Posted on 09/20/2006 10:14:32 AM PDT by Buggman
As many of you already know, we are entering into the fall High Holy Days, comprised of the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. Just as the spring Feastdays celebrate the First Coming of Messiah Yeshua, and Shavuot (Pentecost) celebrates the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) to the Ekklesia in between the visitations of Yeshua, the Fall Feastdays look forward to His Second Coming—and in particular, the Feast of Trumpets looks forward to His Glorious Appearance in the clouds of heaven!
The day which this year falls on September 23 (beginning at sundown the previous night) is known by many names, but is little understood. The most commonly used today is Rosh Hashanah, the Head of the Year or New Year, and is regarded as the start of the Jewish civil calendar. (The religious calendar begins on the first of Nisan, fourteen days before Passover, in accordance with Exo. 12:2.) For this reasons, Jews will greet each other with the phrase, “L’shana tova u-metukah,” “May you have a good and sweet new year” or simply “Shanah tova,” “A good year.” In anticipation of this sweet new year, it is customary to eat a sweet fruit, like an apple or carrot dipped in honey.
The Talmud records the belief that “In the month of Tishri, the world was created” (Rosh Hashanah 10b), and its probably due to this belief that it became known as the Jewish New Year. The belief that the world was created on Rosh Hashanah came out of an anagram: The letters of the first word in the Bible, “In the beginning . . .” (B’resheit) can be rearranged to say, “1 Tishri” (Aleph b’Tishri). Perhaps because so little is directly said in Scripture about this day—unlike all of the other Feastdays, there is no historical precedent given to explain why Rosh Hashanah should be celebrated—the rabbis also speculated that Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samuel were all born on this day.
However, that’s not it’s Biblical name, which is Yom Teruah, the Day of the [Trumpet] Blast:
And YHVH spake unto Moses, saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing (Heb. zikrown teruah) [of trumpets], an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHVH.’” (Lev. 23:23-25)In each of these passages, I’ve placed “trumpets” in brackets because it’s not actually in the Hebrew text; however, teruah can and usually does mean to sound the trumpet (though it can mean to shout with a voice as well) and the use of a trumpet on this day is considered so axiomatic that there is literally no debate in Jewish tradition on the matter. Specifically, the trumpet used is the shofar. The shofar is traditionally always made from the horn of a ram, in honor of the ram that God substituted for Isaac, and never from a bull’s horn, in memory of the sin of the golden calf.And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing (teruah) [the trumpets] unto you. (Num. 29:1)
The shofar first appears in Scripture as heralding the visible appearance of God coming down on Mt. Sinai to meet with His people (Ex. 19:16-19). It is also linked with His Coming in Zec. 9:14 and with Him going up (making aliyah) to Jerusalem in Psa. 47:5. Small wonder then that Yeshua said He would Come again with the sound of a trumpet, a shofar, in Mat. 24:31, which is echoed by Sha’ul (Paul) in 1 Th. 4:16 and 1 Co. 15:52. Indeed, many commentators have recognized that by “the last trump,” Sha’ul was referring to the final shofar blast, called the Tekia HaGadol, of the Feast of Trumpets.
