The Feast of Trumpets

I want to take the next few weeks to look through those celebrations, what Scripture says, how traditions developed, and where we see Jesus in these festivals.

So Lets Start with Rosh Hashanah the Feast of Trumpets.

Leviticus 23:23–25 ESV

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”

At the Most basic level of instruction the Festival of trumpets is a signal of the beginning of the seventh month of the Religious year (It starts at Passover) Marking the halfway point of the year.

it is an extra sabbath day - and you are supposed to blow trumpets during it.

And when the Bible says trumpet it means the Shofar.

And Jewish rabbi’s have since determined that the shofar must be blown 100 times during the day.

Don’t worry I’m not going to blow this a full 100 times.

But the obvious question is WHY?

Why are the Jewish People told to blow trumpets 100 time during the day?

And there are a few explanations

First and most obvious

It is 10 days before the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur

Hearing the sound of the Shofar is to remind people to repent of their sins as they await atonement.

And they have 10 days to do so - the 10 days of Awe.

Second

Post the Babylonian exile at about 500 years before Jesus, the Jewish people adopted the Babylonian Calendar

which is offset from the Biblical Jewish calendar by 6 months.

Making the Feat of trumpets the New Year Celebration.

And so the trumpets herald in the new year/new age.

This is why it is called Rosh HaShanah - the Head of the Year today.

And with that comes a tradition of eating apples dipped in honey

to celebrate a sweet new year.

Third

To remember specific events

The shofar is made from a ram’s horn - and it was used throughout the old testament, but the first reference to a ram’s horn is perhaps not where you would expect.

Genesis 22:9–14 ESV

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

We looked at this passage just a couple weeks ago, when we discussed Jesus claimed “Before Abraham was, I AM”

As Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus’s day, Seeing God provide a Lamb to sacrifice in the place of Isaac

and Here we see a Ram caught by it’s horns in a thicket.

Some Rabbi’s teach that the Ram represents the messiah, caught in the thicket, the thorns of sin,

they follow up by saying that this day when Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac as the first day of the seventh month - or on the day of the festival of trumpets.

The Shofar also calls to mind heroic battles where God fought for Israel, Like with Joshua

Joshua 6:1–5 ESV

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

When Israel first entered the promised land, they had to deal with Jericho,

and they put the city to siege, but they couldn’t take the city by their own means

So God tells them to march around the city once a day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day, then the horns (shofars) a long blast and to shout and the walls will fall down.

Joshua 6:20 ESV

So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

The trumpets heralded a new age for the people of Israel as they entered the promised land, by the grace of God.

Gideon is another great example

Judges 7:1–8 ESV

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

God called Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites.

And when Gideon gathers an army God says one thing that no military commander has ever said - You have too many soldiers.

So he lets anyone who is too afraid to fight go home.

then he stills has 10,000 Men and God says: that is still too many

And God provides a test, judging by how people drink water,

Some get on all fours to drink from the spring

Some scoop the water up and drink from their hands

that way they can keep their eyes on the horizon, so they can keep looking

When Did Abraham notice the Ram? - when he looked.

God works with people that look.

Judges 7:16–23 ESV

And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ” So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

So how does Gideon fight an innumerable army with only 300 men? By giving them all trumpets (Shofars) and torches, so that they could surprise the Midianites with a sudden roar of sound and light from all directions, so that the Midianites fought themselves.

God destroyed the Midianites not with swords and spears, but with the sound of the shofar.

So Rosh Hashanah remembers God’s victories, as it also awaits God’s atonement.

But as we will discuss next week, God’s atonement has already come.

So what do we await now?

The Return of Jesus - and the beginning of a new age.

1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 ESV

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

With the voice of the Archangel and the Sound of the Trumpet of the Lord, the dead in Christ will be rise up, and we will all be caught up - or Raptured - to use the Latin term to Meet Christ in the clouds.

1 Corinthians 15:51–55 ESV

Behold! I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

At the sounding of the Last trumpet the dead in Christ will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed - overcoming death forever.

Paul here quotes Hosea where the translation does not say death, but Sheol - the underworld - Hell.

With the sounding of the shofar, Death and Hell is defeated.

So While I am not going to say that you have to observe Rosh Hashanah, and sound the shofar 100 times and eat apples and honey and sweet bread, I do think that it would be wise to look out, to look ahead to the coming of Jesus.

Matthew 24:36–44 ESV

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Jesus says no one knows when he will return, but he tells us to stay awake and to be ready. Looking like Abraham for the ram caught in the thicket, looking like the men who fought with Gideon, keeping their eyes on the horizon.

We need to be ready! Because there are signs all around us that the day is growing nearer.

So Church, take time to repent - to turn away from - your sins, and look forward to Jesus our savior who might come at any moment.

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