The Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets is the first of the fall feast which occurs on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri. In modern times, it is called Rosh Hashanah, which means literally "Head of the Year" because it begins the civil year in contrast to the religious year which starts at Passover time. However, the Bible refers to it only as the Feast of Trumpets.

All of the Fall feasts occur in the seventh month of Tishri. Trumpets is unique in that it is the only feast to occur on the first of a month. It occurs on a new moon, when the moon is just visible as a thin crescent. It is often referred to as Israel's dark day. Zephaniah called it a day of darkness, wrath, and devastation. (Zeph. 1.14-16). The prophet Joel wrote: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD." (Joel 2.23). The shofar was the trumpet that was blown throughout the land. In ancient Israel the blowing of the shofar was done on basically two occasions, 1) to call a solemn assembly and 2) a divine call to war.

The feast looks forward to the day when the LORD gets directly involved in the affairs of men, known as "the Day of the LORD." Joel writes, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." (Joel 3.14-16).

This feast foretells the time when the Messiah returns to gather His people and go to war with the wicked, those who have rejected Him. It is the blowing of the trumpet which signals both these events. As Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4, the Lord will descend with the sound of the trumpet to gather His own to Himself; and then as is told in chapter 5, the Day of the Lord begins.

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with  a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first (1st. resurrection). Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (rapture) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4.15-17).

The Greek word used for 'meet' means 'go to meet and escort back'. In other words, we rise to meet Him in the air and then return with Him to battle the wicked. The fact that the next feast, that of the Day of Atonement does not occur until the 10th of Tishri, 9 days later, suggests there is a short time between His coming and the Judgment, when the sheep are separated for the goats, as Jesus taught. (Mt. 25.31-34).