This visitation by YHVH is closely associated with the second of this Feastdays names: Yom Zikkroun, the Day of Remembrance. This is not primarily meant to be a day when the people remember God, but when God remembers His people—not that He has forgotten them, but in which He fulfills His promises to them by Coming to them. In Isa. 27:13, it is the instrument used to call God’s people Israel back to the Land. In Psalm 27, which is traditionally read in the month leading up to Yom Teruah, we see the Psalmist looking forward to God rescuing him from his enemies:
Among the rabbis, the shofar is often associated with the Coming of the Messiah and the Resurrection of the Dead as well. “According to the Alphabet Midrash of Rabbi Akiva, seven shofars announce successive steps of the resurrection process, with Zechariah 9:14 quoted as a proof text: ‘And Adonai the Lord will blow the shofar’” (Stern, David H., Jewish New Testament Commentary, 489f). “And it is the shofar that the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to blow when the Son of David, our righteous one, will reveal himself, as it is said, ‘And the Lord GOD will blow the shofar’” (Tanna debe Eliyahu Zutta XXII). It’s interesting that the rabbis, without the benefit of the New Covenant writings, have come to the same conclusions as the Apostles: That YHVH would visit His people in the person of the Messiah and raise the dead on Yom Teruah (also in the Bablyonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16b). On Yom Teruah, the shofar not only rouses the people from their complacency, but the very dead from their graves. (See Job 19:25-27, Isa. 26:19, and Dan. 12:2 for the Tanakh’s primary passages on the Resurrection.)Though an host should encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear:
Though war should rise against me,
In this will I be confident . . .For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion:
In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me;
He shall set me up upon a rock. . .
The shofar is an instrument that is very much associated with war (Jdg. 3:27, 2 Sa. 20:1, Neh. 4:18-22, Ezk. 33:3-6). It was used to destroy the walls of Jericho (Jdg. 6:20). In Joel 2:1, it sounds the start of the Day of the Lord, the time in which God will make war on His enemies: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the Day of YHVH cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (cf. v. 15). This again matches perfectly with the NT, where Sha’ul describes the Lord’s coming with a trumpet immediately preceding the Day of the Lord (1 Th. 4:16, 5:2).
This brings us to the next name for this Feastday, Yom HaDin, Judgment Day. Not only did the shofar sound the call for war, but also the coronation of kings (2 Sa. 15:10; 1 Ki. 1:34, 29; 2 Ki. 9:13, 11:12-14). Therefore, the rabbis have always associated this day with God’s sovereign Kingship over all mankind: “On Rosh Hashanah all human beings pass before Him as troops, as it is said, ‘The LORD looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; He considereth all their works’” (Rosh Hashanah 6b, quoting Psa. 53:13-15). To remember God’s Kingship, it is traditional to eat round objects to remind us of God’s crown (oriental crowns being shaped as skullcaps instead of circlets). For example, challah is made to be round instead of braided as it normally is.
Because this day is associated with God’s judgment, it is also considered a time of repentance (t’shuva) in preparation for Yom Kippur. The Casting (Tashlikh) Ceremony, in which observant Jews gather together at the shores of oceans, lakes, and rivers and cast in stones and/or crumbs of bread to symbolize “casting off” their sins, is performed on this day to a prayer comprised of Mic. 7:18-20, Psa. 118:5-9, Psa. 33 and 130, and often finishing with Isa. 11:9.
The Talmud (ibid.) goes on to say that on this day, all mankind is divided into three types of people. The wholly righteous were immediately written in the Book of Life (Exo. 32:33, Psa. 69:28) for another year. The wholly wicked were blotted out of the Book of Life, condemned to die in the coming year. Those in between, if they truly repented before the end of Yom Kippur, could likewise be scribed in the Book of Life for another year. For this reason, a common greeting at this time is “L’shana tova tikatevu,” which means, “May you be inscribed [in the Book of Life] for a good new year.”He will turn again,
He will have compassion upon us;
He will subdue our iniquities;
And Thou wilt cast all their sins
Into the depths of the sea.
(Mic. 7:19)
The Bible, of course, is clear that one is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (cf. Php. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, and 21:27) not by one’s own righteousness, but by receiving the Messiah’s righteousness by faith, trusting in Him, and that there is no in-between; one either trusts God or one doesn’t. Nevertheless, a great eschatological truth is preserved for us in this rabbinical tradition. At the time of Yeshua’s Second Coming, all mankind will be divided into three groups. Those who have already trusted in the Messiah will be Resurrected and Raptured to be with Him immediately upon His Coming on the clouds of the sky. Those who have taken the mark of the Beast and have chosen to remain with the Wicked One will be slated to die in the Day of the Lord, which for reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay to address, I believe will last for about a year.
