Feast Of Trumpets

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 29:1-6;  Leviticus 23:24, "a memorial of blowing of trumpets." (See Cornet .) Besides the daily sacrifices and the eleven victims of the new moon, the ordinary feast of the first day of the month, there were offered a young bullock, a ram, and seven first year lambs, with meat offerings and a kid for a sin offering, it was one of the seven days of holy convocation, Moadim ; the other new moons were not, like it, days of sacred rest and convocation, though they were marked by a blowing of trumpets over the burnt offerings. Both kinds of trumpets, the straight trumpet ( Chatsotsrah ) and the cornet ( Shophar and Qeren ), were blown in the temple, and it was "a day of blowing of trumpets."  Psalms 81:3 (Which Modern Jews Use For The Feast Of Trumpets) does not refer to "the new moon"; translated as Hengstenberg "blow the horn in the month at the full moon" ( Keseh , KJV less well "at the time appointed");  Psalms 81:5-7;  Psalms 81:10 show the Passover is referred to.

This feast of trumpets prepared for the day of atonement on the tenth day; compare  Joel 2:15, "blow the trumpet ... sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly." It was the new year day of the civil year, the first of Tisri (about October), commencing the sabbatical year and year of Jubilee. The month being that for sowing, as well as ingathering of the last ripe fruits, its first day was appropriately made commemorative of creation grain, pleted, when "all the sons of God shouted for joy" ( Job 38:7), the birthday of the world. See  Leviticus 25:9, "cause the sound of the cornet ( Shophar ) to go through" (the land).

As the sound of the cornet signalized Jehovah's descent on Sinai to take Israel into covenant, so the same sound at the close of the day of atonement announced the year which restored Israel to the freedom and blessings of the covenant ( Exodus 19:16-49). The trumpets' sound imaged God's voice and word ( Isaiah 58:1;  Hosea 8:1;  Zephaniah 1:16;  Revelation 1:10;  Revelation 4:1). So at Christ's coming in glory ( Matthew 24:31;  1 Corinthians 15:52;  1 Thessalonians 4:16). This feast of trumpets reminds the people of their covenant, and puts God in remembrance of His promises ( Isaiah 43:26;  Numbers 10:9). So if we would have great measures of grace we must rouse all our energies and aspirations, and cry mightily with trumpet voice to God.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Trumpets, Feast Of . The 1st day of Tishri (October), the 7th month of the sacred year, was signalized by a ‘memorial of blowing trumpets,’ to call both God and the people to remembrance of their reciprocal positions. It was a day of holy convocation, on which no servile work might be done. The trumpets blown were probably of a different kind from those used at the ordinary new-moon festivals. At the Feast of Trumpets special offerings were made: a burnt-offering of a bullock, a ram, and 7 lambs, and a sin-offering of a kid of the goats; these in addition to the ordinary daily and monthly offerings (cf.   Numbers 29:1-6 ,   Leviticus 23:24-25 ). This was one of the lunar festivals of the Jewish calendar, and was the most important of the new-moon celebrations.

A. W. F. Blunt.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This occurred on the first day of the seventh month. It was to be "a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation." They were to do no servile work therein, but were to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.  Leviticus 23:23-25 . The offerings are more fully described in  Numbers 29:1-6 . It indicated a renewal of blessing, being followed by the day of atonement, and the feast of tabernacles in the same month. Typically it foreshadowed the future day of Israel's awakening when the revival of their blessing will be at hand. See Feasts

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 23:23-25 Numbers 10:10 29:1-6

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

1. Description:

In  Leviticus 23:23-25 the first day (new moon) of the seventh month is set apart as a solemn rest, "a memorial of blowing of trumpets" (the Hebrew leaves "of trumpets" to be understood), signalized further by "a holy convocation," abstinence from work, and the presentation of "an offering made by fire." In   Numbers 29:1-6 these directions are repeated, with a detailed specification of the nature of the offering. In addition to the usual daily burnt sacrifices and the special offerings for new moons, there are to be offered one bullock, one ram, and seven he-lambs, with proper meal offerings, together with a he-goat for a sin offering.

