TWO DIFFERENT TRUMPETS....FOR....TWO DIFFERENT TASKS
Miriam Howard
THE SHOFAR-
The Call to Repentance [From the Jewish and Biblical Viewpoints]
“And in the SEVENTH month, on the FIRST day of the month, ye shall have a holy
convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing THE
HORN unto you.” Numbers 29:1, The Tanakh
“In the SEVENTH month, on the FIRST day of the month, you are to have a holy
convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the
SHOFAR for you.” Numbers 29:1,
The Complete Jewish Bible
According to (Lev 23:24 and Num 29:1), the “seventh month on the first day of
the month” is the day of the blowing of the trumpets.
According to the Mishnah (Oral Teachings of Judaism) in (Rosh HaShanah 16a,
3:3), the trumpet used for this purpose is the RAM'S HORN, NOT the silver
trumpets mentioned in Numbers 10.
FROM THE JEWISH VIEWPOINT: Quote: “In the Bible, the first day of the seventh
month” (Rosh Hashanah/Tishri 1) is called Yom Teruah (Day of the Shofar) (Lev
23:24; Num 29:1), or Yom Ha-Zikkaron (Day of Remembrance).
The name "Day of the Shofar" refers to the characteristic blasts of
the shofar that are heard on this day. Rosh Hashanah (along with the Days of
Awe that follow) is a time of reviewing and repairing one's relationship with
God, the Supreme Judge. A distinctive feature of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar
blast, which fulfills the biblical command for a "blast of horns" in
Lev 23:24 and Num 29:1. A total of 100 blasts are sounded from the synagogue on
each day of Rosh Hashanah, using four different tones. The shofar is not blown
if Rosh Hashanah falls on a Sabbath.
Rosh Hashanah is that time of the year when we stop and consider our progress
in fulfilling our divine role. How have we handled our obligations that G-d has
given us? It is a time of introspection and reflection on our sum total action
from the past twelve months. Have we been successful or have we failed? Have we
used our world to achieve spirituality or have we become obsessed with
materialism? Are we closer to G-d or further than we were last year?
Being human it is impossible that we should succeed in everything - there
exists no mortal man who does only good and not sin. Therefore G-d in His
goodness gives us the Ten Days of Return, the period starting with Rosh
Hashanah and culminating with Yom Kippur when we repent for those actions,
words or even thoughts which were sinful.
Remember that the month before Tishri is Elul. Beginning with Elul 1, the
shofar (ram’s horn) is blown once a day for 40 days, in order to call the
(HEBREW) people to ‘Teshuva,’ to “turn from sin” as a preparatory for the
approaching “Ten Days of Awe” which culminates on the “tenth day of the seventh
month,” the day of atonement- “the day of affliction.” According to tradition,
the month of Elul is the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai preparing the
second set of tablets after the incident of the golden calf (Ex. 32; 34:27-28).
He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul ( Elul 1) and descended on the 10th of Tishri,
at the end of Yom Kippur, when repentance was complete. Other sources say that
Elul is the beginning of a period of 40 days that Moses prayed for G-d to
forgive the people after the Golden Calf incident, after which the commandment
to prepare the second set of tablets was given.”
End of quote
In the book of Revelation, there is neither hint nor clue that anyone comes to
faith in Y’shua as Lord and Savior, in the last half of the Tribulation. The
book of Revelation unfolds in progressive, chronological order except for
several parenthetical passages which do not advance the ongoing narrative but
provide an overview for the reader.
Chapters 10, 11 and 12 are in the middle of the 22 chapters of Revelation, and
they portray the events surrounding the middle of the 7 years of the
Tribulation. By the latter half of chapter 9, the first Six Seal judgments have
already taken place, along with the first Six Trumpet judgments and the first
“woe” of three. The events of chapter 9 culminate near the completion of the
first half of the Tribulation. Chapter 9 closes with these words in verses 20
and 21: “ And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet
repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,
and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither
can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of
their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” This truth is
again repeated in chapter 16:9-9, in the last half of the Tribulation during
the "vial/bowel" judgments: "And the fourth angel poured out his
vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And
men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath
power over these plagues: and they repented NOT to give him glory"...and
in Rev 16: 10, 11, after the release of the fifth Vial/Bowl judgment : “And the
fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was
full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the
God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented NOT of their
deeds.”
