Breaking news...The Autumn Holy Days (PDF Notes and MP3 Podcast)
Study notes on Teshuvah, Rosh HaShannah, the Days of Awe, Yom Kippur, Sukk’ot and Hoshannah Rabbah
Click to download a PDF version of these notes (397KB).Click for a PDF version of the PowerPoint slides (420KB).Click for an MP3 audio podcast fo the accompanying talk (35 mins, 33MB).
God’s Timing – An Introduction
There are three great ‘peaks’ of salvation, reflected in the cycle of Biblical feasts, fasts and holy days:
- Passover
- Pentecost
- Tabernacles
The Feast of Tabernacles is the only great feast whose main fulfillment is yet to come and can be seen as the prophetic foreshadowing of:
- The gathering of Israel from the ends of the earth as a precursor to their national acknowledgement of Yeshua as their Messiah – and the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit
- The Second coming of the Messiah
- The advent of the Millennial Kingdom
Tabernacles falls in Tishri, the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, but the first month of the civil year, (September/October). The month of Tishri is often associated with creation, and many believe that Yeshua was most likely to have been born at this time.
Tabernacles itself is part of a group of three feasts, which are all stages in the return of Messiah.
- Rosh Hashanah - Feast of Trumpets/ The Blowing of Trumpets (Tishri 1)
- Day of Atonement - Tishri 10 (preceded by 10 days of awe)
- Tabernacles - Tishri 15-21
Why Bother with the ‘Old Testament’ Biblical Holidays?
Well, partly because – and as provocative / radical as this may sound – if you are a Bible-believing evangelical, there aren’t any New Testament holidays!
The bottom line is that there is more evidence to justify adopting the Biblical (God-given) holidays than there is for any of those in the Christian Calendar! That doesn’t mean that the Christian ones can’t be useful for outreach, etc as they are an accepted and recognised part of our culture.
BUT, if what you are looking for is a sense of authenticity and God-given instruction, then you can’t go wrong by following Him and His Word.
Didn’t Yeshua fulfil all the OT holidays?
Well, he actually said that he hadn’t come to abolish the Torah (Law) but to bring it to its fullness (Matthew 5:17). This is not fullness as in “bring to an end”, more “to complete, hit the target, show how it should be done”, which when understood within a correct view of Torah makes perfect sense and liberates our understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures (‘Old Testament’).
Remember:
- Before Yeshua came, the festivals were a foreshadowing of what was to come.
- Now that Yeshua has been, they can be a wonderful reminder to us and celebration of what he has done… just like Christmas, Easter, etc are reminders.
What about the Temple and the inability to perform sacrifices?
Yes, the sacrificial system has come to an end (since 70AD when the Romans sacked Jerusalem). This, however, doesn’t mean that we can’t still benefit from the deep and rich symbolism given to us in the Hebrew Scriptures for our benefit. If you say that we can’t use the symbolism, then our Communion Services must be rejected as well as they are laden with unmistakable symbolism from the Passover Celebration.
We would also have to rewrite almost every hymn, song and chorus ever written as they all draw on OT biblical symbolism, e.g. “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you”, “Lift up your heads, ye gates”, etc.
Won’t this just lead us into legalism?
No, because we would only recommend you investigate and celebrate the Biblical Feasts if they bring you life! Our position is that if God mandated it; if God recommends it; and if His Son had no problem with it, it must be good for us and certainly won’t be not harmful.
Don’t forget that there is a far stronger Biblical mandate for all of these feasts than there is for Christmas, Easter, All Hallows Eve, Pentecost (as we know it), etc.
We should also not forget that our “received” definition of God’s Law (torah) has been influenced by centuries of Christian teaching based on a misunderstanding of what the Torah (teaching, instruction and guidance) of our loving Heavenly Father is really about!
God’s Timing Is Perfect
“From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’, and sixty-two ‘sevens’. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens’, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.”
~ Daniel 9: 25 ~
Note: Great care is given to the actions of Nehemiah when gave wine to the king, and care was given to note the specific day the events in Nehemiah 2 began. Why was it so important for God to tell the date these things happened?
- First, to show that Nehemiah prayed and waited for four months with the kind of heart described previously in Nehemiah 1. During those four months, Nehemiah’s prayer was likely “LORD, either take this burden from my heart or show me how to be the man to answer this burden.”
- The date is also important, because it establishes the date given to restore Jerusalem and its walls. Daniel 9:25 says that exactly 173,880 days from this day - which was March 14, 445 B.C. - Messiah the prince would be presented to Israel.
Sir Robert Anderson, the eminent British astronomer and mathematician, makes a strong case that Yeshua fulfilled this prophecy exactly, to the day, entering Jerusalem on April 6, 32 A.D., precisely 173,880 days from Nehemiah 2:1.
