Keeping track of how God tells time

Every day in the synagogue, Jews pick up their Hebrew prayer books (the Siddur) and recite a passage based on God’s ancient declaration to Moses: “Blessed are You YHVH who sanctifies Israel and the times” (‘Baruch Ata YHVH meqadesh Yisrael v’zmanim’).

The original thought behind this prayer is found in Leviticus 23:2-4: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘YHVH’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations – My appointed times are these.’” The God of Jacob repeats that principle again, stressing it in Leviticus 23:44: “So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of YHVH.”

But many Jews don’t attend synagogue today. And countless Christians of all stripes consider Jewish feasts, fasts and prayers to be quaint but unimportant. Yet the God of the Bible declares that these feasts and festivals are uniquely His – “My appointed times” as it says in Leviticus 23:2.

What does God’s declaration mean, and what significance does it have for Jews and Gentiles who believe the Bible? What are the implications of YHVH’s declaration for the nations of the world and for their political and religious leaders? How are we all to keep track of how the God of Jacob tells time?

The God of the Bible uses times and seasons as a strategic key to unfold His covenant purposes on earth and in heaven. In doing this, He sanctifies time through what some of us today call ‘the Jewish calendar’ and ‘the Jewish feasts.’ YHVH’s Hebrew calendar declares His sovereignty over all times and all seasons.

God’s sovereignty over darkness and light, the stars and the seasons

King Solomon proclaims: “There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This started with the creation and manifestation of light to our universe: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light!’ And there was light. God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:3-4).

“He counts the number of the stars. He gives names to all of them” (Psalm 147:4). “Praise Him, sun and moon! Praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, highest heavens and the waters that are above the heavens! They are to praise the name of YHVH, for He commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:3-5). The Jewish Siddur again reflects this biblical perspective: “Blessed are You, YHVH our God, King of the universe, who makes distinction between holy and normal, between light and darkness!”

Denying God’s sovereignty, His existence, His seasons

The prophet Jeremiah mourned the lack of spiritual discernment of many in Israel in his day, who did not bow the knee before YHVH’s sovereign creative power, but denied His ways, spurned His calendar and scorned His feasts: “But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and departed. They do not say in their heart: ‘Let us now fear YHVH our God, who gives rain in its season, both the autumn rain and the spring rain – who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest” (Jeremiah 5:23-24).

Paul of Tarsus echoes Jeremiah’s words, adding that not only Jews but also Gentiles stand guilty of this same spiritual denial:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:18-22)

Times and seasons can be changed only by God

Daniel the prophet was a top political advisor to the king of Babylon. He spoke from personal experience when he declared that YHVH “is He who changes the times and the periods. He removes kings and appoints kings. He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to people of understanding” (Daniel 2:21).

Daniel understood that a repudiation of God’s Leviticus 23-based calendar is, at its heart, a denial of God’s sovereignty. Those who make light of the biblical calendar end up mocking the crafter of that calendar – the God of the Jews and the sovereign shaper of history. Daniel notes that it is the anti-Christ/ anti-Messiah spirit which attempts to adulterate those biblical perspectives strongly rooted in the Hebrew calendar. Our day has seen a mushrooming of such attitudes:

“And he [i.e. the anti-Messiah] will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One. And he will intend to make alterations in times and in law” (Daniel 7:25)

The zenith of Creation’s first week is the seventh day

“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 1:31-2:3)

YHVH calls Himself the God of the Jews (see Genesis 26:24; 28:13; 31:42; 32:9; Exodus 3:6,15-16) roots. He entrusted the entire Bible to the Jewish people (see Romans 3:1-2). The God of Jacob tells the Jewish people that the feast days of Leviticus 23 are “your appointed feasts … a reminder before your God” (Numbers 10:10).

The weekly Day of Rest (Hebrew, the Shabbat) begins in Genesis on the seventh day of Creation. YHVH established this day as special and holy from the very beginning (see Genesis 2:3). Thousands of years before Abraham was born, God set His stamp on Shabbat for all time.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YHVH your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. For that reason YHVH blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8–11).

