What is the Feast of Trumpets?

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. Lev. 23:23-25. The offerings are more fully described in Num. 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.

Only three verses deal with this observance, the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month. Israel's seventh Month would correspond to our October. All three of the last set times were observed in this month. They speak of the revival of blessing for Israel in a coming day, long after the Church was established in the book of Acts. Israel the nation at that time rejected the grace sent to her in Christ, yet God will restore her to great blessing in spite of this, when He works in hearts to bring them to receive the Lord Jesus; for it will be God's work in their hearts that initiates this great revival, though centuries have passed since that nation had refused Him.

The blowing of trumpets signifies the regathering of Israel back to their land, as is seen in Matthew

24:31: "He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." The trumpet speaks of clear, declared testimony, and the Jews, who have been so scattered for centuries, will be awakened to return to their land. Already there are some stirrings of the Jews to this end, and many have returned to the land, but as yet not by any means all of Judah has returned, and we do not even know where the ten tribes are. But God knows, and this great trumpet call of angels will bring them out and back to the land of promise.

The last three feasts all speak of God’s yet future dealings with His earthly people after the rapture of the Church. The feast of Trumpets speaks of the regathering of the nation; the Day of Atonement speaks of the moral change in the nation when they accept Christ as their Messiah; and the feast of Tabernacles speaks of the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. Thus in the fulfilment of these last three feasts we see Israel brought into the fulfilment of all God’s promises to them. With this in mind, it is instructive to now note which feasts are linked to drink offerings in this chapter. We have said that the drink offering is typical of the joy of God in the completed work of Christ for the delight of God and the blessing of His people and this is borne out by the three references in this twenty-third chapter of Leviticus.

In the twenty-third chapter, the year of the Lord's holy seasons (they are not all "feasts") gives us the cycle of blessing for the Church and Israel — the heavenly and the earthly saints. It divides, therefore, into two parts: the passover, first-fruits, and the "feast of weeks" begin the year; then, after a pause, another cluster is found in the seventh month, — on the first day, the blowing of trumpets; on the tenth, the day of atonement; and on the fifteenth begins the feast of tabernacles. The first group we have no difficulty in recognizing as specially our own: the feast of redemption, the sheaf of resurrection, and Pentecost. The second group begins with the blowing of trumpets, which, as the gathering of the congregation, speaks of the reassembling of Israel; then the day of atonement shows them in repentance taking refuge under the work of Christ; and lastly the feast of tabernacles brings in for them millennial blessing.

Remarks. This feast does not foreshadow the coming of the Lord to rapture the heavenly saints, but the regathering of Israel into the land of promise. And the trumpets here spoken of must not be confounded with the resurrection trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52, or the "trump of God" in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Some are making this mistake and propounding wild theories as to the coming of the Lord in consequence.

The feast was for a memorial. The silver trumpets that were blown proclaimed the fact that the people were Jehovah's people and that He had a right to call them to His sanctuary when He would, and, moreover, that He delighted to have them thus near to Himself. It brought this fact to their memories. But it also foreshadowed the time when He will remember His covenant with Abraham, and will say to Israel now cut off and not His people, "Thou art My people," and He will summons them to the land to fulfil the promises made to their fathers.

We find ourselves in presence of an entirely new scene from verse 23. "23 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 24 In the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye shall have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 No manner of work of labour shall ye do, and ye shall present a fire-offering to Jehovah." So far from the gospel being a continuous work to the end of the world, as many suppose, we see here that the Lord will begin a fresh testimony with a suited instrumentality for this new aim when the church is gone. Observe that it is said here "in the seventh month;" this was the last month in which Jehovah instituted a feast. He here brings to a completion the circle of His ways on the earth and for Israel.

In the very beginning then of this closing period of God's dealings, what do we read? "A memorial of blowing of trumpets." God is inaugurating a fresh testimony. The trumpet is clearly a figure of His intervention to announce some signal change. It may be for judgment, as we find in some cases; it may be a distinct testimony in grace, as we know elsewhere. It is clearly a loud summons from God to people on the earth. Here, as we read, it is not merely a blowing of trumpets, but "a memorial" of blowing of trumpets. It is a recall of what had long passed out of memory. It is God calling to mind what had once been before Him, but long dead and gone. What can this be? It is the recall of His ancient people on the earth. The Jew is again brought into remembrance before God. No wonder that there should be such "a memorial of blowing of trumpets." Hundreds, one might say thousands, of years had passed since they had stood before Him as His people. For the return from Babylon was only a partial work: as a whole, Israel never returned, but remained a dispersion over the world. Where was the bulk of them? They were lost among the Gentiles; and so to this day they have remained in a peculiar condition, unlike any other since the world began. They are in all countries without possessing one of their own, and yet a people; they are without a king or a prince, and yet a people; without the true God and without a false god, yet a people (Hosea 3): a standing rebuke to the infidel, yet largely and deeply infidel themselves!

In creation God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In the dispensation of law, men worked six days and rested on the seventh. In the feasts of Jehovah, six months of the year passed by, but when the seventh month comes, on the first day of the seventh month, God says, "Ye shall have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. No manner of servile work shall ye do; and ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah" (Lev. 23:24-25, New Translation)

The Blowing of Trumpets--With this holy convocation we are led upon new ground. The feasts we have followed typify that which is past; the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the formation of the church by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The three set times which follow, the memorial of blowing of trumpets, the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles await their great fulfillment in the near future. The first thing after the two wave loaves are completely presented unto Jehovah, when this age is about to close, will be the blowing of the trumpets. It is the call of God to the remnant of His people, their regathering. A long period of time is between Pentecost and the blowing of the trumpets. This interval is the present age. The Lord does not regather His earthly remnant till His heavenly people, the church, is complete. Read and carefully consider Isaiah 27:13; 58; Joel 2:1. Matthew 24:31 is the regathering of His elect earthly people after He has come. But the blowing of the trumpets on the first day of the seventh month precedes the great day of atonement and is the heralding of that approaching day. All this, studied with the light God has given to us in the entire word of prophecy, is intensely interesting.

On this day of blowing of trumpets there was to be a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven lambs in their first year, all unblemished. At Pentecost two young bulls were offered, otherwise the offerings were the same, and the grain offering was the same for each animal. A kid of the goats was again included as a sin offering, "to make atonement" rather than "as a sweet aroma." These were all added to the regular monthly offerings, as verse 6 indicates.

Of the three great feasts annually kept by Israel, one only was ushered in with the blowing of trumpets (Lev. 23:2-1), "In the seventh month, in the first of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation." This (called by some "the feast of trumpets") was followed on the tenth day of the month by the great day of atonement (ver. 27), and on the fifteenth by the feast of tabernacles. (ver. 31.) This first day of the seventh month is thus distinguished, Numbers 29:1: "it is a day of blowing of trumpets to you."

But besides this "day of blowing of trumpets," there was the trumpet of jubilee, and this upon the great day of atonement. After every forty and nine years (Lev. 25:9), "then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you." A year of rest and joy was this to the land and to its inhabitants — when the alienation of property ended, and every man returned to his own possession.