In summary:The Decree occurred in Nisan (March) 445BC, Yeshua died at Passover in Iyar (April) 33AD, which is exactly 173,880 days (7x7 and 62x7 years)
Prepare with Teshuvah
Preparations for the Autumn Holidays begin a full month in advance. On the Jewish calendar is a forty-day season called Teshuvah (return or repentance.) It begins on Elul 1 and ends on the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10). This forty-day season is a time for one to annually examine his life and restore relationships between God and man. The first thirty days of this season are the thirty days of the month of Elul. The last ten days of this forty-day season are the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement, or the ten High Holy Days (Days of Awe).
The Jewish people start the celebration of the Autumn Holidays thirty days prior to the Feast of Trumpets, which falls on the first day of the seventh month.
For thirty days the shofar is blown every morning in the Synagogue to remind the people that the holy days are approaching, and that they should prepare themselves. Their preparation consists of confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness, and going back to fix mistakes made during the year. The ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are called the Days of Awe.
Rosh Hashanah (Trumpets)
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, falling on the first day of the seventh month, generally considered by Rabbis as the beginning of creation, and the Mishnah speaks of it as a day of judgment. In the Bible it is known as the Blowing of Trumpets and has the following meanings:
- Gathering and assembling of people
- Commencing a journey
- Call to arms
- Proclamation of joy
- Memorial or reminder of something present or just at hand
- Maimonides (a medieval Jewish scholar) said it was to rouse men to repentance
- The trumpet sound is connected to the voice of God (Ex.19:19; Rev.1:10) where the Trumpets were saying: “Come my people, gather to me, rejoice.”
- It is God saying “Behold” to his people: “Behold the bridegroom comes, the day of joy is at hand.”
The Lord said to Moses,
“Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire.’”
~ Leviticus 23: 23-25 ~
The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) is now the Jewish New Year, and begins the high Holy Days in the seventh month (corresponding to September or October). It is a celebration of the spiritual birthday of the world or creation, and is celebrated with blowing of the trumpets (Lev. 23:23-25).
Overview
- Jewish New Year = September / October
- Begins the “High Holidays”
- Celebrates the spiritual birth of the world and creation
- According to Jewish Tradition, many key milestones in God’s plan occurred on Rosh Hashanah
According to Jewish Tradition all the following ‘key moments’ in Biblical history happened on first day of the seventh month:
- Adam and Eve were created
- The Flood waters dried up
- Enoch was taken by God (Gen. 5:24)
- Sarah, Rachel, and Samuel (1 Sam. 1) conceived
- Joseph freed from prison by Pharaoh
- The forced labour of Hebrews in Egypt ended
- Job contracted leprosy
- Start of sacrifices on the altar built by Ezra (Ezra 3:1)
The Shofar Ceremony in the Temple
- The ceremony of the blowing of the shofar was a magnificent sight.
- The priest chosen to blow the shofar was trained from childhood. On the first day of this feast, the priest blowing the shofar stood outside the Temple with two trumpeters.
- The shofar represents, among other things, a call to awaken the conscience.
Sounding The Shofar
There are four different sounds associated with the Feast of Trumpet’s service. These sounds are explained as follows:
- Tekiah–A pure unbroken sound that calls man to search his heart, abandon his evil ways, and seek forgiveness through repentance.
- Shevarim–A broken, staccato, trembling sound. It typifies the sorrow that comes to man when he realizes his wrong and desires to change his ways.
- Teruah–A wave-like sound of alarm calling upon man to stand by the banner of God.
- Tekiah Gedolah–The prolonged, unbroken sound typifying a final invitation to sincere repentance and atonement.
Trumpets were always blown at a new moon; hence this was the 7th trumpet. At this particular feast the trumpets were heard from morning to evening, whereas on other occasions they blew once or twice. The Feast of Trumpets may thus be viewed as foreshadowing the day when God calls the attention of the Church and Israel, as well as of the nations, to the closing events of this age.
The trumpet has been sounding and Israel has been regathered as a nation into their own land. Yeshua said to look at the fig tree…” (Matthew 24:32-33). The sign of the nearness of Messiah’s return is the return of Israel to their own land.
Prophetic Power!
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord for ever.”
~ 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17 ~
The Feast of Trumpets is a powerful prophetic look at the final days and Messiah’s return.
I strongly believe that we are living in the days when the Church needs to be AWAKE and attentive to what God is speaking to us, seeing with His eyes, hearing with His ears, understanding with His mind and aligning our hearts with His heart, to beat together as one.