However, there will also be a third group, who neither had believed in the Messiah until they saw Him Coming on the clouds but who also had not taken the mark of the Beast. Many of these will be Jews, who will mourn at His coming and so have a fount of forgiveness opened to them (Rev. 1:7, Zec. 12:10-13:2)—most prominently, the 144,000 of Rev. 7 and 14. Others will be Gentiles who will be shown mercy because they showed mercy to the children of God (Mat. 25:31ff). These are given the opportunity to repent during the period between the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonment, called the Days of Awe—a reference, I believe, to the Day of the Lord.
Finally, this day is known as Yom HaKeseh, the Hidden Day. It was a day that could not be calculated, only looked for. Ancient Israel kept its calendar simply by observing the phases of the moon. If a day were overcast, it might cause a delay in the observance of the beginning of the month, the new moon (Rosh Chodesh), the first tiny crescent of light. Every other Feast was at least a few days after the beginning of the month so that it could be calculated and prepared for in advance. For example, after the new moon that marked the beginning of the month of Nisan, the observant Jew knew that he had fourteen days to prepare for the Passover.
Not so Yom HaKeseh. In the absence of reliable astronomical charts and calculations (which were made only centuries after God commanded the Feasts to be observed), the Feast of Trumpets could be anticipated, estimated to be arriving soon, but until two or more witnesses reported the first breaking of the moon’s light after the darkest time of the month, no one knew “the day or hour.” Therefore, it was a tradition not to sleep on Rosh Hashanah, but to remain awake and alert, a tradition alluded to by Sha’ul: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Th. 5:4-6).
Because of the difficulty of alerting the Jews in the Diaspora when the Sanhedron had decreed the start of the Feast to be, it became traditional to celebrate the first and second day of Tishri together as Yoma Arikhta, “One Long Day.” Is this meant to remind us, perhaps, of when another Y’hoshua (Yeshua) won against his enemies because God cast down great hailstones (like the hailstones of Rev. 16:21) and called upon the Sun to stand still so that they would not escape (Jos. 10:10ff)?
Yom Teruah is a day which ultimately calls all of God’s people together in repentance in anticipation of the glorious Second Coming, in which He will once again visit His people in the Person of the Messiah Yeshua to Resurrect the dead, awaken the living, and judge all mankind together.
Shalom, and Maranatha!
I do a lot of research and study on the sabbath Friday night so I would appreciate a posting. I won't have much chance of responding after tonight though...we're leaving for tabernacles Wednesday. I might have a little time on atonement, but computer time will be at a premium with feast prep and all.
b'shem Yah'shua Please do it now to allow for a time of reflection as we approach the Holiest Day.
Please post it as I am still learning and would appreciate the commentary from my other FRiends.
Please show the scripture that called for mankind to observe a sabbath before Moses gave it to the Israelites.
"The Day of the Lord" is not the same as "The Lord's Day". The Day of the Lord is concerning judgment and will be no sabbath, just the opposite.
I think that most would appreciate an early posting...judging from the previous comments. I would agree...and in addition, want to thank you for all your efforts. I always learn from you and look forward to your postings.
Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Why is the Sabbath such a problem for you? The only reason to have a new Sabbath is if you wish to worship a new god.
The second reference is Mosaic law and the Israelites were under the Law, which Christians are not.
The sabbath "is not a problem for me" as as a Christian I worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. I also worship God on Monday and Tuesday and I also worship God on Wednesday. I also worship God on Thursday, on Friday and on Saturday. Where two or three are gathered together in His name is also worship and so sometimes I'm worshipping several times a day. Not being under the Law, I really don't think about it.
As for Sunday, the Lord's day, that is a public worship and more of a testimonial to our faith than worship. That's why unbelievers go to church-- to be seen. However, it is also an appearing before the Lord, and good to do.
I don't know how you jump from our posts here to the conclusion I want to worship "another god".
