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Leviticus 23:1-2
And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.
We think of feasts as being a spread of food and gorging ourselves, but the word translated feasts in the Bible actually has nothing to do with eating.
#4150 Strong’s Concordance: Feasts
Moed (singular) Moedim (plural): Appointment, fixed time or season, conventionally a year, an assembly, the congregation, a place of meeting, a signal
Jesus died on the appointed day (Pesach or Passover) in spite of the fact that other people appeared to control the timing of His death. Jesus was buried on the appointed days. Jesus raised from the dead as the first fruits of those who had died (1 Corinthians 15:20) on the appointed time.
The word translated LORD is the tetragrammaton, Yud Hey Vav Hey, Yahweh or Jehovah which is used expressly as the name of the one true God so there is no ambiguity as to Who is calling the feast His Own.
#4744 Strong’s Concordance: Convocation
Miqra: public meeting or rehearsal
So Passover (Pesach), Unleavened Bread (Hag Ha-Matzot), and First Fruits (Shavuot) with the counting of the Omer were all rehearsals for the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. Pentecost was the rehearsal of the coming of the Holy Spirit. So God’s feasts are rehearsals for appointed times to come. The symbolism in the feasts are overwhelming portrayals of everything that would take place.
God predetermined the dates, times, seasons, Torah portions to be read, and even the music that would be sung on His Son’s funeral day. I read the Torah portion each week because if God is sending a message through the appointed scripture, I want to see it.
Now, I want to spend the rest of this lesson focusing on Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets.
Yom Teruah is also known as the Feast of Trumpets, or the Day of the Awakening Blast. It is also called the Hidden Day which we will talk about more in a little bit.
Leviticus 23:23-25
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
#2146 Strong’s Concordance Memorial
From #2142 Zakar: to remember or to be mindful
When we see the word memorial, we can often think of a statue or a plaque that we happen to notice. Memorial actually means to devote time to remembering and to be purposeful in bringing it into our minds.
Luke 13:27
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
If the LORD knows you not, he has no memorial or memory of you, then you cannot dwell in His presence. The Book of Life is a theme in the research of the Feast of Trumpets. Because Yom Teruah is days before Yom Kippur which is all about redemption, Yom Teruah is a time of REPENTANCE… a time to make sure our name is written in the Book of Life and a time to reflect, to judge ourselves, and to repent.
It is a Jewish custom to read the story of the binding of Isaac on Yom Teruah. The ram’s horn (shofar) is blown to remind God of His mercy. Traditionally, Jews believe that God decides each person’s fate for the next year during Yom Kippur including whether a person will live or die in the coming year. Since Yom Teruah is 10 days before Yom Kippur, it is crunch time so to speak. I am 10 days from God deciding whether I will live or die next year, whether I will be blessed or cursed, or what trials I will endure in the coming year. This is the season that we would naturally want to remind God that He is merciful.
Numbers 29:1
And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day (Yom) of blowing (Teruah) the trumpets unto you.
#8643 Strong’s Concordance: Blowing
Teruah: Clamor, Acclamation of Joy, Battle Cry, Alarm, Clangor of Trumpets. It is translated as shout, alarm, sound, blow, joy, jubilee, noise, rejoicing
1 Corinthians 14:8
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound , who shall prepare himself for the battle?
Psalms 47:5
God is gone up with a shout (Teruah), the Lord with a sound of a trumpet.
1 Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Psalms 89:15
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound (teruah); They shall walk, O Lord, In the light of thy countenance
I recommend you check out —-This Page Here— for information on the shofar blasts.
If you want to hear the shofar blast sounds, check out —This Video Here—It is only 2 minutes long.
The first sound is the Tekiah because it calls man’s heart to pay attention to the message of the shofar. The Shevarim is the cry of the heart of mankind to repentance and a godly sorrow for the sins of our past. The Shevarim is followed by the Teruah whose staccato nature sounds like a stop or a breaking off the sound and reminds us to stop or break off all sin or behavior that will separate us from God. The broken sound is to remind us to break off fleshly desires and evil inclinations. The Tekiah sounds again to follow God’s Will and God’s Word, to make necessary changes, and align ourselves in obedience to God.
