to be correlating to this Time Frame, that remains to be seen. The Tu B’Av Typology is striking as it comes out of Great Sin and Abomination. The Feast has taken a Romantic Tone, which is fine, but the origins are one of the likes of Sodom and Gomorrah on the part of what the Tribe of Benjamin did and was during the Times of the Judges. The account rings a parallel in the case of the Levite Concubine that was ravaged by the Men of Benjamin. It was of the same Perversion and Sodomy wanting to be performed on the Angels that came to rescue Lot.

The Perversion was so thorough that the entire Tribe of Benjamin defended the Men and would rather go to Civil War against their Israelite Brethren. This however is perhaps how the Rapture will likewise occur during a Time of Sexual Deprivation and Sodomy. Yet, the Mercy and Grace of YHVH has been seen in that Christ Jesus took that which became ‘Sinful’, Defiled and Perverted and made it into something Joyful and Redemptive. And that is why the Maidens put on White Dresses. The Bride of Christ has likewise been given the White Robes of Jesus’ Righteousness. And it is predominately a Gentile make-up of those that were cast out of sorts like the Concubine. Furthermore, the act resulted in a Severe Judgment upon Israel as a whole.

This is what Israel will also experience during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, a Decimation. It will also be the case that after the Rapture of the Bride of Christ, Israel will be left to suffer the consequences for having rejected Jesus Christ as their true Messiah. The Feast of Tu B’Av comes right after the 9th of Av. It is rather out of place because since Tammuz 17, there is a cessation of Marriages, in the Biblical sense and all through the Time of the Fall Feasts. Especially from the 9th of Av, the Jews observe the Months in Somber Reflection.

The 9th of Av is the Saddest Day for Israel as many Ominous Events had occurred at that Time due to their Unbelief and/or Rebellion. It was when the 10 Spies gave a ‘Bad Report’ about the Promised Land and as a result caused that Generation to wander in the Wilderness for 40 Years. It was the Time that the 2 Temples on the Temple Mount were destroyed as well. And there are more Days in which the Jews were expelled from various Nations and so on.

In Summary, if the Tu B’Av Feast which is attributed to the End of the Grape Harvest is True, that is one Thing. But if the Rapture of the Bride is to occur, it is not clear which one of the 2 will be it, if at all or if the 2 are corresponding Bookends, etc. One conjectures that it might very well be ‘All the Above’. And this, is taking into account that the Rapture happens after the Pentecost Wheat Harvest is all gathered in and based on the Double-Count of the 99th Day from the Sheaf Wave Offering, depending on which Calendar one is using and from what Sabbath. So, one takes into account Tu B’Av as a Candidate for the Timing of the Rapture, although seemingly it might suggest it in terms of Typology and Metaphor.
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Main Sources
TimeAndDate.com
Chabad.org
Wikipedia.com

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