Feast of Trumpets Begins Tonight

The biblical Feast of Trumpets, now commonly called Rosh Hoshana by the Jews, begins tonight at sunset.

In the Old Testament, there are various types of trumpets discussed, but the shofar is the one biblically associated with the Feast of Trumpets (the metal one mentioned is mainly instrumental and is called a chatsotserah in Hebrew). A shofar is an animal horn, normally from a ram.

Blowing of a Shofar

Statue of a person in ancient times blowing a Shofar

CGOM just sent out the following comments on the Feast of Trumpets:

The Trumpet Call
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matthew 24:31)

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work (Leviticus 23:24-25)

There’s no doubt the sound of a trumpet stirs the blood. From earliest times its penetrating call has rallied the troops, warned of approaching danger, assembled the populace. Famously, the walls of Jericho toppled following a series of trumpet blasts. It has, too, great significance in the divine Plan for mankind, and is celebrated annually by ‘the Feast of Trumpets’.

…The festival is one of seven appointed by the LORD (not by Moses – Leviticus 23:4!), and incorporated by Him into the worship of the new nation of Israel when they left Egypt (Numbers 10::1-10)

…Trumpets is observed on ‘…the first day of the seventh month’. In the Biblical calendar the seventh month is calculated from the first month in Spring:’This month [called Abib or Nisan] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you’ (Exodus 12:2). Nisan is the first month of the religious year, Tishri of the secular. The seventh (‘Tishri’) is in September-October, varying yearly from our Roman calendar

…Trumpets is a ‘holy convocation’. That is, it is a day to be observed annually by God’s faithful as a day to meet for worship, fellowship and instruction in the faith. It is also a rest day when we pause from our normal working life…

…The LORD created the physical universe in the autumn – celebrated on ‘the first day of the seventh month’ by the blowing of trumpets. The Chaldee version renders it ‘a memorial of shouting’ – a reference to Job 37:4-6: at creation ‘…the angels shouted for joy’. It is the ‘new year’, and is celebrated by the blowing of trumpets. (The first day of each – lunar – month, Biblically, was also noted in this way: Psalm 81:3.)

…God has used and prescribed the trumpet sound on momentous occasions: on giving Israel their Constitution at Sinai (Exodus 19, Hebrews 12:19), at Jericho (Joshua 6), at the Jubilee of the fiftieth year (Leviticus 25:9), at coronations (I Kings 1:34), at the building of the Temple (Ezra 3:10), at the future restoration of Israel to the Land (Isaiah 27:13) – and resurrection (Psalm 47:5)

…The trumpet, said Jesus, will herald the resurrection of the saints from the dead at his coming: ‘…And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other’ (Matthew 24:31)

…Notice (I Corinthians 15:52) that the apostle calls the latter ‘…the last trumpet’. How many? In fact, at the end-time there will be seven trumpet soundings: ‘…I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets’ (Revelation 8:2). Each trumpet introduces a phase of the culmination of end-time events. The seventh focuses on the return of Messiah: ‘…in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets’ (Revelation 10:7)

Perhaps I should mention that it is only a tradition, not a biblically certain fact that the creation was in autumn, but it certainly could have been.

More information on this holy day is included in the article The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets?

Two articles of possibly related interest may include:

Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?

Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.