Yom Teruah (The Day of Trumpets)
By: Glenn Kay

Yom Teruah - Basic Ideas and Terminology

This feast is also the first feast after the long summer - it is the first month that marks the beginning of the harvest. The crops have been growing all summer - with no Biblical Feast - now comes Yom Teruah - the first feast which heralds the beginning of the harvest.

This regathering - is not just of the harvest, but as we shall see points to the next great spiritual event in God's timetable - when He returns to gather His elect to Himself

Feast of Trumpets - Day of Blowing

Trumpets played an important role in ancient Israel:

In fact the day of God's gathering of believers to Himself will be marked with the blowing of trumpet - (Mat 24:31; I Thess 4:16-18)

According to Rabbinic teaching the trumpet blowing on Yom Teruah served two purposes:

  1. The trumpet sound served to call to repentance. It was a call to the dead (spiritually) to arise and live again, to wake up from sin to regeneration through repentance - indeed this appears to be the background to John the Immerser's and Yeshua's teaching - Repent the Kingdom of God is at hand, and also Paul's admonition in - Eph 5:14
  2. Secondly - it's purpose was to remind the people of their covenant relationship to the Lord

In fact (Num. 10:9-10) tells us specifically that the purpose of the Day of Trumpets is " a reminder of you before the Lord God." Not a reminder of them, but rather a day to remember God's graciousness

This year at Yom Teruah - many observant Jews, will take time to remember and reflect on their relationship with God. We too need to take time - at least yearly - but more often than that - to look back and take careful inventory of our walk with God - thinking about what He has done for us, and what He desires of us. The trumpets are also a call to repentance - we too need to reflect on our own lack of obedience, failure to serve, and lack of commitment

Yom Ha Din - Day of Judgment

In Judaism New Year is also considered that day when God opens His three books:

Yom Ha Din is seen as a day if new beginnings, of realizing that you are in that third book - and don't want to end up in the second book. So it is seen as a time of getting right with both God and one's fellow man.

Many Jews observe with this the custom of "Tashlich" ,meaning - "Thou hast cast", taken from (Micah 7:19). Jews go to the ocean or some other body of water with stones in their pockets and toss them into the water, pockets are also turned inside out and shaken out - to symbolize how sin is stikey and needs to be shaken - all a symbol of new beginnings. We need from time to time to practice "Tashlich", - to stop where we are and get right with God and our fellow man - to make new starts and fresh beginnings.

Yomin Noraim - Days of Awe

At the time of Yom Teruah - Jews also observe 10 days of repentance During that time they seek to mend fences between enemies, charity is given to the poor, etc. In other words it seek to show the reality of starting anew with tangible deeds. Yomin Noraim - dovetails well with John the Immerser's teachings in (Mat 3:8 and Luke 3:8-14). The idea being - to show the reality of your desire for a deeper walk with God by showing forth deeds of repentance and service.

Prophetic Fulfillment

The teaching of the Rabbis - Pointing to Messiah

Besides the surface teaching of each of the Biblical feasts, they all have a prophetic nature as well:

  1. Passover - Redemption from bondage to sin
  2. Firsfruits - Messiah the first to rise from the dead, promise of resurrection to all who believe
  3. Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) - God's first harvest of those redeemed
  4. Yom Teruah - Trumpets - the beginning of the regathering of Israel to the land in preparation for the final Day of Atonement, and the regathering of God's elect to Himself when He returns. The key idea of Yom Teruah speaks of return, of regathering to the Lord.

The Rabbis believed that (Is 27:12-13 and Jer. 32: 37) was speaking of a future Yom Teruah- Day of Trumpets - when God would again regather His people in the land of Israel - today we see this starting to take place. In Rabbinic teaching this occurs just prior to the coming of Messiah.

Possible scenario in Yeshua's Ministry

Many scholars believe that the bulk of Biblical evidence points to the idea that Messiah's birth took place in the late fall, not winter. If this is true, we can approximate the time when Yeshua started His public ministry Luke notes in (3:23), that Yeshua was about thirty years old, thus placing His baptism and first preaching in the fall of that year.

Consider the parallel themes to Yom Teruah. Would it be surprising that Yeshua took a special immersion in the fall of the year (Mat3:13-17) and that His message at the beginning of His ministry was - "Turn (be regathered) from your sins to God, for the kingdom of Heaven is near!"

Being fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled

Regathering of Israel - as we noted before the Rabbis have long held to the belief of a regathering of God's people Israel in the Land of Israel, prior to the coming of Messiah. Prophecy bears this out - Is 27:12-13; Jer 32:37 Yeshua seems to also have this Yom Teruah theme in mind in (Mat 24:31) In the verses that follow (32-34) He tells us that when we see Israel regathered in the Land to know that the time of His return is near - He goes so far as to say that the generation that sees Israel's regathering will also see His return! A generation in the Bible is about 40 years - Israel became a nation in 1948 and Jerusalem was restored to Israel in 1967. We could be very near

Regathering of God's people to Himself

There is already a regathering of God's people to the land. There yet one prophetic element of Yom Teruah - the Day of Trumpets to be fulfilled - the regathering of God's people to Himself. We read about this yet to be fulfilled event in - I Thess 4:16-18


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