The Forgotten Feasts: Rosh HaShanah

Relevant Scripture: Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6; Psalms 47; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 81; Isaiah 4:3; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 25:31-46; Philippians 2:12; 1 Thes 4:17; 2 Thes 2:6-7; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27, 22:19

Let’s get right into this one since this Feast actually happened a couple days ago!

Rosh HaShanah – First of all I guess we should say that this Feast isn’t really called Rosh HaShanah in the Bible. The first time we’re told about this Feast (Leviticus 23:23-25) it is referred to as a “memorial of blowing of trumpets”. For this reason it was traditionally referred to as Yom Teruah, or Feast of Trumpets. That word Teruah (H8643 – תּרוּעה) means “alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy” (from the BDB). It’s usually applied to a trumpet but, as you can see from the definition, it could just be a sound coming from your mouth. Think Jericho.  The reason it’s commonly called Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) is because the Israelite civil year starts on this day.

I guess now would be a good time to briefly explain that there are multiple ‘years’ in a Biblical mindset. At first this may seem a little confusing but if we allow ourselves to take a step back when we think it over it’s really not all that out of the ordinary. We have the year that we normally think of (January through December) but many of us work places which have a ‘fiscal year’ which differs from the normal year. We also have a ‘school year’. For most this begins in late August or early September and it doesn’t start again until the next August or September. The Hebrew calendar acts very similarly. The religious year starts in the spring. In the month called Nisan (this is the month that Passover takes place during). The civil year starts on Rosh HaShanah, and this is where they would reason the length of the reigns of kings, and this is also the beginning of the year for agriculture. It is during the fall that the “early rains” fall, and it is during the spring that the “latter rains” fall. You may have read in the Bible about the early rains and the latter rains. When I first read about them, and looked into them, it was weird to me that the latter rains were earlier in the year than the early rains. Understanding that there were different calendars really helped out with my overall understanding of that whole rain thing. I don’t want to take up too much space going over how the year works so I hope that this was helpful in understanding the basics of it.

I should mention that there are some out there who say that the Jews started keeping Rosh HaShanah as the beginning of the new year when they were in captivity in Babylon because that is when the Babylonians held their new year’s festival (Akitu) and they wanted to continue celebrating Akitu when they returned to Jerusalem. While I understand the want to be critical of traditions which aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, the Akitu claim doesn’t really hold much water. It turns out that in Babylon Akitu was actually celebrated in the spring. I’m certainly willing to listen to arguments on this one but, at this point, most historical documents would point to a spring Akitu celebration. I'll post a teaching at the bottom which does a good job of going into this (and is just an amazing overall teaching on Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah).

Ok, let’s look at the some of the prophetic implications of this Feast. This Feast is historically known as the Feast that no man knows the day or the hour when it will occur. That probably deserves some explaining. Yom Teruah is the one Feast which is on the first day of a month. The Hebrew calendar was a lunar calendar which begin when the first sliver of the moon was sighted. Admittedly, there are those who would argue when the month begins (whether it’s the siting of the first sliver of the moon, or when the moon is in full conjunction and you can’t see it), but Yom Teruah begins when the first sliver of the moon is spotted. When a person would spot that first sliver they would run to the Temple and tell a priest. But this wasn’t good enough. There needed to be Two Witnesses in order for the moon to be officially sighted. So when the second person reported the sighting of the moon, the High Priest would officially declare the Feast was at hand. One of the problems here is that it could be a cloudy night, or the moon could come out from behind the shadow of the earth after it had already set. Because of this, there was no way that anyone could accurately predict which day the moon would be sighted. For this reason it is traditionally known as the Feast that “no man knows the day or the hour”. So when Jesus says of His return in Matthew 24:36, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only,” those who he was speaking to would’ve known exactly what He was talking about. Since most of us don’t really pay much attention to the Feasts of the LORD we miss the context of this verse and we build up ‘doctrines’ saying that Jesus could return at any moment. Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts, in order during His first coming; what are the chances He’s not going follow this pattern during His second coming for the Fall Feasts? And then, if we have a little bit of understanding about the Feasts, He called out that Feast as the specific time that He would return.

Talk about prophetic implications! Want more evidence? Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and wit the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” This is one of the most key “rapture passages”. The Hebrew word for ‘shout’ is “teruah” (you know, like ‘Yom Teruah’) and we’re told that shout will be the trumpet of God.

I guess I should make a qualification that I don’t think that we need to start date setting. I just think that, when it does happen, it’s going to be on a Feast of Trumpets. Date setting is ridiculous and dangerous. It not only confuses what prophecy is supposed to be for (a sign for us to be able to look back and see that God is in control) but it also humiliates the Body of Christ at large by making Him look foolish.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s get back to talking about Yom Teruah!