Moses and the Prophets later communicate that the Lord of Eternity put a divine seal on the Shabbat, crowning it as an especially Jewish sign-day for all the days of time and space:

“Now as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You must keep My Sabbaths. For this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am YHVH who sanctifies you’” (Exodus 31:13)

^“Sanctify My Sabbaths. And they shall be a sign between Me and you, so that you may know that I am YHVH your God” (Ezekiel 20:20)

“They shall also keep My teachings and My statutes and all My appointed feasts, and sanctify My Sabbaths” (Ezekiel 44:24, describing the celebration of Shabbat in Jerusalem’s future Millennial kingdom)

God grants to the Sabbath a weekly preeminence and priority

In Leviticus 23 (the biblical chapter which highlights the Jewish year’s complete feast calendar) the God of Jacob emphasizes something that most of us rarely think about when considering the Jewish feasts. The yearly feast-cycle begins with God commanding the celebration of the Shabbat (Leviticus 23:3). The high point of each week is to be the Shabbat, a remembering of YHVH’s sovereign authority over everything that He has created:

YHVH spoke again to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘YHVH’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations – My appointed times are these: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings’” (Leviticus 23:1-3).

The Jewish Sabbath in the boxing ring of the Gentile Church

As Roman and Greek Replacement Theologians grasped the Jewish Scriptures with gnarled anti-Semitic hands, they began to perform spiritual plastic surgery on the Bible. The Genesis Shabbat was incrementally morphed into a Gentile-Christian Sunday. And in short order, Sunday-worship became a theological litmus test of Christian orthodoxy. Those who held to a biblical seventh-day Shabbat (like the Jewish apostle Saul of Tarsus; see Acts 13:14, 42-44; Acts 16:13; Acts 17:2; Acts 18:4) were eventually rejected as heretics. Gentile Christians rapidly drained Shabbat-keeping (which had been the practice of the original Jewish apostolic body of Messiah) from church liturgy and observance. Instead, anti-Shabbat and anti-Jewish-feast tendencies were soon to become the church’s theological conviction and religious practice.

The reasons stated by the church for rejecting Jewish feasts and the Jewish Shabbat were not based on any biblical mandate; they were anchored in cold-hearted anti-Jewish attitudes. Here are some dishonorable milestones in that metamorphosis:

Ignatius of Antioch, written between Antioch and Rome, circa 107-110 AD – Epistle to the Magnesians:

“Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness … Let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and clapping which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day [i.e. Sunday] as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of all the days of the week.”

“It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism [embraced] Christianity, that so every tongue which believes might be gathered together to God . . . It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism.”

Justin Martyr, penned in Rome 155 AD – Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 18, 2:

“The Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, . . . were enjoined on you [Jews] – namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . God enjoined you to keep the Sabbath . . . on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers . . ." (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 18; chapter 21).
“But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples” (Justin Martyr, First Apology, chapter 67: weekly worship of the Christians).

Constantine the Great; written in the Balkans; March 7, 321 AD – Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, lit. 12, 3:

“Let all judges, the people of the cities, and the officials of all the courts rest on the venerable Day of the Sun, and let all workshops be closed. Given on the Nones of March, in the consulship of Crispus.” Flavius Julius Crispus was the eldest son of Emperor Constantine the Great and served as a Roman consul in 318, 321 and 324.

“Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews ... In pursuing this course with a unanimous consent, let us withdraw ourselves, my much honored brethren, from that most odious [Jewish] fellowship” (Constantine the Great, quoted in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Isaac Boyle, translator, 1995, p. 52)

Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea Maritima, 335 AD; one of the Fathers of Church History:

“Wherefore as [the Jews] rejected [the Sabbath law], the Word [Christ] translated and transferred the feast of the Sabbath to the morning light by the new covenant, and gave us the symbol of true rest – that is, the saving Lord’s Day, the first [day] of light, in which the Savior of the world, after all His labors among men, obtained the victory over death, and passed the portals of heaven, having achieved a work superior to the six-days creation. On this day, which is the first [day] of light and of the true Sun, we assemble, after an interval of six days, and celebrate holy and spiritual Sabbaths – even all nations redeemed by him throughout the world, and do those things according to the spiritual law, which were decreed for the priests to do on the Sabbath. And all things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day, as these more appropriately belong to it, because it has a precedence and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath” (Eusebius: Commentary on the Psalms, specifically regarding Psalm 92)

The Council of Laodicea, Canon 29; 365 AD : “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day, and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.”