In a 'year of perfect order',(like 2009 a.d.) when Day 1 of the 2,520 days of
the Tribulation begins on the first “morrow after the sabbath” from Passover,
which is always the Feast of Firstfruits, the 1260th day, which is the exact
middle of the 2,520 days of the 7 years of the Tribulation, falls at the end of
the Sabbath, on Sunday, Tishri 7, 2012, 5773. The 1263.5th day falls after THE
CLOSE of the day of atonement- on Thursday, Tishri 11, 2012, 5773, AFTER the
close of all opportunity for the Jew (and Gentile) during the Tribulation “to
repent and return to God”
In the Bible, under the Law of Moses,it was on the day of atonement that the
sins of national Israel were heaped upon the head of the selected goat which
was then led outside the city of Jerusalem and “let-loose” and “set apart” in
the wilderness, waiting for that day in the future when the sins of Israel and
all men would be “covered” by the once-and-for all atonement of God’s Dear Son,
Y’shua, the Messiah of Israel.
Notice carefully what these words say about the day of atonement, in Lev
23:27-29: “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your
souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no
work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you
before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall NOT be afflicted
in that same day, HE SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM AMONG HIS PEOPLE."
The Hebrew word “cut off” is the Hebrew word, “Karath” Strong’s # 03772, and
means: cut down, eliminate, kill, permit to perish, destroy, take away. This
word, “karath” NEVER describes action ascribed to the righteous man, only the
wicked.
It is very important to understand this concept of “cutting off,” and to
recognize that there are only two particular Mosaic feasts in which the Lord
has commanded the Jew to be “cut off” for lack of observance:
Exodus 12:19, for those eating leavened bread during Passover, and at
Atonement, for those refusing to repent and afflict their souls before the
Lord.
How appropriate it is that the MIDDLE of the Tribulation, just before and after
the close of the day of atonement, will begin to open ‘the times of the
Gentiles,’ ‘the 42 months' of the authority of the Beast, ‘the great and
terrible day of the Lord,’ and the last half of the final ‘70th week’ of
Daniel, UPON THE WICKED of both the nation of Israel and the Gentiles, when the
wicked will begin to be utterly and terribly “cut off,” beginning with the
season of “the grape harvest”!
It is in the middle of the Tribulation that the seventh angel sounded” (the
Seventh Trumpet) in Rev 10:7, that “the mystery of God is finished,” and again,
at the same time- in the middle of the Tribulation, that “the kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall
reign for ever and ever.” Rev 11:15. It will be at this time, that the Lion of
the Tribe of Judah will be crowned King of kings and Lord of Lords, and will
ascend to His royal throne in the month of Tishri, as all the kings of Judah
before Him (Rev 12:5,10) and it is the time when the remnant of Judah will flee
to the wilderness where a place "has been prepared for her" for the
last 1260 days of the Tribulation (Rev 12:6). It will also be the time that
Satan and ALL the demons will be thrown down and CONFINED to planet Earth for
the last half of the Tribulation ( Rev 12:7-9).
Therefore, the “seventh Trumpet” will blow sometime during the “Days of Awe,”
in the middle of the Tribulation, which will also herald the mid Tribulation
resurrection/rapture of the Two Witnesses, the Old Testament saints and all the
remnant- both Jew and Gentile- that have come to faith in Y’shua and have died
during the first half of the Tribulation, and that trumpet will open the
awesome and terrible last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation, on the 1263.5th day
(Rev 11:18, and Daniel 12:1-2: "And at that time shall Michael stand up,
the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall
be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that
same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall
be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,...}
With all the information above, we see that the Shofar, the ram’s horn, is
presented in both the Bible and in Judaism as A TOTALLY JEWISH SYMBOL- as “the
call to repentance” for the Jew to “turn and repent” BEFORE the terrible and
fearsome day of atonement, at which time the wicked are “CUT-OFF” and permitted
to be destroyed with both God’s spiritual and physical outpouring of His
terrible, fierece and UNRESTRAINED wrath.(God's wrath BEGINS at the BEGINNING
of the Tribulation- beginning with the first 6 seal JUDGMENTS.)
This picture has nothing to do with the Bride of Christ, the dear righteous
called-out ones during the age of Grace. The events surrounding the Shofar are
incongruous to the “first fruits” of His BODY… for the Shofar blows in the
wrong season for the Bride- in the fall, at the dark time of the year, at the
time of “death” when vegetation is brown and dying, at the season of the grape
harvest which in the Bible is always totally equated with death and destruction
of the wicked! The end of summer- the opening of Fall- is the time of the
beginning in the middle of the Tribulation, the beginning of the harvest of
"the ripe grapes filled with blood" which must begin to be the
“treaded out” as the wicked in the “great winepress of God’s wrath,” which
culminates in the battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation and the
Second Coming of Y’shua to Israel (Rev 14:17-20).
The blowing of the Shofar is totally out of order- for any event connected with
the New Testament Bride. We have already repented and are described like this
by the Lord… ”But ye are a chosen generation, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" I Peter 2:9.
So, which trumpet is “ours?”
