There is a
minor Jewish holiday called Tu B’Av (the 15th
of Av) which commemorates a strange event in Biblical
history – the seizing of brides from a group of maidens
dancing in a vineyard. In modern times it is
celebrated by women clad in white garments and dancing in
vineyards. It is a holiday of love – and a preferred
day for weddings.
Tu B’Av is named after the Hebrew calendar date for the 15th of
Av. It is a holiday that is not expressly found in
Scripture. However, some scholars think it could be
the un-named festival mentioned in Judges 21:19.
Coming six days after the 9th of Av, a day
of mourning, the 15th of Av is considered
to be one of the two happiest days on the Jewish calendar,
with Yom Kippur being the other. It was first
mentioned in the Mishna (Taanit 4:8): “There were no
better days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of
Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of
Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the
vineyards. What they were saying: Young man,
consider who you choose to be your wife.”
It also marks the beginning of the grape harvest.
Tu B’Av is thought to commemorate several historical
events, including the readmission of the Tribe of Benjamin
into the tribal community; the end of the death of the
generation that left Egypt; and the lifting of a ban
on tribal intermarriage through the daughters of
Zelophehad.
According to the biblical narrative, the tribe of Benjamin
had been banned from taking wives from the Israelite
tribes. This was done in punishment for a crime that
was committed in the territory of Benjamin.
When Israel realized that this ban would result in the
eventual elimination of the tribe, the leaders created
another way for the tribe to get wives. They set up
an opportunity for the men of Benjamin to literally
capture available maidens for wives.
“Then they said, Behold, there is a
feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in
a place which is on the north
side of Bethel, on the east side of the
highway that goeth up from Bethel to
Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Therefore they commanded the children of
Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in
wait in the
vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the
daughters of Shiloh come out to
dance in dances, then come ye out of the
vineyards, and catch you every
man his wife of the daughters of
Shiloh, and go to the land of
Benjamin.”
Judges 21:19-21.
Significantly,
the Greek version of the Old Testament (i.e. the
Septuagint) translates the word “catch” in Judges 21:21 as
“harpazo.” Harpazo is a word meaningful to us
because it is the same word for “caught up” used in 1
Thessalonians 4:17, a passage commonly known for the
Rapture.
“Then we which are
alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall
we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Consequently,
I think that Tu B’Av could be a type or pattern for the
Rapture. Note that the name Benjamin means “son of
the right hand.” When we see Jesus in heaven, He is
often situated at the right hand of God. The Church is His
Bride. Someday Jesus, the Son of the right hand of
God, will harpazo or seize us to be His Bride. The
pattern matches the reality.
That being
said, I have no idea if this Tu B’Av will be the time of
the Rapture, but as it is a celebration of the first
fruits of the grape harvest, it may point to the season of
Summer as a high watch
time.
Is there a first fruits harvest
celebration for Summer fruit?
Did you notice that there was an un-named “feast of the
Lord” at the time the maidens danced in
vineyards in Judges 21:19? Grapes are a
summer fruit. The feasts of Leviticus 23 do not
appear to celebrate any first fruit harvests of Summer
fruit. Tabernacles, however, is a final harvest
celebration which includes fruit. So, is there
a God ordained celebration for the first fruits of the
fruit harvest? The first fruits of the wheat and barley
harvests are both acknowledged in the Leviticus 23
feasts. Perhaps the un-named (i.e. hidden) feast of
Judges 21:19 is that Summer fruit festival. Perhaps
the Rapture will occur on a similar “hidden” feast day.
Is the resurrection of the Church a
fruit harvest?
The Bible compares people to
fruit. In fact, it compares righteous people and
Israel to fruit bearing trees:
When I found Israel, it was like
finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers,
it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig
tree."
Hosea 9:10.
Blessed
is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
…. He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf
does not wither."
Psalm 1:1-3.
