1 On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, 2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
Numbers 29:1-6
24 Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.
Leviticus 23:23-25
Rosh Hashanah (literally in Hebrew, “the beginning of the year”) is the Jewish holiday originally called the Feast of Trumpets (for obvious reasons). It is celebrated on the first day of the seventh month (Tishri) of the Jewish calendar. That day is today! The seventh month is the climactic, most sacred and festive month in the Jewish calendar. As the first day of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah heralds a renewed life with God.
The purpose of Rosh Hashanah is to present Israel before the Lord for His favor, and it is commemorated with trumpet blasts and sacrifices. This day marks the beginning of ten days of reflection and repentance, culminating in what is arguably the most important day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement. During those ten days, the people of God were called to remember the great deeds of the Lord, beginning with creation, and deliverance from Egypt, and the provision of the Law, and many, many other miracles and great works. They were also called to “remember”, i.e. contemplate, the mighty work(s) that the Lord is doing right now, and give them hope for the future. To remember is to live; to forget is to die.
The martial trumpet blasts are a reminder that God Himself is their King, Commander, and Deliverer, leading his people, protecting them, guaranteeing their victory in the end.
Historically (originally) no one was supposed to work on Rosh Hashanah. It was to be a day of rest — another day in a long list of days of rest in the Jewish calendar. Personally, I’d love to take the day off today. However, the reality is that all of those days of rest (including this one) are simply signs pointing us to our true rest in Jesus Christ. Jesus said:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30.
Important note: One day — we don’t know when, but we know it is certain — another trumpet will blow, marking the return of Jesus Christ, and the beginning of an entirely new age.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:16-17
On that day, every person who is living and has ever lived will be presented before the Lord for judgment — the righteous for eternal life and blessing, but the unrighteous for eternal death and wrath. Are you ready for that trumpet?
