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!
And the reality of Israel being a nation again, using Hebrew as Scriptures predicted amidst a host of other specifics about the end times in the same era . . .
THOSE REALITIES ARE IMPRESSIVE . . .
to those with ears to hear and eyes to see.
". . . why don't you. . . "
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No need to get into that bag of worms! LOL
AND, the person who has had an EXPERIENCE with THE LIVING GOD is never at the mercy of someone who merely has an argument.
Among the rabbis, the shofar is often associated with the Coming of the Messiah and the Resurrection of the Dead as well.
Quite frankly, what do we as Christians have to learn from Christ-rejecting rabbis? Their entire religion is rooted in the Talmud, a re-apprasial of the Old Testament done in the wake of Christianity.
Hmm . . . good question. I guess we should also toss out the histories of Josephus, since he was one of those Christ-rejecting rabbis. And the annals of Tacitus, since he was a Christ-rejecting pagan. Whoops, there goes almost all of ancient history.
The Talmud is a collection of legal codes (the Mishneh) and debates among the rabbis (the Gemara). It preserves a lot of cultural context, Jewish idioms, and traditions which actually go back to the first century and can give new insight to the NT. When you read a work such as Alfred Edersheim's The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, where do you think he's getting his information from? The Talmud and other rabbinical sources. He's hardly the only Christian commentator to make careful use of rabbinic tradition either: I submit to you the commentaries of Keil & Delitzsch; Jonathan Lightfoot; Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown; David H. Stern and a host of others. I daresay that you'd be shocked at how many of your commentaries you'd have to throw out if you were truly zealous about rejecting all rabbinical material.
Obviously, the Talmud and other rabbinical sorces cannot be taken as sacred writ--but they do provide useful insight when studied carefully, especially the earlier traditions. The later traditions get pretty superstitious--but then, so do the medieval traditions of the Church, so we're certainly in no position to complain.
I use rabbinical tradition as a historical resource--and when studying God's Appointed Times, it's a vitally necessary resource, for the Church's only commentaries on the Feasts are either dependant on Jewish sources or do nothing more than come up with half-baked arguments not to observe them. If we paid no heed to rabbinic tradition, we would not know, for example, about the afikomen in the Passover dinner, one of the clearest symbols of the Messiah Yeshua to be found anywhere.
Moreover, I become particularly interested when the rabbis and the Apostles are in complete agreement on a matter. Why do you find it objectionable that I point out that the rabbis universally agree with Sha'ul that the Resurrection will occur at the sound of a shofar on the Feast of Trumpets?
Indeed, why do you find it objectionable to use Jewish resources to learn more about the culture, practices, and words of a Jewish Messiah?
I'm not an uneducated man, but I had to guess the name used referred to Jesus from context, when I first encounted it (relatively recently).
You can use any name you like. I am puzzled as to why you would use a comparatively obscure name instead of the one known instantly by most people, since the language used is the one aimed at just those people.
If the former, sorry, but that's not changing. I've already explained to you why I prefer Yeshua to Jesus, and I don't understand why you don't understand my preference in this matter.
No moral equivalency here.
It was not the expressed intention of Josephus to deny the reality of the coming of Israel's Christos in the person of Iesous of Nazareth.
The rabbis, in their Talmud and other writing, have done that very things. They have so perverted the word of God by masking the reality of Iesous as He is found there.
As Alfred Edersheim wrote, "He who has thirsted and quenched his thirst at the living fount of Christ's Teaching, can never again stoop to seek drink at the broken cisterns of Rabbinism." (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah)
Because the "respect" is misplaced and without warrant from the Word of God. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to keep Jesus "original Aramaic" name out of respect. If that were the case the God would have been more circumspect in actually recording the Aramaic form of that name for us in His infallible Word.
He did not. As you have admitted there is dispute about the original spelling. Not one with the authority of "thus saith the Lord" can tell us for sure.