It’s hard to tell time while ignoring God’s Jewish calendar

The Body of Christ got off to a bad start, developing a theology and a Last Days perspective which rejected YHVH’s calling on the Jewish people. It replaced the calling of Jacob with a non-biblical ‘priority of the Gentiles.’ Theological sleight-of-hand moved Shabbat to Sunday and replaced the Jewish biblical feasts with a ‘Christian Calendar’ chock full of newly-created ‘Saint’s Days.’

Something was lost in this ‘Gentilizing’ process. God’s prophetic calendar and His gifts and calling to the Jewish people are not items that can be blithely ignored. The entombment of the truth and light that these Jewish riches could have brought to the body of Christ has weakened the Christian world for ages, depriving it of the full counsel of God and sapping it of spiritual clarity and discernment.

But God and His purposes are not stymied. He is raising up voices which are restoring His truth about the Shabbat. Before he was murdered, Charlie Kirk published a book ‘Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your life’. And 2,700 years ago the prophet Isaiah prophesied of a coming day when Messiah Yeshua will sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem, and the entire planet will once again celebrate YHVH’s appointed times, His feasts and His Sabbaths:

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make, will endure before Me, declares YHVH, so will your descendants and your name endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me, says YHVH.” (Isaiah 66:22–23).

The rise of the Messianic Jewish movement in the 1800’s and 1900’s is a token of this fast-approaching prophetic day. “Messiah Yeshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Loving Passover seders but scorning the Shabbat

Over the past sixty years, many Evangelicals have had the joy of experiencing the richness of a ‘Christ in the Passover’ demonstration. They have discovered how Messiah Yeshua’s Last Supper was truly a Jewish Passover meal, and that those elements lie at the heart of what is today known as ‘communion.’ They have heard about the future Messianic celebration of the Passover, as Yeshua prophesied: “For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:17-18).

Yet, while Evangelicals appreciate one or two Jewish feasts, some often have a knee-jerk reaction to the continuing relevance of the Shabbat. Some of this is due to a suspicion or fear of the Mosaic covenant – what could be termed ‘Shabbatophobia.’ The Shabbat was given at the dawn of creation, which means that Adam and Eve kept Shabbat. But later the Shabbat was also made part of the Mosaic covenant (see Exodus 20:1-12; Exodus 31:13-16). Nearly two millennia of anti-Semitism and an anti-Mosaic attitude have taken their toll, and these negative attitudes to Shabbat are often a litmus test of other deeper spiritual infections. It is worth remembering that Isaiah prophesies that the Shabbat will be part of the New Covenant order in days to come (Isaiah 66:22-23).

How shall we then pray?

Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelation to believers everywhere about the Jewish foundations of His prophetic calendar, and heightened awareness of what is coming down the pike

Pray that YHVH will expose and annul anti-Semitic theology and activism throughout the planet, wherever these snake-like evils raise their virulent heads

Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth!

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

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Doing a heart transplant on the Feast of Trumpets

It’s time once again for the sons and daughters of Jacob to gather together – to celebrate and to remember. Sweet and somber traditions mix as Jews attend synagogue to pray and to hear the blast of the shofar. “May you be inscribed and sealed [in the Book of Life] for a Good Year!” (‘L’shanah tovah tikatevu v’teichateimu’).

Once a year the People of the Book assemble to carry out ancient traditions, some of which have biblical foundations. What does the God of Isaac want us to remember and to focus on during Yom Teru’ah, this day of blowing/ trumpeting/ sounding of the shofar/ ram’s horn (see Numbers 29:1)? The time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The Days of awe and judgment

I was taught as a child that these Days of Awe (in Yiddish, yomim noroyim) are a sober season when men’s souls are judged. Rabbinic tradition circa 200 AD states:

“Rabbi Judah says: All are judged on New Year and the separate dooms are sealed each in its time – on Passover in respect of produce, on Pentecost in respect of fruit, on Tabernacles judgment is passed in respect of rain, and man is judged on New Year and his doom is sealed on the Day of Atonement” (Babylonian Talmud [TB], Tractate Rosh Hashana 16a).

Sixty-five years later (circa 265 AD) Rabbi Yochanan bar Nappaha declared:

“Three scrolls are opened (in heaven) on New Year, one for the thoroughly wicked, one for the thoroughly righteous, and one for the intermediate. The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed definitively in the scroll of life. The thoroughly wicked are forthwith inscribed definitively in the scroll of death. The doom of the intermediate is suspended from New Year till the Day of Atonement. If they deserve well, they are inscribed in the scroll of life. If they do not deserve well, they are inscribed in the scroll of death” (TB, Tractate Rosh Hashana 16b).

