Fall Jewish Holidays - Part 1: Rosh Hashanah

There are three Jewish holidays that occur during September of this year (sundown to sundown):

Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year; Feast of Trumpets): Sep 6th - 8th (today usually celebrated for two days instead of one)

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Sep 15th -16th

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles): Sep 20th – Sep 27th

There are other websites from which a person can get good information, like Judaism 101. However, I would like to address these three holidays and see what it means to Jews as well as to the world in general. The first holiday to talk about is Rosh Hashanah:

So why is Rosh Hashanah called the Jewish New Year? It actually occurs on the first day of the 7th month (Tishri) and so is different from what we Americans think of when we say "New Year." It was first instituted by God shortly after the Jewish Exodus from Egypt and has been denoted as Feast of Trumpets (Lv 23:23-25): "Say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated [KJV uses the word 'memorial'] with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire" (NIV). So, if this is a Feast of Memorial, then a memorial of what? Congdon [1] has shown that there were three events in the Bible where the events were around this particular feast:

(1)   dedication of first temple (1Ki 8 & 2 Ch 5)

(2)    restoration of the temple by the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem (Er 3), and

(3)    when Ezra and Nehemiah led the returned exiles in a revival and rededication (Ne 8).

In each of these instances, the people, as a nation, looked back to the Covenant promises that God made to Israel. Therefore, the blowing of the shofar was made to ask God to remember his covenant with them. This would make sense as just 9 days later, the Day of Atonement would occur (10th day of Tishri). An individual cannot be righteous on his own, so an individual's only hope is for God to remember His promises to them. More of that later.

So, if this holiday, or feast, is symbolic of God remembering his covenant with Israel, are there instances in the New Testament of this? Yes, there is—a very significant one. If you recall, Malachi was the last prophet that we have record of that preached God's word to His people. Then came a time that has been knows as the "400 silent years." While there was a lot going on during this time, there was no official word from God, until . . .  the birth of Christ. He was the act of God remembering His covenant with His people. Larson [2] has done some excellent work on showing that the conception of Christ began around the time of Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC. We will have more about this in a future blog post.

These Jewish holidays/feasts are also prophetic in nature. The New Testament revealed that the first four feasts were prophetic:

Passover (also known as Pesach; Nissan 14th; Lv 23:5) - prophetic of Christ's death (1Co 5:7)

Feast of Unleavened Bread (also known as Matzah; Nissan 15th; Lv 23:6-8) - prophetic of Christ's burial (1 Co 15:4)

Feast of Firstfruits (also known as Bikkurim; Nissan 16th; Lv 23:9-14) - prophetic of Christ's resurrection (1Co 15:4)

These are typically celebrated today without demarcation: this year: Mar 27th – Apr 3rd

Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, Pentecost; 50 days after Firstfruits; Lv 23:15-21) - prophetic of gift of Holy Spirit (Ac 2:1-4) - in 2012, this holiday occurred May 16th – 17th

It would therefore be likely that the 3 feasts in the seventh month would also be prophetic. So, when would God remember his covenant with Israel again? When Christ first came, the Jewish leaders rejected him as their Messiah. This instituted what has been noted as the Age of Gentiles, as referred by Paul (Ro 11:25). Although we are saddened that Christ was rejected, we Gentiles should not be too sad because it opened the way for us to be "grafted in" (Ro 11:17). However, this in no way implies that God has rejected His people (Ro 11:26) because God's promises are irrevocable (Ro 11:29; Jr 31:33-37). But if this is the Age of Gentiles, when does God work with the nation of Israel again? Likely when the saved, "grafted-in," Gentiles are taken out of the picture - i.e., the Receiving of His Bride, also called the Rapture, (1Th 4:16-18). Now, I am not saying the Rapture is the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets because this event deals with God's present church (saved Jews and Gentiles) and not the nation of Israel. However, this does set up the scenario for God to then remember His covenant and to deal with the nation of Israel once more. The prophet Daniel does state that a covenant will be made with Israel by a coming world ruler (Dn 9:27) which will initiate the worst of times the world has ever experienced, which has been termed the Tribulation. This is likely the future event to which this feast is referring because this will certainly get Israel's attention at that time.

The fate of Israel affects us all. More to follow soon.

[1] Congdon, Robert, An Appointment with God: The Feasts of the Lord (Bloomington, IN: Crossbooks, 2009)

[2] Larson, Frederick A. “The Star of Bethlehem” (2008) https://bethlehemstar.com/

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