"Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the
beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and
over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before
your God: I am the Lord your God. 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 of blowing the
trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the
Lord; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without
blemish." (Numbers 10:10 & 29:1-2).
The beginning of every month, as well as every festival, was signaled by a blast
of trumpets. But on the first day of the seventh month the trumpets sounded for a special
celebration. It was a day for rest and worship, more important even than the Sabbath. It
marked out the seventh month as the most solemn month in the year. After the exile it was
treated as the religious New Year festival, but the months were still counted from Nisan
(March/April).
The beginning of every month, as well as every festival, was signaled by a blast
of trumpets. But on the first day of the seventh month the trumpets sounded for a special
celebration. It was a day for rest and worship, more important even than the Sabbath. It
marked the seventh month as the most solemn month in the year. After the exile it was
treated as the religious New Year festival, but the months were still counted from Nisan
(March/April).
Rosh HaShanah literally means "Head of the Year" and is the greeting
for "Happy New Year". This year, September 20 is New Year’s Eve.
The Jewish People celebrate two new years. One is the first day of the month
"Nisan". It is roughly equivalent to our April. (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."
The other is officially recognized and celebrated. It is the first day of the
seventh month according to the Jewish calendar, and is called the month of
"Tishrei". In Leviticus 23:24 we read – "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."
The ancient Rabbis believed that the Lord created the world in the first week of
the month of "Tishrei", therefore the first day of the beginning of the year,
and hence the present Jewish time of reckoning. As it is generally known, the Jewish year
is a lunar year which is shorter than the solar year by ten days and 21 hours. The year is
divided into twelve lunar months of 29 or 30 days each. To equalize the difference between
the lunar and solar year, every three years an extra month is added after the twelfth
month, or March. This thirteen month year is the Jewish leap year.
The months of the year are as follows: "Nissan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av,
Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Ahevat and Adar."
Hand-painted plate commemorating Rosh Hashana by
our friend David Litan, Wichita, Kansas.
THE SABBATICAL MONTH
"Tishrei" being the seventh month of the year is a Sabbatical month.
What the seventh day is to the week, "Tishrei", the seventh month, is to the
year. Hence the first day is celebrated as a Sabbath, a day of rest and a memorial of
blowing of trumpets, with a holy convocation.
In the book of Nehemiah (8:1-12) we read that after Israel came back from
Babylon they began to observe the New Year Day solemnly. The Law was read to them after
long neglect. They were so overwhelmed that they broke down and cried and repented. Ezra,
their leader, had to comfort them and remind them that it was also a day of rejoicing and
thanksgiving to the Lord, and that they were to go home comforted and to eat.
THE BLOWING OF THE RAM’S HORN
According to the Sages the blowing of the horns and trumpets ordained by the
Lord, had a threefold purpose.
First: The trumpet sound served as a call to repentance, to wake
up from sin to live life anew.
Second: The trumpet sound served as a remembrance that the Lord
was in covenant relationship with His people, Israel. It was to ask Him to deal gently,
according to His gracious promises which He specially made to Abraham and to the
patriarchs of old, and not according to merits.
This everlasting Abrahamic Covenant still stands today with His people, Israel.
Psalm 89:34-35: "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."
Genesis 17:7-8: "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee
and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to
be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed
after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God." What seed of Abraham? "And God said
unto Abraham…in Isaac shall thy seed be called."
Third: The trumpet sound was to confound and confuse Satan, who was
especially condemning Israel on New Year’s Day, bringing up before the Lord all their
shortcomings and sins.
These are the blasts of the Horn: One long blast, Tekiah; three
short blasts, Shevarim; nine to twelve short, fast notes, Teruah.
Sacrifice of Isaac and Sacrifice of the Son of God
The horn used on the solemn occasion of the New Year’s Day was a ram’s horn, in
order to bring to memory Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac at the Lord’s command. Then
there was a substituting of the sacrifice, a ram instead of Isaac. Thus the ram’s horn is
the symbol of this sacrifice.
This typifies gloriously the sacrifice by our Heavenly Father of His Son. Also
the willingness of the Son to offer Himself up for the salvation of all men. He was the
only one who could accomplish this.
Jesus said, "I and my Father are one…I do always those things that
please HIM." (John 10:30 & 8:29) "Christ…has given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor" (Eph. 5:2).
[Refer to the leading scripture of this article.] He did the will of the Father.
Isaac is a beautiful type of Christ, for the Scripture says, "And they
went both of them together" (Genesis 22:6), father & son.
God desired a people to live on a high spiritual level with Himself, so He chose
Israel to fashion her into an Holy Nation. "Behold, the heaven and the
heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only
the Lord has a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them,
even you above all people, as it is this day" (Deuteronomy 10:14 & 15). "For
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be
special people unto Himself…." (Deuteronomy 7:6). "And ye [Israel]
shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words
which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel" (Exodus 19:6). Thus the
people were redeemed by blood and became God’s own. The Tabernacle then became the
important article of religious significance for the people of Israel. It was to tell them
of the coming Redeemer that God had promised Abraham.
