Introduction to Rosh Hashanah
Lev 23:23 The LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' "
the rabbis gave such significance to this special Shabbat that they eventu­ally considered it as the "spiritual" New Year. Hence the name change from Yom Teruah (the Day of Sounding/Festival of Trumpets), To "Rosh HaShanah," the Head of the Year. It is call both.
The purpose of this holy day is summed up in one word regathering. Since the fall holidays call us to regather to a pure faith in God, Rosh HaShanah has come to represent the day of repentance. It is the day when the people of Israel take stock of their spiritual condition and make the necessary changes to insure that the upcoming new year will be pleasing to God.
The rabbis stressed that the forty day period from the first day of Elul through the tenth day of Tishri (Yom Kippur) was to be a time of special spiritual prepara­tion. This was based on the belief that it was on the first of Elul that Moses ascended Mount Sinai in order to receive the second set of Tablets of the Law and that he descended on Yom Kippur (Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer46).
In synagogues the shofar, or [ram's horn,] is sounded daily to alert the faithful that the time of repentance is near. Many Orthodox men take a special water immersion called (tevilah mikveh)to symbolize cleansing of their ways.
In the traditional Jewish home, the evening starts with the festival dinner with many of the customary dishes. Then it is off to synagogue for the evening service. A good part of the next day is also spent in worship.
A tradition, on the afternoon of Rosh HaShanah is spent at a body of water (ocean, lake or stream) observing the ancient service, Tashlich. The word derives from Micah 7:19, "You will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." To illustrate this beautiful truth, people cast sea shell or smooth round rock, or small piece of bread into the water and rejoice in God's promise of forgiveness.
The most noticeable custom is the Shofar, [Rams horn]. It is sounded in the synagogue and was used in the ancient world to hail a king. So, too, at Rosh HaShanah, all Israel is said to appear before the King of Kings in anticipation of personal judgment. Also, often in the Bible the Shofar was sounded to gather the troops together for battle (see Joshua 6). In this case, the Shofar is our ["wake-up call"]; an alarm to call us to our appointed time.
As with all biblical holy days, there is prophetic as well as historical meaning in Rosh HaShanah. in the 8th century C.E. we find the following commentary:
Messiah ben David (son of David), Elijah and Zerubbabel, peace be upon him, will ascend the Mount ofOlives. And Messiah will command Elijah to blow the Shofar. The light of the six days of Creation will return and will be seen, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and God will send full healing to all the sick of Israel. The second blast which Elijah will blow will make the dead rise. They will rise from the dust and each man will recognize his fellow man, and so will husband and wife, father and son, brother and brother. All will come to the Messiah from the four corners of the earth, from east and from west, from north and from south. The Children of Israel will fly on the wings of eagles and come to the Messiah...(Ma'ase Daniel as quoted in Patai, p. 143).
While the historical emphasis of the holy day is repen­tance., the prophetic theme looks for the future day when the full spiritual regathering will occur under the Messiah.
Consider the parallel themes to Rosh HaShanah. Would it be surprising that Yeshua took a special immersion/mikveh in the fall of the year (Matthew 3:13-17)? Is there a relationship to the forty day period of testing by the adversary (Matthew 4:1-11)? And what was the message Yeshua imme­diately started proclaiming after the forty days? "Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
What better time could there have been for the Messiah to start his earthly ministry than the time of the spiritual new year? Elul served as the perfect time of preparation for the greatest spiritual message ever to come to Israel: return to God, Messiah has come!
There is rich prophetic truth associated with this Feast of Trumpets. As it characterizes a time of ingathering and spiritual preparation, afuture fulfillment of Rosh HaShanah is also alluded to. In the future regathering of the believers in Messiah, Rabbi Saul (the apostle Paul) reveals an interesting connection to the holy day:
I Thessalonians 4:16-18
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God's shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise-, then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. So encourage each otherwith these words"
This holy day is a perfect picture of the regathering of believers!. Not surprisingly, the signal of the gathering will be the sound of the shofar. In fact, the reference here is to a particular note sounded at Rosh HaShanah. The word nor­mally translated "shout" in verse sixteen comes from the Hebrew, teruah, better translated in this context as the "alarm" blast of the shofar. Similar references to the shofar as the signal can be found elsewhere in I Corinthians 15:50-58 and Revelation 4:1.the prophet Isaiah wrote:
In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 27:12-13).
That this passage is referring to a latter day regathering of the believing remnant is clear, and we are still waiting for this shofar to fulfill it. Likewise, Messiah Yeshua, when asked about the future of Israel, confirmed this as a latter day promise in his own teaching:
He (the Son of Man) will send out his angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31).
Believers in Yeshua should have a fond appreciation for this rich holy day, Rosh HaShanah! It has served historically as a time of spiritual preparation and repentance, both themes we can learn from. Prophetically, we are reminded of God's promise to regather and restore his chosen people, Israel, in the last day. The sound of the shofar is also a reminder of the blessed hope every messianic believer possesses: we could enter Messiah's presence at any time (Titus 2:13) Rosh Hashanah is the starting point for 10 days of a set time when we are to make things right between one another and between us and G-d. It is a Solemn time that G-d has set before us that will make us deal with problems that we may have with other people Or, with ourselves. It is a day of repentance to turn from our sin and ask for forgiveness so that our name might be written in G-ds book of life. Let us give heed to the sound of the Shofar and all that Rosh Hashanah has to teach.
