At sundown today, the holiday of Rosh HaShanah begins! Rabbinically it is a 2-day holiday. It is a festive time for families to get together and to go to the synagogue to hear the blowing of the shofar. This is the kick-off of the Fall Festivals.
This festival is commonly called today Rosh HaShanah or the Jewish New Year. However, in the Torah there are two similar names given to this appointed day. In Leviticus 23:24, the term זכרון תרועה appears, which means the Memorial of Sounding. The term “sounding” refers to the sounding of the Ram’s Horn, i.e. the Shofar. The term יום תרועה (Yom Teruah), the Day of Sounding, is found in Numbers 29:2. Once again, the emphasis of this festival relates to the Shofar. The fact that the Sages of Judaism mandated that Genesis chapter 22 be read on this festival explains a great deal. This chapter is about Abraham’s offering up Izchak (Isaac). At the last moment, the Angel commands Abraham not to harm his son, but there is provided in place of Izchak a ram, which is caught by his horns. It is in memorial to this event that the Shofar is sounded. What is the theological significance of this festival?
Izchak is known as the child of the promise (see Paul’s teaching in Galatians 4:23). This means that the Ram was provided by G-d so that the covenantal promises which G-d had made to Abraham would not die. Hence, on the festival of the Sounding, communing called the Feast of Trumpets, one should remember what HaShem provided so the one that has faith, like Abraham, can receive the outcome of the Covenant, i.e. the Kingdom.
It is not a coincidence that it is the Sounding of a Trumpet which will accompany what Paul calls our blessed hope (also known as the Rapture). I shy away from making a statement like others that the Rapture will occur on the Feast of Trumpets; rather, I prefer to state that it is possible to understand many truths concerning the Rapture from what one learns from the Feast of Trumpets.
May you have a blessed holiday!
Do you think the world will still be a livable place to survive on after another year of fast worsening catastraphies and pollution of our air, water, and land? I have been warning my family members who don’t have time for God in their lives but think they are Christians, or who are atheists, that it would be no surprise that the rapture is very near. I really appreciate this post of yours because I didn’t have all that information.
I love your teachings and try not to miss any of them on TV or on the computer. The Hebrew language is so interesting and full of meanings and I want to learn all I can.
I am 86 yrs, old, living in a Christian Assisted Living Home with my husband who has Parkinson’s and other problems. I spend most of my time helping him and doing the things that need to done. Your programs are a bright spot in my life. Thank you so much! Barbara Parrish
Hello Barbara! Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment! It is such an encouragement. Things are definitely getting worse. We do read in the Book of Revelation about the future destruction which will take place. All in G-d’s time. Blessings!
I have been blowing my shofar in Hunmanby and a group of people met from our area and blew their shofars over the vale of Hertford. I have been busy with the blessing of another grand child. Blessings to you and your family from my friend Joan and me for this holiday time
Heather
Hello Heather and Joan! Wishing you a blessed season during these Fall Festivals! Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment!