The Seventh Month: The Trumpets of God

Feasts of Israel Series: Part 18

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation”
(Leviticus 23:23–24).

The spring feasts we looked at previously (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Sheaf of Firstfruits and Pentecost) pointed both backward and forward. Back, in remembrance of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Forward, to the Passover to come when Messiah would be the Lamb of God and the Holy Spirit would pour out on the disciples at Pentecost. The fall feasts, too, carry a double focus. The feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles remind us of Israel’s time dwelling in booths in the desert. But they also cause us to look ahead—to a final harvest, “when Israel’s mission should be completed, and all nations gathered unto the Lord,” as Alfred Edersheim calls it.¹

While the Messiah has made an appearance as the fulfillment of the spring feasts, He has not yet done so for those of the fall.

For this reason, many scholars consider the trumpets of Tishri to be announcing more than the transition from one agricultural year to the next. They foreshadow a second visit by Messiah when He ushers in the most valuable harvest of all—a final in-gathering where the vintage is human souls rather than the fruit of the earth.

The Message of the Trumpets

The finality of this harvest is echoed in the other names by which the Feast of Trumpets is known. It is called Yom Teruah (the Day of Awakening Blast or Resurrection), Yom Hadin (the Day of Judgment) and Yom Ziaron (a Day of Remembrance). Maybe most importantly, the Feast of Trumpets is also called Yom Hamelech, the Day of Coronation of the King.²

Awakening. Judgment. Remembrance. Coronation. The trumpets of the feast resound with both warning and celebration. Yesterday’s yield has been gathered in. A greater harvest is about to begin. A yield of souls from every nation drawn together under one great and reigning King.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles
(Zechariah 14:16).

To make the announcement, the shofars cried out with a special voice this day. The priests wouldn’t be tooting just any old songs. They had to blow the horns in a specific and orderly way. It took incredible skill to successfully produce four distinct types of sounds for the Feast of Trumpets.

First, there was the Tekiah—a single long blast of alarm, likened to the sound of the king’s coronation.

Then there was the Shevarim—three medium tones similar to wailing, suggested hearts yearning for God, repenting and pleading for forgiveness.

The Teruah blast included nine short notes resembling an alarm clock—calling the people to wake from spiritual slumber and prepare to receive the king. The shofar masters interspersed these three sounds, repeating them in a particular order until the fourth trumpet blast finished each series.

This was the Tekiah Hagedolah—the “big tekiah.”The longest and loudest blast of all the trumpet sounds. It was to last a minimum of ten seconds but could go as long as the priest’s lungs held out. According to Micheal Norten in Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts, it acted as “the last call to repentance, before the Great Day of the Lord” when the King would actually arrive.³

The air reverberated with these four calls, repeated in their prescribed order and pattern throughout the day in Jerusalem, until the last trumpet made its final Tekiah Hagedolah.⁴

(You can experience the order of these calls in this short video.)

Creating the Trumpets

Let’s look at how shofars are made to get a glimpse at what all this means to us. Generally, the process begins by choosing a short curvy horn from a ram or a long twisty one from a large antelope called a kudu. Animal horns consist of a layer of keratin (the stuff of fingernails) wrapped over a bony outcropping. After removing the horn, the inner bone is pried out, leaving it hollow except for the narrow tip. Then they’re put into an oven in a sterilization and partial straightening process. Finally, they’re polished to make a smooth opening for the mouthpiece.⁵

Thus hollowed, purified, straightened and polished, the shofar awaits the breath of a master trumpeter to produce a sound unique to each horn. (Here’s another brief video showing someone creating a shofar.)

As the trumpeter blows, his lips vibrate, sending the air bouncing through the inner surface of the horn. To make the instrument work, the master must find and match the particular resonance frequency of each shofar he plays or no sound worth listening to will come out.⁶

Every shofar is entirely unique from beginning to end of this process. Because they come from living material, no two horns even start exactly alike. It is the inner shape and length of the horn that determines how the air will ricochet through the final product. Neither will two shofars come through the straightening process in exactly the same way. Together, these factors influence the note destined to come from each horn.

We Are the Trumpets

The trumpets ring out like voices calling for the feast. Declaring the end of labor and the beginning of rest. Calling for the presence of the King and crying out to crown Him Lord of all the Harvest.

Aren’t we each like these specialized wind instruments? Made of unique material. Subjected to the furnace of life in different ways. Haven’t we each been bent and straightened and polished into our present shape? And aren’t we, like the horns, essentially hollowed out vessels, silent and lifeless until the breath of the Master Shofar Blower surges through what He has made of us?

Have you felt a yearning to welcome the returning King and finally crown Him Lord of all? Then, let’s stand on the wall and open our mouths. Messiah’s Feast of Trumpets is yet to come. Come Holy Spirit and touch us with your skillful lips. Set our hearts to trembling as you blow your pure notes through us.

1. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Jesus Christ (Arcadia Press 2017, 1874) 95.
2. Michael Norten, Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts (Nashville: West Bow Press, 2012, 2015) 45.
3. Michael Norten, Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts (Nashville: West Bow Press, 2012, 2015) 48.
4. Michael Norten, Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts (Nashville: West Bow Press, 2012, 2015) 46–48.
5. http://www.shofarot.com/index.php/the-shofar/theprocess/
6. https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencepanorama/standing-waves-synagogue-physics-shofar