Pt. 15    ROSH HASHANAH (Feast of Trumpets): Begins Ten “Days of Awe” & Countdown to Desolation

Rosh Hashanah is also known as the Feast of Trumpets.  The celebration on the first day of the seventh month is described very simply in Leviticus 23:23-25.  The Festival is also mentioned in Numbers 29:1-6, which emphasizes the various obligatory sacrifices during this Festival, and in Nehemiah 8:1-12, Ezra read the Law of Moses before the people during the Feast of Trumpets.

There are several alternative names for this feast. The first is Yom Truah, a Biblical name meaning “the day of the blowing of the trumpets.”  Judaism teaches this name was given because of the call on this day to Jewish people to remember their sins.  Other names—“The Memorial of Triumph” and “The Shouting of Joy”—are based upon Job 38:7, which states the sons of God (the angels) shouted for joy when God created the heavens and earth. Jewish tradition holds that the world was created on the Feast of Trumpets.  A third name for this feast is “The Day of Remembrance,” so called because Jewish theology includes a call to Jews to remember their sins on this day before the next holy day, Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement (Point 18), arrives.  The fourth name, “The Day of Judgment,” derives from a traditional teaching that on this day all undergo judgment to determine if their sins will be forgiven.  This feast’s fifth and most common name is Rosh Hashanah, which means “the head of the year.”  Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish civil year.  Technically, the Jewish calendar consists of two new years: the religious year begins in the spring with the Feast of Passover, while the civil year begins in the fall with the Feast of Trumpets.

The Hebrew Scriptures specify four principles regarding the Feast of Trumpets.  First, it was to be a one-day Festival.  Second, like the Sabbath, it was to be a day of rest with no labor performed.  Third, it was to be celebrated by the blowing of trumpets.  Finally, the trumpet, called the shofar, was to be the horn of a ram rather than a silver instrument.  The ram’s horn has been preferred because of the symbolic link with Isaac’s sacrifice in Genesis 22, which arrived just in time, when needed most.

The blowing of the ram’s horn also symbolizes important concepts in Judaism.  First, it is a symbol of the re-gathering of Israel, as indicated in Isaiah 27:12-13. Second, according to Judaism, the blowing of the trumpet represents the opening of three books in Heaven. The first is the Book of the Righteous, reserved for the righteous who will survive for at least one more year.  The Book of the Wicked, also known as the Book of the Dead, contains the names of those who are completely wicked and who, therefore, must die within the next year.  The third book, the Book of the In-Between, holds the most names because it is taught in Judaism that most people are neither totally righteous nor totally wicked.  Those inscribed in this book are given ten days to repent—the ten days that elapse between the Feast of Trumpets and the final judgment day, the Day of Atonement.  Because Judaism believes one cannot know for certain in which book his name will be entered, it is taught that one should assume to be in the Book of the In-Between and repent during the ten-day period.

From this historical backdrop, we learn Rosh Hashanah warns of impending judgment and the running out of time.  In the last days, the shofar blasts call us to remember our sins and prepare for eternity.  It brings us near to the final work of Satan and the Judge’s responding wrath, which will be unleashed during the Great Tribulation.  The fall Festival season actually begins with a 40 day period called in Hebrew “Teshuvah,” which means “to repent.”  This 40 day period begins in the sixth month of the religious calendar, the month of Elul, and concludes on the tenth day of the seventh month on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  The 40 day period is further divided into two parts: 30 days during Elul, and then beginning on Rosh Hashanah, the final days of repentance, which lead up to Yom Kippur.  This period, known as the High Holy Days, is a time when spiritual decisions of life and death are made.  These days are called “yamin noraim” from which we get the Days of Awe or Days of Repentance, which uniquely express the searching heart and mood of penitence that prevails.  The prophet Joel reflects on the nearness of Messiah’s return and the vast number of people who must decide for life or death, when he refers to this period as the valley of decision: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision,” (Joel 3:14). 

The trumpet warnings of Rosh Hashanah (Point 15) are to awaken mankind to the realization that time is running out.  Within ten days, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (the Day of the LORD—Point 18), will come when all who remain unrepentant will be cut off, while the righteous are sealed for life eternal.  Isaiah wrote, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near,” (55:6).

Revelation 7:1-4 speaks, in part, of this time when the sealing will take place: “After this I saw four angels… holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.  Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” 

The disciples waited ten days in humble preparation from the time Jesus ascended before the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Shavuot).  Likewise, the final generation will wait ten days from the Trumpet’s blast in preparation for the latter rain to be poured out upon His people at Yom Kippur[1].

At the end of time, the shofar blasts that accompany the Feast of Trumpets warn of the approaching Day of the LORD, a time for soul searching and repentance: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand… Even now, declares the LORD, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing… Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, Spare your people, O LORD.  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?” (Joel 2:1, 12-17). 

The warnings have been given by the Most High God through His ancient chronicles, yet most will not heed the notification.  “Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken My Covenant [Ten Words] and rebelled against My Law,” (Hosea 8:1).  Disregarding the Law of YHVH, the religious and political leaders will allow Antichrist to enter onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Days of Awe to set up his abomination. 

Yeshua said, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation (Point 17), spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress [Great Tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again,” (Matthew 24:15-21).

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