The Feast of Trumpets

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.” – Leviticus 23:23-25 ESV

At the end of the spring harvest season, God required that the field not be thoroughly gleaned of all produce. In order to provide for the poor and needy, He required all farmers to leave the corners and edges of their fields unharvested.

“…when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 23:22 ESV

This was to serve as a kind of social lifeline for the less fortunate citizens of the community. Since the Israelites had no official welfare system, God provided them with a very practical way of meeting the needs of those who might otherwise starve without assistance. This also served as a powerful lesson to all Israelites that the harvest belonged to God. They were simply the stewards of the resources He provided, and there was no reason for them to hoard what God had given to the entire community. By allowing their poorer neighbors to glean grain from the edges of their fields, the Israelites were mirroring God’s care and concern for the needy among His people.

The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
    he brings some down and lifts others up.
He lifts the poor from the dust
    and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
    placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
    and he has set the world in order. – 1 Samuel 2:7-8 NLT

If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—and he will repay you! – Proverbs 19:17 NLT

Even before the Israelites arrived in the land of Canaan, God would remind them about their need to care for the poor among them.

“There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.” – Deuteronomy 15:11 NLT

With the final feast of the spring harvest, there were no more festivals until the seventh month. The month Tishri marked the beginning of a new year in the civil calendar and it culminated with the Feast of Trumpets. This first day of the seventh month began a ten-day period of consecration and repentance before God. The Israelites were to assemble in a holy convocation, a sacred gathering in which they offered sacrifices to God. The book of Numbers provides more details concerning the events of that day.

“Celebrate the Festival of Trumpets each year on the first day of the appointed month in early autumn. You must call an official day for holy assembly, and you may do no ordinary work. On that day you must present a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will consist of one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all with no defects. These must be accompanied by grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil—six quarts with the bull, four quarts with the ram, and two quarts with each of the seven lambs. In addition, you must sacrifice a male goat as a sin offering to purify yourselves and make yourselves right with the Lord. These special sacrifices are in addition to your regular monthly and daily burnt offerings, and they must be given with their prescribed grain offerings and liquid offerings. These offerings are given as a special gift to the Lord, a pleasing aroma to him.” – Numbers 29:1-6 NLT

As the name implies, the Feast of Trumpets was marked by the “blast of trumpets” (Leviticus 23:24 ESV). There is no mention of the kind or number of trumpets used in this ceremony or who the musicians were. Some have speculated that the Israelites would have used a shofar or ram's horn. But in the book of Numbers, Moses records instructions given to him by God for the creation of two silver trumpets that were to be used as a kind of mass communication device.

“Make two trumpets of hammered silver for calling the community to assemble and for signaling the breaking of camp. When both trumpets are blown, everyone must gather before you at the entrance of the Tabernacle. But if only one trumpet is blown, then only the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—must present themselves to you.” – Numbers 10:2-4 NLT

The trumpets mentioned in Leviticus 23 were to be blown from morning until evening, serving to call the people to assemble but also as a “memorial” ( זִכָּרוֹן - zikārôn) or remembrance. Since many of these feasts were designed to be celebrated once the people of Israel were safely ensconced in the land of Canaan, the blast of trumpets might be intended as a reminder of the victory God gave the Israelites in their first battle in the land. At the city of Jericho, God allowed the Israelites to defeat their enemy by providing them with a rather bizarre plan of attack that involved the blowing of horns.

“I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.” – Joshua 6:2-5 NLT

Joshua led the people to obey the Lord and they were given a great victory that day. As the Israelites heard the blast of the trumpets on the first day of the seventh month, they were reminded of God’s grace and goodness. He had been with them from the very beginning, leading them out of Egypt and into the promised land. He had provided for all their needs, from food and clothing to victories over their enemies. And the Feast of Trumpets was to serve as the first day of a ten-day period of celebration that ended with a nationwide emphasis on atonement.

“Calling this occasion a memorial may have had the immediate significance of keeping in mind all that this festival signified. The trumpets awakened the people to the season of repentance and pardon and restoration.” – Allen P. Ross, Holiness to the Lord: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus

The trumpets were a call to spiritual renewal. They launched a season of restoration and much-needed revival among God’s people. As the harvest season so clearly illustrated, God had provided for all their physical needs and they had given Him thanks and offered Him sacrifices for His gracious provision. But with the Feast of Trumpets, the people were being reminded of their need for spiritual nourishment that would begin with atonement for their sins.

God was calling His people to assemble before Him so that He could offer them pardon for their sins – both corporately and individually. God would later warn His people about the danger of getting fat and happy once they arrived in the land. Prosperity could easily lead to apostasy.

“For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful…” – Deuteronomy 8:12-18 NLT

Full grain bins and full stomachs were of little use if their lives were marred by sin. If their affluence caused them to become self-sufficient, they were in danger. If they thought the blessings of God were a sign of their spiritual superiority, they were mistaken. The Feast of Trumpets served as a wake-up call, summoning the people of God to return to their sole source of spiritual renewal. Without God’s help, they would remain in their sins, unforgiven, and separated from Him, and no amount of physical resources could restore their spiritual health. That is why, on the tenth day of the seventh month, God called the people to enter a time of fasting. The focus would shift from bountiful harvests to sinful hearts. It was a time for soul-searching and sin-confessing. To remain in the land the people would need to remain in right standing with God. To continue to enjoy His blessings, they would have to receive atonement for their sins. And in a way, the blast of the trumpets foreshadowed a far greater victory than the one that took place at Jericho. God was about to defeat the one enemy the Israelites could never defeat on their own: Sin.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Holy Convocation

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

4 “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.” – Leviticus 23:1-8 ESV

In this chapter, God begins to explain the various feasts or holy festivals the Israelites would be required to celebrate each year. Five times in the first eight verses of this chapter, God refers to these communal events as “holy convocations,” a Hebrew phrase (מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ – miqrā'-qōḏeš) that could literally be translated as “a set apart calling together.” It was a “summoning” of the called-out ones – God’s holy people.

