Dear Doves,

     There is a minor Jewish holiday called Tu B’Av (on 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.  This year it will be observed on August 19, 2024 (a full moon).  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 -- 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 also 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 as punishment for a crime that was committed in the territory of Benjamin.   When the Israelites  realized that this ban would result in the eventual elimination of the tribe of Benjamin, the leaders decided to create another way for the tribe to get wives.  So, they set up an opportunity for the men of Benjamin to literally seize 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.

A Literal Old Testament Harpazo!

     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.  The Blue Letter Bible site lets you switch to the Septuagint after you do a search on Judges 21:21. If you scroll down the results you will find the word “harpazo” used to translate the word “catch.” https://ww          w.blueletterbible.org/kjv/jdg/21/21/t_concl_232021

     “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.  He is the ultimate Son of the right Hand. 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 prophecy matches the pattern.

     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 being a high watch time.          

 

A Summer fruit harvest? 

   Is there a feast of the Lord that celebrates a harvest of summer fruit?  Well, the feasts of Leviticus 23 do not appear to celebrate any first fruit harvest of Summer fruit.  Since Tabernacles is a final harvest celebration it must include some fruit.    But why does there not appear to be a God ordained celebration for the first fruits of the fruit harvest?  Is there a “hidden” heavenly festival that foreshadows an event which will occur on an unknown or hidden day?  One where only the season will be known?

         Remember that the maidens of Judges 21:19 danced in vineyards before they were plucked up by potential grooms. Grapes are a summer fruit.  So, this passage could point to a Harpazo pattern which occurs in Summer. 

         

Can the resurrection of the Church be considered a fruit harvest?

The Bible compares people to fruit.  In fact, it compares both righteous people and Israel to fruit and 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 branches to Christ’s 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.  In that sense, we can be part of a fruit harvest.

          If there is a special Summer fruit harvest on God’s calendar (a Summer moed – or appointment), then the timing of a first fruit harvest of Summer fruit may be a key time to expect a resurrection event. Perhaps the harpazo of the Old Testament maidens wearing white dresses in the vineyard is a picture of the Great Harpazo that we are all anticipating.

         According to the Bible, we are already a kind of firstfruits. "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 future 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 also not be found on the earth because of the Rapture.  It will be thought by many that we perished. This verse states that no good men can be found on the earth after a future harvest of Summer fruit.)

          Also consider this passage from Amos: “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 for our transformation into immortality.  It is also because of the pattern of earthquakes that have occurred after resurrection events in the Bible. (See Matthew 27:51-53 and Revelation 11:11-13.)  Consequently, there should 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 standing at the brink of the Promised Land.  We can enter into that land through faith in Christ. If we have faith in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ in payment for our sins, we can have eternal life with Him.  We can enter His rest.

     When Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan to explore the land and make a report, it was during the time of the first ripe grapes.  “And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.”  Numbers 13:20. So there was actually a first fruits harvest prior to the Israelites entry into the Promised Land: “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.”  Numbers 3:23. Will there also be a first fruits harvest preceding our entry into heaven, our Promised Land?  We will enter it through faith in Christ – back then when the Israelites did not exercise faith in God, they were prohibited from entering.  They believed the bad report of the spies instead.

          “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.   Consequently, they were not permitted to enter the Promised Land. We have the superior choice of entering God’s eternal rest through faith.  Faith was essential then and it is essential 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 that 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 Harpazo of the Church this year.  According to Hebcal, the holiday will fall on August 18 – 19, 2024.   But we should keep in mind the prophetic implications of the Summer season.  Isn’t it amazing that the Bible even has a story of men seizing brides from vineyards?  And that the word “harpazo” was actually used to describe it?  I personally can’t wait to find out about all of the types and shadows that are in Scripture when we have the time to be still and learn from Him.  Imagine, someday we will learn directly from Christ. How exciting that will be!

Family, we are so close to going home.  I think we can all feel it.  We are finally going to be at rest with God.

          “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

 

Postscript: Jesus said that He would not drink wine again until He drinks it with us in the kingdom: “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”  Matthew 26:29.   Is this also a clue that it will be during the season of grapes – in Summer?