And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no manner of servile work; and you shall bring an offering made by fire to YHVH.’” Lev 23:23-25
Feast of Trumpets Commandments
1. Celebrated on the first day of the seventh month.
The first day of biblical months is always the day the new moon is sighted in Israel. We note the first month, the month of Abib, of ripening barley, every year, and then count the new moons from there until we arrive at the seventh month new moon. The feast day begins at sunset, when the new moon is sighted, and continues through sunset the following day, which completes the first day of the month.
Ussher believes that the first day of Creation, in which God said, “Let there be light!” was the first day of the seventh month. An interesting bit of trivia: if this is true, then that explains why God commanded Moses to change the first month for Israel to the Passover month in the spring, since they were used to celebrating the first day of the first month (the day on which all time began) in the fall. It is at the Exodus, then, that the seventh month became the seventh month instead of the first month.
2. A Sabbath of rest from labor.
But food may be prepared that is needed for that day. The Hebrew adds that it is to be a solemn rest. Solemn, in the Hebrew, intensifies the rest to mean a great Sabbath, used especially of the annual Sabbaths, which the Feast of Trumpets is.
3. The blowing of trumpets.
Blow the trumpet at the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day. Psa 81:3
Trumpets were blown in the history of Israel always as a call to summon the congregation of Israel (into which we have been grafted), for different purposes:
1) To set out together on a journey;
2) To assemble to worship YHVH on feast days, new moons, and Sabbaths;
3) To assemble to defend against an attack, or to attack an adversary;
4) To announce the coming of YHVH;
5) To announce the coronation of a new king (see also 2 Kin 11:13-14).
These purposes have very interesting applications for the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah, this time as King of kings. (Read more about the prophetic significance of the Feast of Trumpets.)
4. The holy convocation.
Neh 8 contains a description of a holy convocation as is commanded on feast days and holidays. The first day of the seventh month, when Nehemiah and the congregation assembled together at the Temple, was the Feast of Trumpets.
And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of YHVH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.” Lev 23:1-2
A convocation is an assembly of persons who have been called together (Webster’s). In Hebrew, it is from the root word meaning “to call, to call out, to cry out, to proclaim, to summon.” A holy convocation is an assembly of called out ones. We have been called out of the world, out of the nations, out of bondage, out of captivity, out of living for ourselves. We have been called together to worship the true God, Creator of heaven and earth.
Nehemiah 8 and 9, and a holy convocation on a feast day
5. The offering made by fire.
Since there are no offerings on the altar today, how do we have an offering made by fire on the feast day?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Rom 12:1
We become a living offering made by fire ourselves: living whole burnt offerings. Whole, because we love YHVH our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Burnt, because Yeshua baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, so that we become like the burning bush ourselves, which burns with fire and the presence of God, but which is not consumed (Exo 3:1-3). And offering, because we are crucified with Messiah, and we are no longer living for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Trumpets in the Greek Testament
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Mat 24:31
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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1 Cor 15:51-53
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 The 4:16
Then the seventh angel sounded [the trumpet]: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Rev 11:15
Just as an exceedingly loud trumpet accompanied the descent of YHVH upon Mt. Sinai (Exo 19:16-20), so an exceedingly loud trumpet will accompany the descent of Yeshua as King of kings at the end of this age; so loud, that it will wake the dead in Messiah from their sleep, and they shall rise from their graves. When we celebrate on the Feast of Trumpets, we commemorate the first event, and add our proclamation of the prophecy of the second; and it is my belief that this trumpet blast will occur on the Feast day of Trumpets, announcing to the world, “Behold, your King is coming!”
Additional Studies
The fall feasts and the second coming 2013 sep 19
Celebrating the feasts 2013 sep 18
Feast of Trumpets 2009 sep 18
You do not know the day or hour (feast of Trumpets) 2009 sep 20
Happy Yom Teruah (feast of Trumpets) 2009 sep 21
Our day of trumpet blowing 2008 oct 01
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