This is really getting tiring. Everyone with any sense about them realizes that there has been a change of the law from the old covenant to the new covenant. Unless you insist on sacrificing animals and taking you medical conditions to a Levite and following all the old covenant ceremonial laws without any changes, then suggesting that those of use who see a change of the sabbath from the last day of the week to the first are "worshipping a new god" is just plain silly.
Certain portions of the law were a "shadow" of the finished work of Christ (Heb. 10:1). You do not need to worship in the shadows when the "Light of the World" has made His appearance.
The fact of the matter is that the seventh day under the old covenant was a sabbath day. But Jesus Christ, being the Lord the Sabbath, had the prerogative to change the day of the sabbath from the last day to the first day.
Those of us you are Christian sabbatarians believe He did precisely that, by the examples of His resurrection on the first day, His pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the first day, and the example of Paul and others in the church who worshipped on the first day. {For old covenant sabbatarians, the painful fact remains that nowhere in the NT do we find the Jewish/gentile church worshipping on the last day sabbath of the Jews.)
So let's at least be honest and admit this has nothing to do with worshipping other gods, unless you really do intend to circumcise your children and get a rabbi's OK to cut your hair.
Wait, all I see in that passage are Jewish-oriented time indicators stating that the Lord's holy worship will be eternal, from week to week and month to month.
It says nothing about celebrating the peculiar old covenant forms from week to week and month to month.
You're reading far more into the passage then what is there. It's called eisegesis.
Which is precisely why one should keep the 4th Commandment.
Never was it commanded for man to observe a sabbath before Moses.
There was no command not to murder prior to Cain and Able either, yet it was wrong, no? In fact, no laws were mentioned prior to Exodus, yet this verse remains:
Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
In fact, God would prefer man to be more like Abraham and do God's will out of love, not fear.
Peronally, I believe this is the point of it all. I could not agree with you more.
The second reference is Mosaic law and the Israelites were under the Law, which Christians are not.
This statement leads me to believe you don't read any of the postings other than TopCat54's.
The sabbath "is not a problem for me" as as a Christian I worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's Day. I also worship God on Monday and Tuesday and I also worship God on Wednesday. I also worship God on Thursday, on Friday and on Saturday. Where two or three are gathered together in His name is also worship and so sometimes I'm worshipping several times a day. Not being under the Law, I really don't think about it.
This is the disconnect in a nutshell. The Christian God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Elijah, Daniel, Jesus, Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, etc. The Bible declares only ONE day in 7 to be Holy.
I don't know how you jump from our posts here to the conclusion I want to worship "another god".
I accused you of nothing. I simply stated fact. From Genesis to Revelation, there is only 1 Day to be kept (weekly) in honor of the True God of Creation. Of course, worshipping God 24X7 is righteous and just, but to purposely break a Commandment, and to teach others to do so, is incredibly dangerous, IMO.
Do you worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The fact of the matter is that the seventh day under the old covenant was a sabbath day. But Jesus Christ, being the Lord the Sabbath, had the prerogative to change the day of the sabbath from the last day to the first day.
Well, yes, and no. Jesus, being the author of the Law, could very well have changed it. However, HE NEVER DID! In fact, as I have already shown you, had he or any of the apostles said any of the nonesense that you are, they would have been stoned as heretics using the standards I showed you in Deuteronomy. The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to speak against the Law so they could kill Him. He didn't do it. Get over it.
The Bible does not say that Jesus was resurrected on the First Day of the week. The Bible says that the tomb was discovered early on the first day of the week.
The only Christians who can honestly worship on the first day are the Catholics who believe that their Church has the power to change times and law.
Bigoted nonetheless.
As Jesus said, "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'"
This is supposed to resonate with those whom believe a human who possesses or possessed deity is a fraudulent concept?
The good news is that any Jew can have his eyes opened and his ears unstopped and recognize Jesus Christ as the Great Prophet and King of Israel and Ruler of the nations.
Better news is that since their is no need for eyes to be opened and ears to be unplugged there's no need to heed advice from the haughty.