"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" (Leviticus
23:24). New Year’s Day (Rosh HaShanah) is a solemn time of repentance and preparation for
the Day of Atonement which follows ten days after. The Rabbis believe that during Rosh
HaShanah which lasts two days, the Lord opens three books. In one book the righteous are
registered; in the second, are those who are neither wholly righteous nor utterly wicked;
and in the third, the wicked are recorded.
New Year Prayer "In the book of life, blessing, peace and good
sustenance may we be remembered and inscribed before thee, we and all they people, the
house of Israel, for a happy life and peace. Blessed are thou, O Lord, who makest peace.
Amen."
Ten Days of Repentance
The second book records the deeds good and bad of the intermediate group, these
who are not wholly sinful nor altogether righteous. They are given ten days of repentance
which are called Yomim Noraim, which means "The Fearsome or Awesome
Days." During that period, depending on the sincerity of their repentance, the
Lord will judge them on the Day of Atonement either for life or destruction, riches or
poverty, health or hurt.
The third book records the wicked and unrepentant, and they can only look for
condemnation and death.
"Since, according to Jewish belief, the majority of mankind are neither
utterly good nor utterly wicked, the ten days are of the utmost importance. Much therefore
depends on the behavior and repentance of the Jew during these "Ten Awesome
Days". During that period old enemies seek to make up their differences, charity is
given to the poor, and long confessions of sins are repeated in the Synagogue
prayers." (Festival Prayers, pp. 168). Every Jew during this period then searches his
heart and seeks to be reconciled with God and his neighbor.
PREPARATION
"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our
iniquities; and thou wilt cast all our sins [in Hebrew-Tashlikh] into the depths of
the sea" (Micah 7:19).
Wherever Jews honor the tradition of Israel, in the afternoon of New Year’s Day,
you may find them near large bodies of water performing the symbolic ritual of
"Casting away their sins."
Since the Jews have no Temple, priest, or sacrifice, substitutes for the atoning
sacrifice have been provided by the Rabbis. Some of these are repentance, which includes
reparation of wrong, prayer, fasting. Charity and the study of the Law are ways to prepare
for the Day of Atonement.
Prophetically New Year marks a further stage in God’s plan of salvation for
Israel first, (Romans 1:16) but then also for all mankind.
Passover was the beginning of redemption wrought through the blood of the Lamb,
foreshadowing the Messiah, The Lamb of God, slain from the beginning of the world, taking
away the sin of the world (Rev. 13:8; John 1:29). "And all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). "…Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Let us continue to see the progress of redemption for mankind. Pentecost
[Shavaot] 50 days after Passover commemorates the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. This was
the birth of Judaism; and the day of Pentecost (33 A.D.) was the birth of the Church, the
beginning of "the fullness of the Gentiles" – the gospel age.
Between Pentecost and New Year is a long period of silence.
"… the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel…Thou
shalt abide for me many days…thou shalt not be for another…I will also be for thee.
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king…and without sacrifice,
and without an image, and without an ephod…Afterward shall the children of Israel
return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and hasten eagerly toward [Hebrew
translation] the Lord, and His goodness in the latter days" (Hosea 3:1-5).
There has been a time of exile in the wilderness, the world exile into every nation. Now
they are returning home.
Then comes the Feast of the New Year, presenting a call to repentance and an
opportunity to be reconciled to God on the Day of Atonement.
Shadow
"The shadow of heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5) "A shadow of
good things to come" A shadow implies a substance. If you were about to turn a
corner and saw a shadow in front of you, that of a man, you would know that in just a
moment you would come face to face with a body, the shadow was your clue. So are the
feast’s of Israel, "Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ" (Colossians 2:17) The Tabernacle then was that shadow of Him who was to
come, the Messiah.
Moses saw not only a sketch or model of the Tabernacle, but was given a secret,
private preview of the heaven-reality. Moses was able to endure because he saw Him who was
invisible at that time. (Hebrews 11:27) And remember that when Moses came down from the
mount that he had to put a veil upon his face. He had seen a glorious manifestation of the
Lord God of Israel and his face was so radiant that the people could not stand to look at
it. Concerning this, the Apostle Paul expressed, "their minds were blinded: for
until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament;
which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is
upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn [Israel shall "hasten eagerly
toward"] the Lord, the veil shall be taken away" (II Corinthians
3:14-16).
Let us be looking for the Lord for the Scripture says that we shall behold him
face to face, (I Cor. 13:12) and be like Him (I John 3:2).
‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ and be ready for the greatest
event of all history, the coming of Messiah.
The Hebrew word 
– Puach – means hasten to, blow or speak.
"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it [Messiah]
shall speak, and not lie: though it [Messiah] tarry, wait for it [Messiah];
because it [Messiah] will surely come, it [Messiah] will not tarry."
The Messiah will come quickly and the truth of His word will blast as a trumpet. Light
will dispel all darkness.
Join us next month for the next feast of Israel – Yom Kippur – the Day of
Atonement.