These post-biblical rabbinic traditions have led the Jewish nation to describe Rosh Hashanah as Yom Ha-Din – ‘the Day of the Judgment.’

Nearly 1,700 years later, a famous Jewish folksinger from Montreal, Eliezer bar Nisan ha-Cohen (known popularly as Leonard Cohen), blended these thoughts with a medieval Jewish Day of Atonement prayer known as ‘U’netanneh Tokef’ (transl. ‘Let us speak of the awesomeness’) and penned the song ‘Who by fire’ at the time of Israel’s October 1973 Yom Kippur War:

“And who by fire, who by water, who in the sunshine, who in the night time – who by high ordeal, who by common trial, who in your merry merry month of May, who by very slow decay… And who shall I say is calling?”

Apples, honey and Bible

Over the centuries, various traditional celebrations have become associated with the Feast of Trumpets/ the Day of the Blowing of the ram’s horn/ shofar. Jews nibble apples and honey, hoping for a sweet year. Round challah loaves are served, symbolizing the continuity of the year, with this holiday being considered the ‘crown’ of the calendar. Synagogues register their highest attendance at the High Holy Days. This season also bring with it a heightened awareness of sin within the Jewish community.

But the Jewish Bible has a perspective on the Feast of Trumpets which is somewhat different from modern Jewish tradition. According to the Tenach, the Jewish New Year does not occur in September; it actually takes place 14 days before the Feast of Passover – on the first day of the first month of Spring, called Aviv in the Bible. “Now YHVH said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year for you” (see Exodus 12:1-3; 13:4; Deuteronomy 16:1).

What today is called Rosh Hashanah by most Jewish people is actually the biblical Feast of Trumpets (or the ‘Feast of Blowing’ of shofars/ ram’s horns/ trumpets). It is not the first Feast of the year but the fifth Feast of the biblical calendar (Leviticus 23:23-25). And it occurs in the biblical month which King Solomon used to call ‘Eitanim’ (meaning ‘the strong ones’ in Hebrew – see 1 Kings 8:1-2). The God of Jacob is a stickler for details, and insists through Moses that the Jewish people “shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year” (Exodus 13:10).

So how did the Jewish New Year slide from the first month to the seventh month?

Someone once said that it’s easier to get the singer out of Vegas than it is to get Vegas out of the singer. This is is a relevant maxim here regarding both the Jewish people, the Babylonian Exile and the origins of modern Rosh Hashanah.

The twelve Jewish tribes went into Exile between 722 BC (Assyria) and 597/586 BC (Babylon). They took the twelve original names of the Hebrew months with them ‘to the rivers of Babylon’ (Psalm 137:1). These included:

Aviv (the first month, today called Nisan – Exodus 13:4)
Ziv (the second month, today called Iyar – 1 Kings 6:1)
Eitanim (the seventh month, today called Tishrei – 1 Kings 8:2)
Bul (the eighth month, today called Heshvan – 1 Kings 6:38)

Rabbi Hanina bar Hama of Galilean Zippori (d. 250 A.D.) noted that, when the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem from Exile, “the [Babylonian] month-names came up with them [with the exiles] from Babylon” (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 1:2,56d). These Babylonian names gradually replaced the original Hebrew names, especially after the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The first month in the Hebrew calendar (Aviv) was renamed Nisan (from the Akkadian nisānu, meaning ‘sanctuary’ or ‘sacrifice’, or possibly from Sumerian nisag meaning ‘first-fruits’). The seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Eitanim (‘the strong ones’), was renamed Tishrei (from the Akkadian word tašrītu or ‘beginning’).

Today eight of the twelve original Hebrew names of the months have completely vanished. The Babylonian month-names used today are for the most part the names of Babylonian demons, even as most modern Western months are based on the names of Roman deities, and the modern Western secular week-day names are taken from Norse and Germanic gods. Since the Babylonian royal calendar began its year in Tishrei (biblical Eitanim), the Jewish people gradually adapted these month-names into their national calendar, and Rosh Hashanah morphed from a Spring feast into a Fall feast.