This Feast is probably given the least amount guidance on what you’re supposed to do to celebrate it. The only things really said is that you’re supposed to hear the blast of the shofar (or trumpet), you’re not supposed to work, and there are some sacrifices listed in the book of Numbers (interesting sidenote: these sacrifices are not for sin and it should be reasoned that not every animal sacrifice was meant to atone for sins). Traditionally in Jewish synagogue services the shofar is sounded 100 times as congregants dress all in white waiting for the last trumpet blast. In the Jewish prayer book (Machzor) for Rosh Hashanah you will sometimes find the following sentence, “May it be Your will that the sounding of the shofar, which we have done, will be embroidered in the veil by the appointed angel, as You accepted it by Elijah, of blessed memory and by Yeshua, the Prince of the Face (Face of Hashem) (Prince of God’s Presence) and the one who sits on God’s throne.” For those of you who don’t know, the name ‘Yeshua’ is the Hebrew name that Jesus would’ve actually been called when He walked the earth. Now, the more recent Machzor’s which are being printed no longer have this sentence in the prayers to the Father, but the older the version that you’re looking at is, the more likely it is to have this reference. Yeshua is considered to be the High Priest in the heavenly temple. I assure you, the Jewish leaders didn’t put that in there just to make the Christians happy.

Another thing that Rosh HaShanah is is a call to repentance. We’ll go into this more in depth for the next Holy Day, but Rosh HaShanah is the first day of what is traditionally considered the Ten Days of Awe. The Days of Awe lead up to our next Feast (Yom Kippur) and the whole time is spent reflecting on our sin and discovering any sin which we may have hidden away. This is the culmination of a bigger time of repentance which starts an entire month earlier. During the month of Elul (the month which comes directly before this seventh month (Tishri)) the tradition is to start the repenting of unconfessed sin. As stated previously, this all culminates in the final ten days leading up to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). In the next post we’ll go more into this but, as Rosh HaShanah is a part of this overall time of repentance, I wanted to at least mention it here. It’s really difficult to separate these two Festivals but to try to not confuse too much I’m doing my best to give the basics here.

So why is Rosh HaShanah (and the 39 days surrounding it) considered a time of repentance? Because the tradition is that this is the time of Judgement. As this is the beginning of the civil year, this is the time that God looks upon His people and judges whether, or not, they should be put into the Book of Life. The Book of Life isn’t a concept which began with Christianity. The book of Revelation has many elusions to the Book of Life but there are quite a few references in the Old Testament as well. Let’s look at just a few.

-          Exodus 32:31-33: Moses acknowledges the grave sin the people have made against God but Moses asks God to forgive their sin or to blot out Moses from His book as well. The LORD responded by saying, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blog him out of My book.” So God definitely has a book that has in it the names of those who are not sinning against Him.

-          Another way that this concept is referenced in the Bible is to mention those who are found among the living. In Isaiah 4:3 we read, “And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy – everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.” If we read the verse before (Isaiah 4:2) we see that “the Branch of the LORD” is in view. This is reference to when the Messiah comes and rules on this earth. If you read Is 4:3 with your eyes toward the New Testament you might notice the similarity in a phrase here to what is considered one of the most clear ‘rapture’ passages (also referenced earlier in conjunction with this Holy Day). We have to remember that Paul was schooled in the Old Testament. In order to learn from the teacher he was learning under he would’ve had to memorize the entire Old Testament. So, when he says in 1 Thes 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together…” we should be able to see that he was referencing what is written in Isaiah when it says, “he who is left in Zion and remains…”.

-          In Psalm 69:28 we read, “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.” It should be noted not only that this is a reference to the Book of Life, but that this is something that you can be blotted out of. I’ll leave it to you to decide what this means but I will call back to something Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12 when he encouraged the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

-          In Daniel 12:1 we read about the angel Michael, who is the restraining force keeping at bay the evil forces which would come against, standing up and ceasing his restraining (2 Thes 2:6-7). We read that though there will be trouble like there has never been, “Every one who is found written in the book” will be delivered.

There are more references but I think we’ve shown that this isn’t really a New Testament concept, but a concept which the New Testament is calling back to. Rosh HaShanah is the day we celebrate the coronation of our King and Judge and we know that He will judge us righteously based on what we’ve done to the least of those on this earth. In fact, one of the other names Rosh HaShanah is known by is Yom HaDin (the Day of Judgement) because it is on that day that it will be judged whether you should be inscribed on the Book of Life. As Christians we know that the Judge of the Earth is Jesus our Messiah (Matt 25:31-46).

Rosh HaShanah is a very ‘Christian’ festival and I would argue that it should be celebrated by every follow of Jesus. I did my best to keep it holy this year and hopefully, if you didn’t, you’ll consider it next year. It really is all about our Messiah and King!

Next time we’ll be looking at what is considered the most holy day of the year, Yom Kippur. Hopefully I’ll have that one out before the actual day so you’ll have some information before we enter into that day. Remember, over the coming week to reflect each day on what sin might be in your life, and look for ways to turn away from that sin. These are part of the Days of Awe (we’ll go over that next time…) 😉

Shalom! And, blessings to all!

Posted below is a great teaching on all of this that I had referenced earlier: