The Seventh Month: Feast of Trumpets

Feasts of Israel Series: Part 17

While trumpets heralded the beginning of each new month in Israel, the decibel level increased exponentially to announce the onset of the seventh month, Tishri. To understand why, we need to look once more at the calendar from God’s perspective.

The first month, Abib, celebrated Passover along with the feasts of Unleavened Bread and the Sheaf of Firstfruits. References to new beginnings filled the rituals of these feasts. Passover marked the dawn of Israel’s freedom as a nation. Unleavened Bread left the old leaven behind in favor of trusting daily bread from heaven. The Sheaf of Firstfruits paid tribute to the beginning of a new crop of barley. The third month of Sivan and its Feast of Pentecost likewise celebrated fresh starts—the onset of the wheat harvest, the beginning of the Law, a fiery baptism of new power from the Holy Spirit.

The seventh month, on the other hand, seemed to focus on endings. Harvesters had cleared the fields. They’d gathered in the final crops of grapes, figs, and olives. Tishri celebrations toasted the end of the agricultural year’s labors. Just as each seventh day marked a sabbath for the week, the seventh month hailed a rest from harvesting.

Another Look at Calendars

Here’s where we take a second look at God’s perspective of time. Though not mentioned as such in Scripture, the feast of Trumpets became known as Rosh Hoshana—the head of the year. Which begs the question: How can Tishri be the head or beginning of the year when God declared Abib as the first month in Exodus 12:2? Does the year begin twice?

In a way, yes. Israel had a sacred calendar beginning in Abib and a civil (or agricultural) calendar starting in Tishri. This should not seem strange. Even today, our civil calendar runs from January to December while our fiscal one doesn’t begin until October.

In Israel’s case, their sacred year ran opposite to their agricultural year. Abib (or Nisan) marked the beginning of harvest season, while Tishri heralded a new planting cycle that would begin after its Sabbath-like pause in work. As they waited upon the Lord this month, the early rains would arrive, softening the soil before they headed out to the fields again. We might think of Abib as the head (or beginning) of their spiritual lives and Tishri as the head of their working lives. (I’ve added a table at the end of this post to show how the two cycles work together.)

The Pause that Refreshes

As the shofars blasted on the Feast of Trumpets, they called the people to cease from their labors, rest and celebrate. But they also summoned them to use the Sabbath-like pause to prepare their hearts and minds for the feast to come. In a matter of days, the great Feast of Atonement would be upon them. They needed time to sit still and consider their ways.

Even as they laid down their farming implements, the people prepared for new beginnings in the field. The eighth month of Heshvan would arrive soon. Their plows would once more bite into the earth and a new “work week” of months would start again.

The years cycled with regularity. Harvest, rest, plant, harvest. Always plenty of time for good works but never without a Sabbath rest.

Let Work Come from Rest

We come to one final observation. God starts His calendar with harvest time, not plowing time. In Genesis, He counts each day from evening to morning, rather than morning to evening as we often think of a day. His Sabbaths always begin at the setting of the sun, not at its rising. So the first seems to be last and the last first.

Each harvest season commences with special spring festivals packed with extra Sabbaths built into the rituals. From the trumpets of Rosh Hashanah onward through the seventh month, the agricultural workweek begins only after the people celebrated a month’s worth of rest inherent in the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles.

What’s the lesson for us? Rest should be the launching point for whatever work God calls us to. It is in rest we find our voice to celebrate His goodness and remember His faithfulness. I can know my husband’s love for me in the midst of our working together, but I’m more deeply convinced of it in moments of rest when there’s time to speak and listen to one another. When there’s time to feel my hand pressed in his hand. When there’s time to look long into his eyes and remember why I married him.

Just so for laboring with the Lord. We’re bravest when we’re confident of His love for us. Our energy is highest when we come from a place of worship. We’re wiser and more efficient with our work when we’ve first listened to Him. From this rest, we’re ready to charge into whatever our next workweek might bring.

Maybe we shouldn’t be thinking of Sabbath rest as the reward for our work. Maybe it’s actually the power of work itself.

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