2. Significance:

The significance of the feast lay in the fact that it marked the beginning of the new year according to the older calendar. Originally the "revolution" of the year was reckoned in the fall (  Exodus 23:16;  Exodus 34:22 ), and the change to the spring never thoroughly displaced the older system. In fact the spring New Year never succeeded in becoming a specially recognized feast, and to Jewish ears "New Year's Day" (השּׁנה ראש , rō'sh ha - shānāh ) invariably signifies an autumnal festival. So the Mishna ( Rō'sh ha - shānāh , i. 1): "There are four periods of commencement of years: On the 1st of Nisan is a new year for kings and for festivals; the 1st of Elul is a new year for the tithe of cattle.... The 1st of Tishri is new year's (day) for the ordinary or civil year, for the computation of 7th years, and of the jubilees; also for the planting of trees, and for herbs. On the 1st of Shebat is the new year for trees."

3. Ritual:

The ritual for the day consequently needs little explanation. All new moons were heralded by trumpeting ( Numbers 10:10 ), and so the custom was of course observed on this feast also. There is nothing in the language of either Lev 23 or Nu 29 to require a prolongation of the music on this special new moon, but its special distinction was no doubt marked by special trumpeting at all times, and at a later period (see below) elaborate rules were laid down for this feature. The additional sacrifices simply involved an increase of those prescribed for new moons ( Numbers 28:11-15 ), without changing their type. Perhaps Ps 81 was especially written for this feast (compare  Psalm 81:3 ).

4. Origin:

Mentions of a special observance of the 1st of Tishri are found also in  Ezekiel 45:20 (reading, as is necessary, "first day of seventh month" here for "seventh day") and   Nehemiah 8:1-12 . In the former passage, the day is kept by offering a bullock as a sin offering and sprinkling its blood in a way that recalls the ritual of the Day of Atonement. In Nehemiah an assembly of the people was held to hear Ezra read the Law. The day was kept as a festival on which mourning was forbidden ( Nehemiah 8:9 ). Apart from these references there is no mention of the feast elsewhere in the Old Testament, and, indeed, there is some reason to think that at one time the 10th, and not the 1st, of Tishri was regarded as the beginning of the year. For  Ezekiel 40:1 specifically calls this day rō'sh ha - shānāh , and  Leviticus 25:9 specifies it as the opening of the Jubilee year (contrast the Mishna passage, above). Consequently scholars generally are inclined to assign   Leviticus 23:23-25 and   Numbers 29:1-6 to the latest part of the Pentateuch (Ps). This need not mean that the observance of the 1st (or 10th) of Tishri was late, but only that the final adoption of the day into Israel's official calendar, with a fixed ritual for all Israelites, was delayed. If the original New Year's Day fell on the 10th of Tishri, its displacement ten days earlier was certainly due to the adoption of the 10th for the Day of Atonement. An explanation of the date of the latter feast would be gained by this supposition.

