Dear Doves,
      The fast of the Scriptural Month 4 mentioned in Zechariah 9:19 is Tammuz 17, which will be on 7-19 according to the Hillel Calendar. The fast of month 5 is on Av 9, 21 days later on 8-9-2011. Zechariah 9:19 mentions 4 fasts for the House of Israel. These 2 are very soon. The ones for Tammuz 17 and Av 9 are partial fasts, from sunrise to sunset. When would the warnings of The Master about carousing, drunkenness and the cares of life not seem to apply? These dangers do not apply for those honoring the fasts during these Scriptural fast days. Why? During these fasts, individuals do not eat or drink. One cannot be carousing, drunk, or gluttonous.
      In The Master's teaching in Matthew 9:15, Mark 2: 19, and Luke 5:35, He mentions that people will not fast when the groom is with them. When he is taken from them, then they will fast. By implication, when the groom returns, their fast is over. For modern Jews it is customary to fast before going to the wedding canopy, the chuppah, for their wedding. When The Blessed Hope occurs, it is followed by The Wedding of the Ages!
      Some believe that Moses descended Mt. Sinai on Tammuz 17 and broke the ketubah, the tablets of the 10 Commandments of the marriage covenant, when he saw the people worshiping the idol of gold, the golden calf (bull). Were they fasting? Far from it. They sang and danced, were dissipated, drunk, and concerned with coarse cares of life. It was Summer and Grapes Season. The behaviors of the people, their grave sins, put them in a spiritual trap or snare. The Master promises to set a trap or snare (like the snare of the fowler) for the unsuspecting "earth dwellers" for those eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, planting, and building like in the days of Noah. On that solemn day of the return of Moses was a GREAT SEPARATION, THE GREAT DIVIDE, between those willing to side with the Lord and follow Moses or else. The slain were 3000 men, and THE DAY was  an ANTI-PENTECOST DAY! On a later Pentecost (Shavuot) there were 3000 converted! See Acts 2:40-41. "Be saved from this crooked generation." The horrific story in Exodus 32, possibly on Tammuz 17, highlights and reminds us of the warnings made in Luke 21:34!
      The Master warns of the dangers of carousing, gluttony, drunkenness, sleepiness, and the cares/ worries of life when He returns for His beloved and The Wedding of the Ages. Come quickly, Lord...
 
With Love and Shalom,
Jean