One of the American political slogans used by Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential campaign was a promise of "a chicken in every pot." This was used against him since it was promised during the time of the Great Depression. It originally came from the promise of the French King Henry IV made at the time of his crowning in 1589: "that every peasant will have a chicken in his pot on Sunday." As in the case of Hoover, Henry could not deliver on his promise and was assassinated in 1610. How much better is the Lord's promise of a future time when "every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 14:21).
On August 3, 2006 (9th of Ab in the Jewish calendar; a month called the "fifth month" in the Bible), the Jewish people will remember the 2,592nd anniversary of the destruction of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem with a day of mourning and fasting. This is also thought to be the date when Herod's Temple was destroyed in 70AD and the date for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The Jews still mourn their many losses. In Zechariah 7:3-5, Zechariah was asked if it ws proper to continue the fast of the fifth month. The fast had been established to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem; but now Jerusalem was being restored. In reply, the Lord foretold of the day when Israel will be fully restored and the fasts "shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace" (Zechariah 8:19). Yet, as any reading of today's newspaper will demonstrate, the Jews still fast and Rachel is still weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15). All who love the Lord still look to that day when the fast of the fifth month will be turned into a feast.