Significantly, the Church has been grafted into the Jewish
olive tree. See Romans 11:1-24. And, those of
us who are in Christ, are the branches to his vine.
See John 15:1-8. "I am
the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains
in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing.
John 15:5.
So, those who remain in Christ will bear fruit.
Believers bear fruit. Consequently, we can be a
fruit harvest.
If there is to be a Summer fruit
harvest, then the first fruit harvest of Summer fruit may
be a key time to expect a resurrection event. Perhaps the
harpazo of the Old Testament maidens in the vineyard is
relevant to the Great Harpazo that we are anticipating.
"He chose to give us birth through the
word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of
all he created."
James 1:18.
If we are a type of firstfruits, then it would be fitting
if we were resurrected during a harvest celebration of
firstfruits.
Judgment after the Summer harvest?
There are Bible verses that imply that a time of judgment
and great desolation will occur after a Summer harvest.
“Woe is me! for I am as when
they have gathered the summer fruits, as the
grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no
cluster to eat: my soul desired the
firstripe fruit. The
good man is perished out of the
earth: and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in
wait for blood; they hunt every
man his brother with a net.”
Micah 7:1-2.
(As a side note, righteous people will
not be found on the earth because of the Rapture. It
will be thought by many that we perished.)
“Thus hath the
Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a
basket of summer fruit. And he
said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then
said the LORD unto me, The end is
come upon my people of Israel; I will not
again pass by them any more. And the
songs of the temple shall be howlings in
that day, saith the Lord GOD: there
shall be many dead bodies in every
place; they shall cast them forth with
silence.”
Amos 8:1-3.
I personally believe that there will be a catastrophic
global earthquake after the Rapture due to the energy
which will be expended from our transformation into
immortality. It is also because earthquakes have
occurred after resurrection events in the Bible. (See
Matthew 27:51-53 and Revelation 11:11-13.) It will
be a chaotic time after the Rapture.
There is an utterly sad verse in Jeremiah 8:20:
“The harvest is
past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved.”
There will come a time someday after a summer harvest
season when Israel understands that it missed an
opportunity to be saved. Today, we are all stand at
the brink of the Promised Land. We can enter into
that land through faith in Christ. Through faith in the
blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ in payment for our sins we
can have eternal life with Him. We will enter His
rest.
“Wherefore (as the
Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye
will hear his voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, in the day of
temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Wherefore I was grieved with
that generation, and said, They
do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
So I sware in my wrath, They
shall not enter into my rest.)”
Hebrews 3:7-11.
God punished the Israelites of old for their
unbelief. They were not permitted to enter the
Promised Land. We have the superior choice of entering
God’s rest in eternity through faith. Faith was key
back then and it is key now:
“Let
us therefore fear, lest, a
promise being left us of
entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us
was the
gospel preached, as well as unto
them: but the
word preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he
said, As I have
sworn in my wrath, if they
shall
enter into my rest: although the
works were finished from the
foundation of the world.”
Hebrews 4:1-3.
We have the gospel, the good news, not the bad report the
Israelites received from the spies who searched
Canaan. We can have the forgiveness of our sins
through Christ’s death and resurrection.
“Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye
have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have
believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures; And that he was
buried, and that he rose again the
third day according to the scriptures ….”
1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
“That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.” Romans 10:9.
Final Thoughts
I do not know if there will be a Tu
B'Av bride harpazo this year. According to Hebcal,
the holiday will fall on August 2, 2023. But
we should keep in mind the implications of the
season. Isn’t it wonderful that the Bible even has a
story of men carrying off brides? And that the word
“harpazo” was used to describe it? I can’t wait to
learn all the types and shadows that are in Scripture once
we have time to be still with Him.
Family, we are so close to going
home. I think we all feel it. We are going to
be at rest with God. What a wondrous day that will be.
“Be still, and know that
I am God: I will be
exalted among the heathen, I will be
exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10.
Maranatha
– Lisa Taylor