So, tell us all plainly, do you sacrifice animals in your worship before the Lord, or do you encourage Jewish believer to sacrifice animals before the Lord?
Do you bring your grain offering to the local priest (Lev. 2:1)?
Do you bring your tresspass offering to the local priest (Lev. 5:6)?
Do you avoid temple worship when you have a "discharge" (Lev. 15:2)?
Do you get your tonsorial fashions approved by a priest or rabbi?
Do you have your sons circumcised by a rabbi?
Do your women bring a purification offering to the priest after bearing a child (Lev. 12:6)?
Do you bring your skin ailments to the priest for adjudication (Lev. 13:4)?
Do you bring cases of adultery to a preist to be tried by "bitter water" (Num. 5:19)?
Now, wht were you saying about "breaking the commandments"?
Oh, so it's OK to be selective? Double standard. Hypocricy come to mind.
Well, yes, and no. Jesus, being the author of the Law, could very well have changed it. However, HE NEVER DID!
That's your theory.
The NT evidence seems clear to most Christians that He did.
Well I'd just assumeed you thought they must be if they're not privy to all the enlightenment you have about all of their own traditions. Sorry, I should have just assumed they are blinded and deaf as topcat believes. That sounds better.
"There is none so blind as those who will not see."
"And the disciples came and said to Him, 'Why do You speak to them in parables?' [Jesus] answered and said to them, 'Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.' "
How many time you going to tell me I'm blind and deaf?
I get it. Now demonstrate some of that Christian love if you're capable. From what I read in your posts you're stuggling with it.
strugglin
Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Amen. God is not capricious. The sabbath day was changed from the end of the week to the beginning of the week for a very good reason. A new heart; a new covenant; a new life; a new time.
Part of this blindness is our fault; centuries of persecution have a way of making a person reject another's truth-claim out of hand.
I don't believe this blind-spot means the Jews are always wrong regarding their interpretation of the Tanakh, and I do in fact believe that the rabbis have uncovered many truths that we've overlooked. That's why I like to read them. But tell me, if the Jewish people are pure and have an unblemished record in understanding their own Scriptures, why was Isaiah 53 universally attributed by the rabbis to the Messiah until the Middle Ages, when suddenly they changed the interpretation to make it less Christian? (And if you don't believe me on that one, go do some homework and see if you can disprove that from a primary source.)
Both sides are guilty of missing the point, more often than not. Both sides have spent centuries defining themselves by what the other is not rather than what is written in Scripture. Both sides have been guilty of annuling the Word of God by their human traditions. And in case you hadn't noticed, I go after my Christian brothers far more often than I do my Jewish ones--because I believe in cleaning one's own house up before condemning another's.
With all respect, I think the real thing which bothers you is that you personally abandoned Yeshua for the teachings of the rabbis, and it makes you uncomfortable to see Him in the Torah and the oldest traditions of the Jewish people.
Your argument by outrage rings hollow, because there is no substance to it. If there is something specific which I have written that is incorrect--for example, if you thought me incorrect that the Talmud predicts the coming of the Messiah on Rosh Hashanah--then you are welcome to point that out and present your counter-argument and evidence. But simply saying that I'm wrong because you don't personally like my conclusions or going the, "How dare you say the Jews are wrong about anything!" route proves nothing and does not further the discussion in any way.
And finally, you're playing the hypocrite. You run around calling Christianity a Mithraic cult, but get all offended if someone offers the least criticism of modern Judaism. Don't dish out what you can't take.
I like you, Invinc, I really do. I consider you a brother, though I know you don't feel the same about me. And I've appreciated your jumping in on my side of a number of threads. And I also appreciate your sensitivity on Jewish issues--God knows that the Jews historically have enough reasons to be suspcious of Christians. But getting offended at someone who is showing why Jews who happen to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah should stay Jews and why the Gentiles should rejoice in the Torah instead of despising it is just plain silly, and amounts to cutting off your nose to spite your face.
L'shanah tova tikatevu.
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