Yeshua said in Matthew 25: 1-13,
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
Listen to this prophetic word received by email recently, it wonderfully sums up how I feel about how we should be in this hour…
“Sleeping” byRas Robinson - October 11, 2007
Sleeping. This is the day and this is the hour for you to be very alert and standing ready for action. Do not be slack. Wipe all sleep from your eyes. A glorious event is about to unfold. It will involve you. This day is a day for being alert and available to Me. Wash your hands and face. Change your garments. Be prepared to move out into the next phase of your destiny. What has worked for you in the past is outdated and needs to be discarded. The new is upon you. Embrace it. Seek to fully understand it. Come with an open mind and no agenda of your own. You are mine and have been bought with a price. Sleeping.
Matthew 26:40
"And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said* to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?"
The trumpet has been sounding and Israel has been regathered as a nation into their own land. Yeshua said to look at the fig tree…” (Matthew 24:32-33). The sign of the nearness of Messiah’s return is the return of Israel to their own land.
The Ten ‘Days of Awe’
This period is devoted to repentance, prayer and fasting in preparation for the most solemn day of the year, the Day of Atonement.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
“The Lord said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God.”
~ Leviticus 23: 26-28 ~
Jewish eschatology teaches that on the Day of Atonement after six thousand years are complete, the Day of the Lord will come. On that day the shofar will sound and the righteous will be resurrected (Rev. 3:7-11).
Israel’s national day of reconciliation with her God, when sins of the nation were atoned for. Humiliation, mourning and humbling of soul is the focus rather than sacrifice. Only the High Priest officiated, in white linen, rather than adorned robes
What is the prophetic fulfillment of the Day of Atonement?
Zechariah 3:9; 12:10-14 – the removal of Israel’s sin and the pouring out of God’s Spirit on them… Romans 11:25-26: “…and so all Israel will be saved.”
When will it take place?
Prior to Messiah’s return, as a blessing for the Church. As Messiah returns for the Church, Israel will be brought to repentance.
In the Bible, Yom Kippur bears three names:
- the Day of Atonement,
- the Day of Judgment,
- and the Sabbath of Sabbaths.
The Day of Atonement served as a reminder that the daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices made at the altar of burnt offering were not sufficient to atone for sin. Even at the altar of burnt offering the worshipper stood “afar off,” unable to approach the Holy Presence of God, who was manifest between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. On this one day in the year, atoning blood was brought into the Holy of Holies, the divine throne room, by the high priest as the representative of the people (New Bible Dictionary)
The High Priest Was Central
- The high priest is entirely responsible for the Day of Atonement. He began preparing for this day a week early. He stayed in the high priest chamber in the temple court and studied the laws of the Day of Atonement. It was very important the priest not make a mistake. An error could cost him his life and the nation of Israel’s atonement.
- The high priest spoke a word this day that was unspeakable all other times. During the services he voiced the Holy name of God, YHWH or more likely Yahovah ten times during the ceremony. When the people heard the Holy Name they fell on the ground in reverence.
Jewish Customs
- Even secular Jews will attend synagogue on Yom Kippur
- No-one is barred from synagogue, their mere presence is considered a sign of penitence
- Never delayed, even for a Sabbath Day
- Fasting and not working are mandatory
- White is worn to symbolise the desire for purity and forgiveness (cf. Isa. 1:18)
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Messiah in Yom Kippur
- Yeshua is our atoning sacrifice
- His blood brought redemption for us all
- He is our High Priest - went into the Holiest Place in heaven on our behalf (Hebrews 9:11-12)
- Sin offerings could only go so far – skin deep, they couldn’t cleanse from within
- Yom Kippur is annual, Yeshua’ redemption is forever!
The Scapegoat
After purifying the holy place and the altar of burnt offering with the mingled blood of the bullock, the High Priest went to the eastern side of the court in front of the Temple. Facing him were two identical goats.
Nearby was a lottery box especially designed for this ceremony. In the box were two tablets (lots). One bore the name “For God,” the other “For azazel” (the scapegoat). The high priest shook the box and withdrew the tablets, putting one tablet in front of each goat. The goat labelled “for God” was sacrificed.
The priest laid his hands upon the goat’s head labelled “for azazel” and confessed over it the sins of Israel. The scapegoat symbolically bore the sins of the nation of Israel away from the people. This goat, commonly called the scapegoat (i.e. escape goat), was then driven into the desert.
In the same way Yeshua was brought before Pilate and stood before the people just as He was about to be led forth, bearing the iniquities of the people. These two goats were required for one sacrifice (Lev 16:17, 21-22).
Both sacrifices were fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. How can resurrection be portrayed in a sacrifice? By using two animals, one killed, the other set free, representing Yeshua’s death and resurrection.
