4th Month – Tammuz – Today in the Bible

4th Month – Tammuz

July 6, 2024

June/July

Tammuz (תַּמּוּז) – 4th month; 29 days

Also, in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God. – Numbers 10:10 (NKJ)

Tammuz (תַּמּוּז) is the fourth month of the biblical calendar. Per Wikipedia, the name of the month was adopted from the Assyrian and Babylonian month Araḫ Dumuzu, named in honour of the Mesopotamian deity Dumuzid. The meaning of the name Tammuz is a bit slippery, Bible dictionaries range from “Giver of the Vine” to “Son of Life” to “Hidden” and many more suggestions.

This month is simply referred to as “the fourth month” in the Bible. It started to be referred to as Tammuz only after the return from Babylon, when the names of the months from that calendar were adopted by Israel. Tammuz does appear in the Bible, but as a reference to the Mesopotamian god of fertility, not to the fourth month. It is only mentioned once, in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel.

So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’S house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. – Ezekiel 8:14 (NKJ)

We continue to remember places in the Bible where the New Moon is mentioned. Today we discover that it is not only mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, but also in the Apostolic ones. This month we recall a time when the Apostle Paul mentioned the New Moon in the book of Colossians.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations–

“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using– according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. – Colossians 2:16-23 (NKJ)

Some of the highlights for the month of Tammuz are:

The Sun stood still for Joshua
Ezekiel received his famous vision of the chariot of God
The armies of Nebuchadnezzar broke through the wall
The sin of the golden calf

We hope you’ll continue to join us as we learn together the biblical events occurring in the month of Tammuz.

Many congregations take the opportunity to bless the upcoming new month on the Sabbath before. The blessing takes on different forms depending upon the congregation, below is a sample blessing.

Birkat Hachodesh

May it be Your will, LORD, our God and God of our fathers,

that You begin for us this month of Tammuz

for goodness and for blessing.

May You give to us long life,

a life of peace,

a life of goodness,

a life of blessing,

a life of sustenance,

a life of physical health,

a life in which there is fear of heaven and fear of sin,

a life in which there is no shame or humiliation;

a life of wealth and honor,

a life in which we love Torah and fear God;

a life in which the LORD fulfills the requests of our hearts for good.

Amen. Selah.

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