This reminds me of the Roman Catholic doctrine of works of supererogation. In this case it is a form of "holiness" beyond what God asks for in His word. Jesus attacked the false pietists of His day.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
In any case, what then of rabbis like Hillel and Shimmei and Simeon the Just, who died before Yeshua's ministry? Should they be tarred with the same brush as those who in far latter centuries wrote bitter recriminations against a "Jesus" whose followers were persecuting them? What about Gamaliel, the teacher of Sha'ul, who spoke on behalf of the Apostles Kefa (Peter) and Yochanan (John)? What about Nachdimon ben Gurion, who is most likely the Biblical Nicodemus? Should we reject both of them as well? What about the Mishneh, which was compiled in the second century, but which contains material from much, much earlier? Should we cast away the insight it gives us into first-century Judean society?
What then do we do with perfectly valid data about what the Feastdays meant to and how they were celebrated by the first century Jews which included Yeshua and all of the Apostles? Well, if we were great fools, so full of our pride that we thought we couldn't possibly learn anything new about a Jewish Messiah through (gasp) Jewish sources, I suppose we might throw the baby out with the bathwater.
For my part, I'll go down the road that many commentators (see my previous post to Jude) have gone down before, and humble myself enough to learn something new once in a while.
I'm cool with utilizing these sources. I'm also alright with using the Mishnah and Talmud for the limited purposes of figuring out what First Century Judaism thought.
I asked my question, admittedly a bit roughly, knowing you'd give a good answer, even if I don't agree with it. You did not disappoint, my friend.
My concern is, however, that reactionary Judaism has little to teach us of any exegetical value. I will stipulate it may have some valuable insights into First Century Judaism, however. To use those insights to exegete the Old Testament, however, is fallacious.
Do you used Josephus and Tacitus for historical background, or exegesis? I see the two as significantly different, if sometimes interrelated.
Indeed, why do you find it objectionable to use Jewish resources to learn more about the culture, practices, and words of a Jewish Messiah?
Perhaps an overreaction towards the speculations using Jewish culture, practices and words to eisegete readings into the text. There's probably a balance to be struck. I sure haven't found it yet.
Nowhere in the Bible are we told to call ourselves by the name of John Calvin either. And you misunderstand the direction of my respect in this instance: I am showing my respect for the Messiah's essential Jewishness by using His Jewish name. And that, of course, is what bugs you.
Not one with the authority of "thus saith the Lord" can tell us for sure.
No, but with the authority of "thus saith the Lord," I can tell you how it wasn't pronounced.
Jesus attacked the false pietists of His day.
He attacked those who in their supposed "piety" went around judging others on the basis of their extra-Biblical traditions. So far, you're the one in the seat of the pharisees here; I've judged no one.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Really? All things? "Think not that I am come to destroy the Torah, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Torah, till all be fulfilled. 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." (Mat. 5:17-19)
So can we expect you to join us in keeping the command of the Torah to observe Yom Teruah this weekend? And will you be joining us on the Biblical Sabbath? No? Then don't get on me about keeping traditions and personal customs that aren't in conflict with all of God's commands.
Praise God! Maranatha, Jesus!
Yet something has been curiously absent from all this media coverage. American journalists aren't asking Ahmadinejad about his Shiite religious beliefs, his fascination with the coming of the Islamic Messiah known as the "Twelfth Imam" or the "Mahdi," his critique of President Bush's faith in Jesus Christ and encouragement of President Bush to convert to Islam, and how such beliefs are driving Iranian foreign policy. Time's cover story and exclusive print interview with Ahmadinejad never broached the subject of his eschatology (end times theology). Nor did Williams. Nor did Wallace. Nor does a just-released book, Confronting Iran, by British Iran expert Ali M. Ansari. Nor does almost any of the saturation coverage Ahmadinejad is receiving.
Journalists aren't typically shy about asking tough, probing questions about the religious views of world leaders. President Bush has been grilled at length about being an evangelical Christian and how this informs his foreign policy, particularly with regards to Israel and the Middle East. Clearly the Pope's views of Christianity and Islam are under fire at present. Why such hesitancy when it comes to the religious beliefs of a country that has called for the Jewish State to be wiped off the planet and who has questioned the historical veracity of the Holocaust?
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To me, the only explanation for the above is that the puppet masters have decreed it of their MSM serfs.
Why would the puppet masters so decree? What is their strategy? What are their goals in doing so?
Are they WANTING the nut job to get nukes and attack the USA? Will that make it easier to scare the world's citizens into the global government? Do they want the nut job to get away with as much as possible as long as possible so that his 'creating chaos and bloodshed' efforts will be maximized?