Sukk’ot (The Feast of Tabernacles)
“Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
~ Leviticus 23:41-43 ~
The Feast of Tabernacles begins five days after Yom Kippur on the fifteenth of Tishri (September or October), and lasts for eight days. It is a huge change from one of the most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous.
It is the Harvest Festival of Joy!
Biblical Overview…
There was a huge contrast to solemnity of Yom Kippur. The people were called to remember:
The lowliness of their beginning
The 40-year sojourn in the desert
That God provides everything we need
To do this, they built and lived in temporary shelters (or ‘booths’), and were expected to read Zechariah 14, which talks of God’s liberation of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.
This was one of the 3 pilgrim feasts and the next 3 ceremonies were based around the Temple…
Sukk’ot and the Temple
The Court of the Women
Within this area, all Jews, male and female, were permitted. Even a ritually unclean Cohen could enter to perform various housekeeping duties. There was also a place for lepers (considered ritually unclean), as well as a ritual barbershop for Nazirites. In this, the largest of the temple courts, there could be seen constant dancing, singing and music.
The Court of the Israelites
This area was exclusively for Jewish men to enter. The Jewish men could see the animal sacrifices made by the high priest, in the court of the priests. The high priest was leader of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish government.
The Court of the Priests
The court of the priests was where the sacrificed animals, but only domestic animals could be sacrificed. Also doves and pigeons were sacrificed. The animals had to be younger than one years of age. Lambs were sacrificed as well, that is why Christians today now call Yeshua the Lamb of God, because he was sacrificed.
The Holy Temple
Between the entrance of the building and the curtain veiling the Holy of Holies were the famous vessels of the temple: the menorah, the incense-burning altar, and various other implements, some of which were purified with blood.
On the other side of the curtain, within the holy of holies, the chamber was empty; the Ark of the Covenant had disappeared long before
The Great Illumination
Takes place in the court of the women: 4 golden candelabra, each with 4 golden bowls, are filled with oil.
So brilliant was the light that there was not a court in Jerusalem that was not lit up by it. This reminded them of God’s leading in the wilderness with the pillar of fire. It also reminded them of the Messianic promises for the future when the light of Yahovah would arise upon the land (Isaiah 60:1, 19, 20).
The Talmud (Jerusalem Talmud Sukkot 55 b; Sukkot 53 a) states that on every night of the festive week, ‘the Court of the Women’ was brilliantly illuminated, and the night spent in joyous celebration.
This ‘joy of the feast’ remembered the hope of the great harvest when the gentile world would see the light of God – compare with Isaiah 49:6,
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Even the windows in the Court of Women were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside (usually the other way round) so as to emphasise that the light of God was to go from inside to outside – the Court of the gentiles – and beyond! And so all this also pointed to ‘the days of the Messiah.’
Water Libation (the Drawing of Water)
Water was also an important part of the Feast of Tabernacles. Before the festival, the Rabbis taught on every passage in Scripture dealing with water.
Takes place each morning of the feast whereby a procession, headed by a priest carrying a golden pitcher containing just over two pints, would go to the pool of Siloam.
As he returned via the Water Gate, he was received with a trumpet blast, and with great joy the water was poured into a silver basin on the altar.
This was a reminder that God sustained them with water in the wilderness from the rock, and would yet pour out his blessing upon them. It was also to signify Israel’s gratitude for the rain that had produced the harvest, and they would pray for rain in the next year.
The Mishnah tells us “He that has not beheld the joy of the Drawing of Water has never seen joy in his life.” As the Priest poured out the water over the altar The priest would recite Isaiah 12:1-3…
“And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD YAHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.”
Hoshannah Rabbah (The Great Hosanna)
The joy and excitement of the people reached a climax. The Choir of Levites would sing the Hallel (Psalms (113-118)), and the people respond with Hallelujah.
As the singers reached the words of Psalm 118:25-29,
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.”
People waved their palm branches (now linked with the Lulav) and shouted with joy. As they sung v.26 the godly among them would in their hearts greet the coming Messiah and King to whom they knew these words applied (hence their use in Palm Sunday).
On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hallel is not said at all, because as the Talmud states (Arachin 10b): "Is it seemly for the king to be sitting on His Throne of Judgment, with the Books of Life and Death open before Him, and for the people to sing joyful praises to Him?"
Yeshua in the Temple at Sukk’ot (John 8:12-59)
It was on this last day, the great day, when Yeshua stood and cried:
“If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
Near the Treasury (cf. Jn. 8:20) in the colonnade around ‘the Court of the Women,’ in which the receptacles for charitable contributions - the so-called Shopharoth, or ‘trumpets’ - were placed. The Court of the Women was the common meeting-place of Jewish worshippers
This location was also likely to have prompted Yeshua’ initial statement “I Am the light of the world” (v 12) in allusion to one of the great ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles.