Because God was decreeing these events they were, by their very nature, holy or set apart. These were not manmade occasions, but divinely sanctioned holy days that God had established and that He expected to be honored by His people. They were to be considered holy days, a term from which the English term “holiday” is derived. In Old English “holy day” was rendered hāligdæg, and referred to “a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done” (The Oxford English Dictionary). Notice now the more modern definition emphasizes recreation and the cessation of work. The holy nature of the occasion has been lost in translation and in practice.

Yet, from the very beginning, God placed the focus on holiness. These special dates on the Hebrew calendar were to be treated with reverence and reserved for the worship of Yahweh. Along with all the various sacrificial ceremonies the Israelites were expected to keep, they were to set apart a series of days and weeks that would be dedicated to remembering and commemorating their good and gracious God. And to set the tone for these holy convocations, God began by reiterating His call to Sabbath rest.

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.” – Leviticus 23:3 NLT

This was not new information to the Israelites. They were already fully aware of God’s commands concerning the Sabbath. When Moses received God’s law on top of Mount Sinai, it included a regulation concerning the Sabbath.

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11 NLT

Now, when preparing to articulate the various holy assemblies the Israelites would be required to keep, God began by restating His call for Sabbath rest. This weekly calling to rest and rely upon Him would form the basis for all the other holy days, and it all pointed back to the creation account.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.– Genesis 2:1-3 NLT

God completed all that He had set out to accomplish. In six days, He created the entire universe and all it contained, and He deemed it all to be “very good.”

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. – Genesis 1:31 NLT

There was no more work to be done because God’s intentions for His creation had been realized – perfectly and completely. So, on the seventh day, God rested; not because He was tired or worn out from the effort He had expended. He reveled in the beauty and perfection of all that He had made. The universe reflected His own glory. Everything He had made honored Him by serving as proof of His power, majesty, creativity, and sovereignty. Centuries later, David would wax eloquent when describing creation’s God-honoring capacity.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.– Psalm 19:1-4 NLT

As God surveyed all that He had made, He rested in the glory of it all. Every facet of His creation pointed back to His greatness and declared His glory. And the Sabbath was meant to be a perpetual day of commemorating the greatness and glory of God. It was to be a day of complete rest – not just cessation from work – but a celebration of all that God has done. It was to be a time for His creation to honor Him by proclaiming His glory. One day a week, the Israelites were to stop everything they were doing and focus all their attention and adoration on the holy, gracious, and generous God. While all the other nations were busy working, the Israelites were to busy themselves with the worship of Yahweh, their creator and sustainer.

And that same attitude of sold-out adulation and adoration was to permeate all the other holy days that God prescribed. He began with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was not two holy convocations, but one. And when God established the first Passover back in Egypt, He had declared that this event would begin a new calendar year for the people of Israel.

While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household.” – Exodus 12:1-3 NLT

With the inauguration of the Passover, the Israelites began a new year. From that point forward, they would live their lives based on a different calendar than all the other nations of the earth. And that calendar would include sacred assemblies and holy days that no other people group on the planet were required to keep. This new holy calendar served as a constant reminder to the Israelites that time belonged to God and so did they. Every day, week, month, and year was a gift from God Almighty. God expected His people to live the entirety of their lives with a constant awareness of His law that permeated every second of their lives. He later emphasized the 24/7 nature of their commitment to Him.

“Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NLT

These holy festivals were intended to serve as signposts throughout the year, directing the Israelites’ attention back to God and reminding them that, without Him, they were hopeless and helpless. The Passover was to serve as a vivid reminder of how God had graciously and miraculously delivered them from their captivity in Egypt. In a sense, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread served as powerful reminders of God’s salvation and sanctification. In the Passover, the Israelites recalled His deliverance. In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they demonstrated their commitment to live set-apart lives. He had saved them to sanctify them. Getting the Israelites out of Egypt had been easy. Getting Egypt out of Israel was another matter altogether.

As the name of the feast suggests, leaven or yeast was to be avoided at all costs.

“…you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the Lord continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast.” – Leviticus 23:6 NLT

And the apostle Paul provides a clear explanation for why God forbade the eating of yeast during this weeklong festival. In writing to the believers in Corinth, Paul used the Jewish festival of unleavened bread as an illustration of the power of sin among God’s people.

Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. – 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 NLT

When God set apart this feast as a holy convocation, He demanded the removal of all yeast from their homes. It was a not-so-subtle reminder to purge their lives of their old ways. They were expected to leave anything associated with Egypt behind. God demanded that they do a clean sweep of their lives and begin anew. God miraculously delivered them from their captivity in Egypt. Now, He was expecting them to free their lives from any residual effects from that previous phase of their lives. They were no longer in Egypt, but the lingering traces of Egypt were still evident in their lives.

Throughout the week of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the people of Israel were to purge their lives of sin and focus their attention on their Savior. Anything and everything that might distract or deter them from their dependence upon God was to be removed – at all costs. Complete rest in and reliance upon God was to become their sole focus.

“For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly.” – Leviticus 23:8 NLT

The same God who saved them was the God who wanted to sanctify them. He longed for His people to live in total dependence upon His will so that their lives might glorify Him. And these holy convocations were intended to declare His greatness as His chosen people demonstrated their reliance upon Him.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.