Feast of Trumpets

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Feast of Trumpets
“Feast of Trumpets” by Henry Davenport Northrop, Treasures of the Bible, 1894
NameFeast of Trumpets
DateFirst day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
Ritual in the Old TestamentBlowing the trumpet in preparation for the Day of Atonement on the first day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar
Ritual in the New TestamentContrite prayer for ten days in preparation for the Day of Atonement

The Feast of Trumpets is the first feast to be celebrated in autumn among God’s seven feasts in three times. The date is the first day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar, which falls in September or October by the Gregorian calendar (solar calendar). Every Feast of Trumpets, the Israelites blew trumpets loudly in preparation for the Day of Atonement, repenting of their sins.

Origin of the Feast of Trumpets

Israel’s Sin Against God

Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt

The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and camped in the Desert of Sinai.[1] God called Moses to Mount Sinai to give him the Ten Commandments. When Moses did not come down from the mount for forty days, the people thought he had died and began worshiping a golden calf as a god to lead them instead of him. They worshiped the idol, calling the golden calf the god who brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God was enraged at this. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments, he saw the people worshiping the golden calf. He was very angry and threw the tablets, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. This event brought a great disaster upon the Israelites; around 3,000 people who had participated in idolatry were killed.[2]

The Second Set of the Ten Commandments and the Feast of Trumpets

Afterward, Moses pitched a tent outside the camp some distance away. It was called the Tent of Meeting and he prayed earnestly to God there. When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting, the Israelites stripped off their ornaments and worshiped God at the entrances to their tents.[3] At Moses’ earnest prayer, God forgave their sins and commanded Moses to come up to receive the Ten Commandments again. As God commanded, Moses prepared two stone tablets like the first ones and went up to Mount Sinai early in the morning on the first day of the sixth month by the sacred calendar.[4] Moses stayed with God on Mount Sinai for forty days, and God Himself engraved the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets. The day when Moses came down the mountain after receiving the second set of the Ten Commandments is the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar.[5] God appointed the tenth day of the seventh month when He granted the second set of the Ten Commandments as the Day of Atonement, and the first day of the seventh month as the Feast of Trumpets in preparation for the Day of Atonement by blowing trumpets.

The LORD said to Moses, “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. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.’ . . . The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.”

Leviticus 23:23-27

Celebration of the Feast of Trumpets

Old Testament Times

The core of the Feast of Trumpets ceremony in the Old Testament is to blow trumpets to call for repentance in preparation for the Day of Atonement. The people did not work on that day but presented burnt offerings and grain offerings to God.[6]

New Testament Times

The third set of feasts that falls in autumn begins with the Feast of Trumpets, followed by the Day of Atonement (the tenth day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar), and the Feast of Tabernacles (the fifteenth to the twenty-second day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar). The Feast of Tabernacles represents the third set of feasts.[7] Jesus, who came as the Savior in the New Testament times, set an example of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.[8] This means that Jesus, too, kept the Feast of Trumpets.

In the New Testament times, God’s people should keep the Feast of Trumpets, following the example of Jesus.[9] Unlike the Old Testament times when animals were sacrificed as an offering, people worship God in the New Testament times by confessing the sins they have committed in the past year. They offer the prayer of repentance for ten days from the first day of the seventh month by the sacred calendar in preparation for the Day of Atonement.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Exodus 19:1-2".
  2. ↑ Exodus 32:7-19, 27-28
  3. ↑ "Exodus 33:1-11".
  4. ↑ "Exodus 34:1-4".
  5. ↑ "Exodus 34:28-29".
  6. ↑ "Numbers 29:1-6".
  7. ↑ "Deuteronomy 16:16".
  8. ↑ "John 7:2, 37-39".
  9. ↑ "John 13:15".
  10. ↑ "John 4:23-24".
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