Rejecting the Messiah and His biblical New Year

A crucial fork in the road was crossed in 33 AD when Messiah Yeshua was rejected by the majority of Israel’s spiritual authorities, and was handed over to the Roman occupation authorities to be crucified. If Jerusalem’s then spiritual leadership could have made such a terrible decision to reject the Messiah, it does not take a long stretch of the imagination to understand how these same leaders could eventually make similar errant decisions about a host of other issues – including the nature of the New Covenant, the status of the Mosaic covenant, the biblical basis for salvation, the issue of rabbinic authority, etc.

The authority of the Scriptures – and what they teach about Messiah Yeshua – is very much connected to the issue of the Jewish New Year. Today most Jewish people’s spiritual confusion about something as clear and basic as the Biblical teaching concerning when the Jewish New Year falls, reminds us of the Days of the Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The prophet Jeremiah also stressed this point circa 600 BC: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters – to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

As Babylonian cultural influences strengthened among the sons and daughters of Jacob, the Jewish people gradually weakened in their faithfulness to other biblical patterns and expressions as well. By 200 AD the biblical focus on the Feast of Trumpets had been renamed and refashioned as ‘the New Year.’ The influence of the Exile and our sojourn in Babylon would continue to shape medieval Judaism as well as modern Jewish thought.

But there is a day coming when YHVH will bring about full restoration to His Jewish people. He will renew our ancient feast days, as prophesied in Zechariah 7:1-6 and Zechariah 8:18-19.

YHVH will restore His original calendar, confirming the declaration of Leviticus 23:2: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘YHVH’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations – My appointed times are these…” For, as Paul said, these divine gifts to Jacob and God’s calling on the sons and daughters of Israel “are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

YHVH’s shofar – the sound of warfare

For every Jewish man and woman, boy and girl, the sound of the shofar was associated with shouts of victory in war. The shofar blast was connected to overwhelming joy; it was a reminder to the God of Jacob for Him to remember His prophetic promises and protection over His people Israel.

“And when you go to war in your land against the enemy who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you will be thought of by YHVH your God, and be saved from your enemies. Also on the day of your joy and at your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow your [silver] trumpets over your burnt offerings . . . and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am YHVH your God” (Numbers 10:10).

Every Israelite remembered the destructive power of the trumpets at the walls of Jericho: “So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city” (Joshua 6:20)

The Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly emphasize that the God of Jacob is soon coming to judge the earth and to vanquish Israel’s enemies. The Hebrew prophets call that day ‘The Day of the Lord,’ and it will be announced by the blowing of a shofar: “Blow a shofar in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the Day of YHVH is coming. Surely it is near” (Joel 2:1)

On that day of judgment, YHVH Himself will blow His heavenly shofar of victory in battle, as He empowers Israel’s mighty army to accomplish His awesome task:

“For I will bend Judah as My bow! I will fill the bow with Ephraim, and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. And I will make you like a warrior’s sword. Then YHVH will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. And the Lord YHVH will blow the trumpet, and march in the storm winds of the south” (Zechariah 9:13-14; see also Ezekiel 37:10; Ezekiel 25:14).

The Psalms describe YHVH as a warrior rising above the battlefield with a shofar blast, deafening and defeating His enemies: “God has ascended with a shout, YHVH with the sound of a trumpet” (Psalm 47:5-6)

The shofar’s joyful sound of worship

King David’s worship orchestra incorporated the victory sound of the shofar and the military sound of the silver trumpet as he led the Ark of the Covenant in public parade to the House of YHVH:

“And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of YHVH to its place which he had prepared for it . . . Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives as the singers, with musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, playing to raise sounds of joy . . . Thus all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of YHVH with shouting, and with sound of the shofar, with [silver] trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres” (1 Chronicles 15:3,16,28)

Psalm 98 links the shofar blast to high praise: “Sing praise-songs to YHVH with the lyre – with the lyre and the sound of praise-songs. With [silver] trumpets and the voice of the shofar shout joyfully before the King, YHVH” (Psalm 98:5-6).

The zenith of the Book of Psalms concludes with the blasting praise of the shofar: “Praise Him with the sounding of the shofar” (Psalm 150:3)!

The great rejoicing that Israel entered into every month at the New Moon celebrations, at the Feast of Trumpets and on the first day of the Feast of Sukkot/Tabernacles, is described in all its glory by Asaph in Psalm 81: “Blow the shofar at the New Moon [see Leviticus 23:23-24], at the full moon [the 15^th day of the Hebrew month – see Leviticus 23:33-35], on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 81:3-4).