The shofar is blown 100 times in total. The last blast, the Tekiah Gedolah, is known as “The Last Trump”. Those Jews who heard mention of the Last Trump would have immediately thought of the Tekiah Gedolah at the end of the shofar blasts. Remember that the Tekiah Gedolah means a final appeal to sincere repentance and atonement.
1 Corinthians 15: 51
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
There are many sources online that suggest that the phrase “twinkling of an eye” refers to a time of day. Specifically, at dusk when the sun sets below the horizon, so the sun is completely out of sight, but there is a soft glow of light in the sky… then suddenly the light goes out. The twinkling of an eye refers to that moment, that split second, when the light becomes darkness.
The Hidden Day
Yom Teruah is the only feast day that is held on the first of a month. Pesach (Passover) is on the 14th day of Nisan, Unleavened Bread is on the 15th day of Nisan and lasts 7 days, Feast of First Fruits is 2-6 days after Passover, Pentecost is 50 days from First Fruits, Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the 10th of Tishrei, and Tabernacles is the 15th day of Tishrei. Yom Teruah is the only feast to be observed on the first day of a new month.
The first day of a Jewish month could not be declared by the priest until two witnesses went to the priest to declare that he had seen the sliver of the moon. During the Diaspora, Jews spread throughout the world could not possibly know when two witnesses reported to the priest, so they made the first day of the month last two days. The first day is regarded as One Long Day.
Because Yom Teruah is the only feast day that falls on the first of the month, it Is considered the Feast where no one knows the day or the hour because no one really knows whether the priest has declared a new month. Yom Teruah is symbolically considered to be a day that was hidden from satan since he couldn’t know when it had come.
Why Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah is translated as head of the year. It is considered the Jewish New Year, but God did not set the first day of the seventh month as the new year.
Exodus 12:1-2
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Since God instituted the first month, it would seem logical to assume that the first month is the head of the year or new year. The first month on the Hebrew calendar is now called either Nisan or Aviv. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the seventh month or the month of Tishrei. How did we get a new year or head of the year celebration in the seventh month?
While the Hebrew people were in exile in Babylon, the Babylonians celebrated two new years each year: one around the Hebrew New Year on the first day of the first month and a second new year around Yom Teruah. The Hebrew people began to assimilate with the Babylonians celebrating their festivals and holidays. The Hebrew people even changed the names of their months from the original numbers system (first month, second month…) to the names of Babylonian gods. The fourth month took the name Tammuz.
Ezekiel 8:14 Amplified
Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house; behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz (Babylonian god, who was supposed to die annually and subsequently be resurrected).
Based on my research, it appears as though the Hebrew people celebrated Yom Teruah and Rosh Hashanah along side each other, but over time, Yom Teruah faded away. Several videos and commentaries I read suggested that many if not most Jews around the world and Israelis today don’t even know Yom Teruah, but all know Rosh Hashanah.
There is definitely a cautionary tale in the Rosh Hashanah versus Yom Teruah saga, but I will leave you to your own conscience and discernment to decide what that cautionary tale is. For instance, Christmas for one person might become a personal plight to remove all secularism from the Christmas celebration and focus entirely on the birth of the Messiah while another person might feel convicted to stop celebrating Christmas entirely since the Messiah definitely was not born in December. Still another person may feel convicted to follow only God’s feast days. However, not celebrating Christmas at all as a church might push away some of those in the Christmas/Easter only crowd. It is a decision that each individual must make for himself/herself.
If you liked this post, you might also like my thoughts on Isaiah 47
Recommended reading:
Zola Levitt’s correlation between the Lord’s Feasts and the gestation of a human baby.
How to Celebrate the Biblical Feasts by El Shaddai Ministries.