Lev 23:23 The LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' "
the rabbis gave such significance to this special Shabbat that they eventu­ally considered it as the "spiritual" New Year. Hence the name change from Yom Teruah (the Day of Sounding/Festival of Trumpets), To "Rosh HaShanah," the Head of the Year. It is call both.
The purpose of this holy day is summed up in one word regathering. Since the fall holidays call us to regather to a pure faith in God, Rosh HaShanah has come to represent the day of repentance. It is the day when the people of Israel take stock of their spiritual condition and make the necessary changes to insure that the upcoming new year will be pleasing to God.
The rabbis stressed that the forty day period from the first day of Elul through the tenth day of Tishri (Yom Kippur) was to be a time of special spiritual prepara­tion. This was based on the belief that it was on the first of Elul that Moses ascended Mount Sinai in order to receive the second set of Tablets of the Law and that he descended on Yom Kippur (Pirke DeRabbi Eliezer46).
In synagogues the shofar, or [ram's horn,] is sounded daily to alert the faithful that the time of repentance is near. Many Orthodox men take a special water immersion called (tevilah mikveh)to symbolize cleansing of their ways.
In the traditional Jewish home, the evening starts with the festival dinner with many of the customary dishes. Then it is off to synagogue for the evening service. A good part of the next day is also spent in worship.
A tradition, on the afternoon of Rosh HaShanah is spent at a body of water (ocean, lake or stream) observing the ancient service, Tashlich. The word derives from Micah 7:19, "You will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." To illustrate this beautiful truth, people cast sea shell or smooth round rock, or small piece of bread into the water and rejoice in God's promise of forgiveness.
The most noticeable custom is the Shofar, [Rams horn]. It is sounded in the synagogue and was used in the ancient world to hail a king. So, too, at Rosh HaShanah, all Israel is said to appear before the King of Kings in anticipation of personal judgment. Also, often in the Bible the Shofar was sounded to gather the troops together for battle (see Joshua 6). In this case, the Shofar is our ["wake-up call"]; an alarm to call us to our appointed time.
As with all biblical holy days, there is prophetic as well as historical meaning in Rosh HaShanah. in the 8th century C.E. we find the following commentary:
Messiah ben David (son of David), Elijah and Zerubbabel, peace be upon him, will ascend the Mount ofOlives. And Messiah will command Elijah to blow the Shofar. The light of the six days of Creation will return and will be seen, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and God will send full healing to all the sick of Israel. The second blast which Elijah will blow will make the dead rise. They will rise from the dust and each man will recognize his fellow man, and so will husband and wife, father and son, brother and brother. All will come to the Messiah from the four corners of the earth, from east and from west, from north and from south. The Children of Israel will fly on the wings of eagles and come to the Messiah...(Ma'ase Daniel as quoted in Patai, p. 143).
While the historical emphasis of the holy day is repen­tance., the prophetic theme looks for the future day when the full spiritual regathering will occur under the Messiah.
Consider the parallel themes to Rosh HaShanah. Would it be surprising that Yeshua took a special immersion/mikveh in the fall of the year (Matthew 3:13-17)? Is there a relationship to the forty day period of testing by the adversary (Matthew 4:1-11)? And what was the message Yeshua imme­diately started proclaiming after the forty days? "Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
What better time could there have been for the Messiah to start his earthly ministry than the time of the spiritual new year? Elul served as the perfect time of preparation for the greatest spiritual message ever to come to Israel: return to God, Messiah has come!
There is rich prophetic truth associated with this Feast of Trumpets. As it characterizes a time of ingathering and spiritual preparation, afuture fulfillment of Rosh HaShanah is also alluded to. In the future regathering of the believers in Messiah, Rabbi Saul (the apostle Paul) reveals an interesting connection to the holy day:
I Thessalonians 4:16-18
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God's shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise-, then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. So encourage each otherwith these words"
This holy day is a perfect picture of the regathering of believers!. Not surprisingly, the signal of the gathering will be the sound of the shofar. In fact, the reference here is to a particular note sounded at Rosh HaShanah. The word nor­mally translated "shout" in verse sixteen comes from the Hebrew, teruah, better translated in this context as the "alarm" blast of the shofar. Similar references to the shofar as the signal can be found elsewhere in I Corinthians 15:50-58 and Revelation 4:1.the prophet Isaiah wrote:
In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites will be gathered up one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 27:12-13).
That this passage is referring to a latter day regathering of the believing remnant is clear, and we are still waiting for this shofar to fulfill it. Likewise, Messiah Yeshua, when asked about the future of Israel, confirmed this as a latter day promise in his own teaching:
He (the Son of Man) will send out his angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31).
Believers in Yeshua should have a fond appreciation for this rich holy day, Rosh HaShanah! It has served historically as a time of spiritual preparation and repentance, both themes we can learn from. Prophetically, we are reminded of God's promise to regather and restore his chosen people, Israel, in the last day. The sound of the shofar is also a reminder of the blessed hope every messianic believer possesses: we could enter Messiah's presence at any time (Titus 2:13) Rosh Hashanah is the starting point for 10 days of a set time when we are to make things right between one another and between us and G-d. It is a Solemn time that G-d has set before us that will make us deal with problems that we may have with other people Or, with ourselves. It is a day of repentance to turn from our sin and ask for forgiveness so that our name might be written in G-ds book of life. Let us give heed to the sound of the Shofar and all that Rosh Hashanah has to teach.