What what what?
To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it. The hard, cold truth is that America was blindsided on 9/11, by an evil few saw coming. What’s more, those attacks were just the beginning of a long war against the forces of radical Islam. The most important question we face in the post-9/11 world is whether we have learned anything as a result of that terrible Tuesday. Do we truly understand that the forces of evil are preparing to strike us again when we least expect it? Do we truly grasp that the ultimate goal of the jihadists is not to terrorize us but to annihilate us? Are we willing to take any actions necessary to defend Western civilization from extinction? Or are we going to elevate peace over victory, retreat from the world, and simply hope for the best?
Ours is an age of kamikazes and snipers, anthrax and suicide bombers, ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads. While we no longer face Saddam Hussein, now we face a new Iranian regime threatening to wipe the U.S. and Israel off the map, a regime joining forces with three nuclear powers -- Russia, China and North Korea. All of this raises troubling new questions: What is coming next? How bad will it be? Where will I be when it happens? And am I ready to meet my Maker if, God forbid, I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time when evil strikes again?
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What are our beloved alert FREEPER'S PREDICTIONS about the above?
What are the most plausible scenarios?
* Remarkably, more Muslims have turned to faith in Jesus Christ since 9/11/01 than at any other time during human history. Literally millions of Muslims have converted to become followers of Jesus in radical Islamic strongholds such as Iran, Sudan, Iraq and across North Africa. What's more, they are not doing so because they are being forced to by the sword or by guns. They are turning to Christ despite the very real risk of violent persecution and even death by fellow Muslims. It's an amazing, untold story, and one I document in my new non-fiction book, EPICENTER: Why The Current Rumblings In The Middle East Will Change Your Future, which officially releases on Monday, September 18th.
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This too must be a dramatic SIGN OF THE LAST DAYS. One the MSM has evidently been ordered to ignore. My understanding is that most such are converting because of supernatural visitations, visions, dreams wherein THE LIVING CHRIST present Himself, is presented by Holy Spirit. Some famly groups, tribal groups have multiple members having such dreams and visions within the same night or short time period. And, then, many times, particularly in remote areas; the individuals have to seek out someone who can tell them WHO IS THIS "JESUS" fellow? Where is this "Word of God?" How can I study more about Him?
Praise God. Those who earnestly seek HIM, SHALL FIND HIM, as Scripture declares.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Scripture and multiple REALITY confirmations will always win out over pontifical theological assumptions, manglings, twistings, rubber Bibles and the like.
A parable . . .
Once upon an era in a land & time far away . . .
A tribal chieftan married the beautiful elder daughter of a neighboring chieftan.
They lived happily for a couple of decades when there was a war and the wife was captured and taken away captive.
The hubby was racked with grief for months. A visiting magistrate came through on a tour about that time and asserted very emphatically that the first wife had been killed in a fit of rage by her drunken captors.
After a couple of years, the beloved hubby packed his grief away and married the elder daughter of another neighboring chieftan on the opposite side of his tribal lands. They lived happily for 5 years.
Then a slave trader came through. Hubby authorized wife #2 to purchase a new household slave. After getting the new woman home and cleaned up, what a surprise, it was wife #1!
Hubby was beside himself with joy. Wife #2 was shocked and a bit taken aback but loved the hubby so much she decided she'd love what he loved including wife #1.
Both covenants were affirmed and the tribe was enriched happily ever after.
None of which makes it true.
An assertion, of course, which utterly fails to make the above false in any of its theological accuracy and implications.
Nearly half of all senior-citizens believe we are in the last days.
Because, of course, the world is obviously worse than it's ever been since at least the golden age when I was a kid.
An assertion, of course, which utterly fails to make the above false in any of its theological accuracy and implications.
Nearly 6 in 10 young people age 18 to 25 believe we are in the last days.
People aged 18 to 25 have notoriously good judgement, not to mention their broad prespective rooted in deep historical experience.
An assertion, of course, which utterly fails to make the above false in any of its theological accuracy and implications..
75% of African-Americans believe we are in the last days.
George Bush is President, we must be in the final days.
An assertion, of course, which utterly fails to make the above false in any of its theological accuracy and implications.
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