5. Later History:

The instrument to be used in the trumpeting is not specified in the Bible, but Jewish tradition decided in favor of the horn and not the metal trumpet, permitting for synagogue use any kind of horn except a cow's, but for temple use only a straight (antelope's) horn and never a crooked (ram's) horn ( Rō'sh ha - shānāh , iii. 2-4). According to iv. 1, when the new year began on a Sabbath the horns were blown only in the temple, but after its destruction they were blown in every synagogue. Every Israelite was obliged to come within hearing distance of the sound (iii. 7). In the synagogue liturgy of iv. 5-9 (which forms the basis of the modern Jewish practice), four sets of "benedictions" were read, and after each of the last three sets the horn blown nine times. Modern Judaism sees in the signals a call to self-examination and repentance, in view of the approaching Day of Atonement. See Trumpet , III., 2., (8).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( יוֹם תְּרוּעָה ,  Numbers 29:1; Sept. Ἡμέρα Σημασίας ; Vulg. Dies Clangoris Et Tubatrum ; זְכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה ,  Leviticus 23:24; Μνημόσυνον Σαλπίγγων ; Sabbatum Mnemoriale Clangentibus Tubis : in the Mishna, ראֹשׁ הִשָּׁנָה , "the beginning of the year"), the feast of the new moon, which fell on the first of Tisri. It differed from the ordinary festivals of the new moon in several important particulars. It was one of the seven days of Holy Convocation. (See Feast). Instead of the mere blowing of the trumpets of the Temple at the time of the offering of the sacrifices, it was "a day of blowing of trumpets." In addition to the daily sacrifices and the eleven victims offered on the first of every month [see NEW MOON], there were offered a young bullock, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year, with the accustomed meat offerings, and a kid for a sin-offering ( Numbers 29:1-6). The regular monthly offering was thus repeated, with the exception of one young bullock.

It is said that both kinds of trumpet were blown in the Temple on this day, the straight trumpet ( חֲצֹצְרָה ) and the cornet שׁוֹפָר or קֶרֶן ), and that elsewhere any one, even a child. might blow a cornet (Reland, 4:7, 2; Carpzov, p. 425; Rosh Hash-Shan. 1, 2). When the festival fell upon a Sabbath, the trumpets were blown in the Temple, but not out of it ( Rosh Hash-Shan. 4:1). (See Jubilee).

It has been conjectured that Psalms 81, one of the songs of Asaph, was composed expressly for the Feast of Trumpets. The psalm is used in the service for that day by the modern Jews. As the third verse is rendered in the Sept., the Vulgate, and the A.V., this would seem highly probable-" Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." But the best authorities understand the word translated new moon ( כֵּסֶה ) to Mean Full Moon. Hence the psalm would more properly belong to the service for one of the festivals which take place at the full moon, the Passover, or the Feast of Tabernacles (Gesenius, Thesaur. S.V. ; Rosenm Ü ller and Hengstenberg on Psalms 81 ) .

Various meanings have been assigned to the Feast of Trumpets. Maimonides considered that its purpose was to awaken the people from their spiritual slumber to prepare for the solemn humiliation of the Day of Atonement, which followed it within ten days. This may receive some countenance from  Joel 2:15, "Blow the trumpet ( שׁוֹפָר ) in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly." Some have supposed that it was intended to introduce the seventh or sabbatical month of the year, which was especially holy because it was the seventh, and because it contained the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles (Fagius, In  Leviticus 23:24; Buxtorf, Syn. Jud. c. 24). Philo and some early Christian writers regarded it as a memorial of the giving of the law on Sinai (Philo, Opp. v, 46, ed. Tauch.; Basil, in Psalms 81 ; Theodoret, Quaest. 32 viz . Leviticus ) . But there seems to be no sufficient reason to call in question the common opinion of Jews and Christians, that it was the festival of the New-year's-day of the civil year, the first of Tisri, the month which commenced the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee. If the New- moon Festival was taken as the consecration of a natural division of time, the month in which the earth yielded the last ripe produce of the season, and began again to foster seed for the supply of the future, might well be regarded as the first month of the year. The fact that Tisri was the great month for sowing might thus have easily suggested the thought of commemorating on this day the finished work of creation, when the sons of God shouted for joy ( Job 38:7). The Feast of Trumpets thus came to be regarded as the anniversary of the birthday of the world (Mishna, Rosh hash-Shun. 1, 1; Hupfeld, De Fest. Hebrews 2, 13; Buxtorf, Syn. Jud. c. 24).

It was an odd-fancy of the rabbins that on this day, every year, God judges all men, and that they pass before him as a flock of sheep pass before a shepherd (Rosh hash-Shan. 1, 2). (See New Year).