THE TRUMP OF GOD- THE SILVER TRUMPET
1 Thess 4:16: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first:”
Num 10:2-4: “Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make
them: that thou mayest use them for THE CALLING OF THE ASSEMBLY, AND FOR THE
JOURNEYING OF THE CAMPS. And when they shall blow with them, ALL THE ASSEMBLY
SHALL ASSEMBLE THEMSELVES TO THEE AT THE DOOR OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE
CONGREGATION. And if they blow but with ONE trumpet, then THE PRINCES, which
are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.”
The Greek word for “trump” in 1 Thess 4:16 is Strong’s # 4536, “Salpigx.”
(salpinx). From The Complete Word Dictionary New Testament by Dr. Spiros
Zodhiates, he writes this about the salpigx: It announces:
1) the approach of God
2) the final advent of the Messiah
3) and sounds the commands of God
4) that the “last” trump of 1 Cor 15:52 is NOT the ‘7th’ trumpet of Rev 11:15;
5) that the word for “last” (trumpet) in 1 Cor 15:52 is NOT “hustere” (#5503)
which means hindermost, final or closing, BUT INSTEAD…is “eschate” (#2078)
which means THE LATEST, not in the process of time but pertaining to the events
spoken of, NOT necessarily the final trumpet. IT IS A TRUMPET THAT CLOSES A
SCENE, AN ADVENT, i.e. that CLOSES the Church Age, the Age of Grace.
The Hebrew word for (silver) trumpets in Num 10:2-3, is Strong’s #02689,
“Chatsotrah” which means trumpet, clarion.
Please note this very carefully: From the Hebrew, in Lev 23:24, where the text
is describing what we call the fall ‘Rosh ha Shana,’ the head of the Civil
year, on Tishri 1...” In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy
convocation”…the words for “blowing of trumpets” is Strong’s #08643, which
means “Yom Teruah,” which means an alarm, a shout of war, a signal, an
awakening blast…(to arouse one’s attention). (There is a second Rosh ha Shana,
which is the head of the Sacred year, in the spring, on Nisan 1, but the words
"Rosh ha Shana" are no where found in the KJV text).
Note, in the KJV- the word for the silver trumpets (Chatsotrah) in Num 10:2-3,
IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORD- from “Yom Teruah” in Lev 23:24, that which is
blown on “Rosh ha Shana.”
Hence, the reason why Judaism refers to the Rosh ha Shana trumpet in Lev 23:24,
as “a ram’s horn,” a “Shophar,” a
“Shofar.”
This is a VERY important distinction to know and remember, because again, note
the tasks for which the silver trumpets were made:
Numbers 10:2-4: “Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou
make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and
journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly
shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. (Rev 4:1). And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the
princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves
unto thee."(Rev 1:6; 5:10)
Paraphrased from Strong’s definition of the Hebrew text of Num 10:2-4, reads
like this:
“Make two trumpets of silver from hammered work and decorate it, that thou
mayest use them FOR THE CALLING TOGETHER OF A SACRED ASSEMPLY, A CONGREGATION,
IN ORDER TO PULL UP STAKES, BREAK UP CAMP AND SET OUT ON A JOURNEY. And when
they shall blow them all the congregated assembly shall gather….AT THE DOOR AND
ENTRANCE...OF THE DWELLING HOME AND HABITATION, AT THE SACRED TENT OF JEHOVAH,
when one trumpet is blown and the princes and heads of the thousands shall
gather unto thee.”
Remember…. 2 Thess 2:1: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by OUR GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM,….”
and
Rev 4:1: “After this I looked, and, behold, A DOOR WAS OPENED IN HEAVEN: and
the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me;
which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter.”
and
Heb 12:22-23: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and
to God the Judge of all….”
Oh indeed, two DIFFERENT trumpets which accomplish two DIFFERENT tasks- one
with its mournful cry which calls the wicked to repentance with its “awakening
blast” before it is too late…while there is still time to seek and to find Him
before the final day of affliction, and before God’s terrible wrath is poured
out in full, unrestrained measure...
The other…..with its joyous blast at the close of the Age of Grace, at the
close of the day of Christ Jesus, of awesome announcement for ALL in the Bride
of the prior five churches, who move into the sixth church of Philadelphia,
which is composed of ALL the Church-age saints who are gathered together in
resurrection …...in order to meet the Lord, our glorious Bridegroom in the air,
in order to be escorted Home to His house, the New Jerusalem, in the
appropriate year- the correct sabbatical year, at the appropriate season- the
spring, during the appropriate harvest- the barley harvest, at the appropriate
Feast- First fruits, on the appropriate day- on the morrow after the sabbath,
at the appropriate hour- “in the twinkling of an eye.”
“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light.” Eph 5:14
Miriam Howard
iiiiIiiii
September, 2007
Amended, January, 2009