The sound of the shofar was associated with joy. It was a reminder to the God of Jacob to remember His prophetic promises: “Also on the day of your joy and at your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow your [silver] trumpets . . . and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am YHVH your God” (Numbers 10:10). The trumpet blast was seen as an intercessory act, reminding YHVH of His promises over His Jewish people.

Shofar show good

The word teru’ah (from the Hebrew root ru’a) has a secondary meaning – a powerful shout-out of rejoicing – as used in the following passages:

“Shout to God with a voice of joy!” (Psalms 47:1)
“Shout joyfully to God, all the earth!” (Psalms 66:1)
“Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob!” (Psalms 81:1)
“Shout joyfully to YHVH, all the earth!” (Psalms 100:1)

The Feast of Trumpets is called zichron teru’ah in Leviticus 23:24. This term can be translated as ‘a memorial of trumpeting’ or ‘a memorial by shouting out.’ Teru’ah can refer to a shofar blast (Leviticus 25:9; Hosea 5:8; Psalm 81:3-4), a great shout of joyous praise (2 Samuel 6:15; Ezra 3:11; Job 8:21; Psalm 27:6), or a resounding cymbal clash (Psalm 150:5). The word speaks of explosive and joyous power, and usually refers to an extremely positive sonic event.

The Bible calls our attention to remember that the Feast of Trumpets is a day of shofar blasts, as well as a day of gathering in public prayer where the faithful crowd shouts in unison, giving high praise to the name of YHVH (see Joshua 6:20 where shofar and shouting are both described)

The Bible does not connect the shofar of the Feast of Trumpets to sadness, mourning, or incipient danger. Numbers 10:10 instead refers to it as “the day of your gladness in your appointed convocations.” These celebrations were actually happy occasions of great joy. Psalm 81:1-3 refers to singing aloud, making a joyful shout, raising up a song by striking the tambourine, harp and lyre – and all this on the Feast of Trumpets!

The shofar blast of revival

A major spiritual revival took place during the Feast of Trumpets in Nehemiah’s day.

“And all the people gathered as one person at the public square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Teaching (Hebrew, Torah) of Moses which YHVH had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the Torah before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the public square which was in front of the Water Gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the Book of the Teaching. Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose” (Nehemiah 8:1-4)

Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to YHVH your God; do not mourn or weep!” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the Torah. Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our YHVH. Do not be grieved, for the joy of YHVH is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them (Nehemiah 8:8-12)

The God of Jacob lays it all out for us here: This is not a day for tears or fears. It is not a day to be afraid, to grieve or to mourn. It is a day to eat rich food, to drink sweet-tasting beverages, and to have a huge and joyous celebration. In short, YHVH is calling on His people to have a holy festivity!

In Nehemiah this party follows immediately on the heels of a national revival. The people had just heard the words of Deuteronomy 27-28. They understood that there was a good reason for the punishment of Exile, and they immediately repented of their national rejection of His prophets.

Today that same national call stands before our Jewish people – to realize that our Exile to America, England, France, Argentina, Russia, South Africa etc. – is due to our leaders’ rejection of the message of the Prophets and of Messiah Yeshua (Matthew 23:34-39; Mark 12:1-12). And we as a nation have followed our leaders in their despicable decision. The need of the hour for us is national repentance. The need of the hour is to wake up and realize that our existence in the Exile is like that of a bird in a gilded cage. The God of our Fathers is calling us home – home to Him and home to our homeland!

The shofar blast announces major upcoming prophetic events

The End of the Jewish Exile will be accompanied by a shofar blast:

“It will come about also in that day that a great shofar will be sounded. And those who were perishing in the Land of Ashur and who were scattered in the Land of Egypt will come and worship YHVH in the holy mountain at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:13)

Messiah Yeshua will gather together Israel’s scattered flock from across the face of the whole planet, sending out angels who will blow a great shofar:

- “And He will send forth His angels with a great shofar and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:31).

The resurrection of the dead will be accompanied by the sound of the shofar:

“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 will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52; the Greek equivalent word for shofar/trumpet used here is σάλπιγξ - salpigx).

The return of Messiah Yeshua to Israel will be signaled by a shofar blast:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).