Yom Teruah — Day of Blowing Trumpets, Beginning of Season of Rest

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Judaism calls the first day of the seventh lunar month from the spring equinox Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew for “head of the year” or new year). The Bible calls it the “day of blowing trumpets” (Num. 29:1). It does begin the fall harvest festivals described in the Bible, which are associated with the coming of God to set up His kingdom on earth, otherwise known as the “Day of the LORD” (Zech. 14:16-19). However, as Richard Agee explains, it also is the start of the cycles of seven found throughout the Bible referring to “rest” (the Hebrew words for both “rest” and “seven” are similar): seventh day of the week is the day of rest, the Shabbat (Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8-10); every seventh year the land must rest (Ex. 23:11); seventh group of seven years, or the Jubilee (Lev. 25).

Introduction: Feast of Trumpets as a Turning Point in God’s Calendar

The Feast of Trumpets stands as a pivotal appointed time in the biblical calendar. Scripture describes it as “a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Lev 23:24 NASB1995). It occurs on the first day of the seventh month, a month that functions as a kind of climax and turning point. Just as the seventh day and the seventh year signify rest, the seventh month points to a larger rest in God’s redemptive plan.

This day does not simply recall past events. It signals a new beginning in a sequence of redemptive seasons. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread mark a beginning for Israel as a nation (Exod 12:1–14). The Feast of Weeks marks another beginning for those brought into covenant life with Israel (Deut 16:9–12). The seventh month opens the third and climactic season that includes the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths, and the Eighth Day (Lev 23:23–44). Together they point toward the culmination of God’s purposes in resurrection, judgment, and the establishment of His kingdom.

Biblical Commandments: Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29

The Torah establishes the Feast of Trumpets with brief but weighty commands. In Leviticus it reads:

“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD’” (Lev 23:24–25 NASB1995).

The day functions as a Shabbaton (special Sabbath rest). It centers on the זִכָּרוֹן תְּרוּעָה zikaron teru‘ah (“a reminder by blowing”). The focus rests on memorial and proclamation through sound.

Numbers expands the sacrificial instructions:

“Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets. You shall offer a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old without defect…” (Num 29:1–2 NASB1995).

The chapter details whole burnt offerings and grain offerings, along with a male goat as a sin offering (Num 29:5). The burnt offerings go entirely to God. The goat for sin underscores that access to joy, blessing, and worship rests on atonement. The required sin offering on every holy day keeps the people from forgetting that forgiveness and celebration always stand together.

The Two Silver Trumpets: Calling and Movement

Numbers 10 presents a crucial background to understanding trumpet imagery:

“The LORD spoke further to Moses, saying, ‘Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out’” (Num 10:1–2 NASB1995).

This passage identifies two primary functions:

1. Calling the congregation to the tent of meeting.
2. Directing the movement of the camps.

When both trumpets sound together, “all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting” (Num 10:3 NASB1995). When only one trumpet sounds, “then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall assemble before you” (Num 10:4 NASB1995). The distinction between the whole congregation and the leaders is explicit.

The trumpets also signal movement:

“But when you blow an alarm, the camps that are pitched on the east side shall set out. When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are pitched on the south side shall set out” (Num 10:5–6 NASB1995).

Here, trumpet blasts direct the journey. The people do not move randomly. They respond to defined sounds, given through authorized servants, in a set order.

The same trumpets sound in times of war:

“When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies” (Num 10:9 NASB1995).

They also sound on joyous occasions, new moons, and feasts (Num 10:10). Thus, the silver trumpets of מַחְצְרוֹת maḥtzerot(trumpets) form a pattern: they call, they direct movement, they accompany warfare, and they mark appointed times. These functions shape later prophetic and apostolic uses of trumpet imagery.

New Moons, Full Moons, and Testimony: Psalm 81

Psalm 81 links trumpet blowing with specific times:

“Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob” (Ps 81:3–4 NASB1995).

This psalm recalls the exodus, the removal of burdens, and the covenant at Sinai (Ps 81:6–10). The call to blow the trumpet at the new moon and the full moon ties the sound to both beginnings and fullness. Two major pilgrim feasts occur on full moons: Passover and the first day of the Feast of Booths (Lev 23:5–6, 34). Both are week-long festivals. Each marks a new stage of learning and relationship with God.

The psalm presents the pattern: God delivers, gathers, speaks, and commands. Israel must listen, reject foreign gods, and open wide to receive His provision (Ps 81:8–10). Trumpet blasts mark these moments of covenantal encounter.

Sinai and the First Great Assembly: Exodus 19

Exodus 19 provides an early model for trumpet-led gathering. Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, God instructs Moses:

“You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it.… When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain’” (Exod 19:12–13 NASB1995).

On the third day:

“So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain” (Exod 19:16–17 NASB1995).

The pattern appears again. The trumpet sounds. The people gather. A mediator leads them to the appointed place. God reveals His word. This scene anticipates a future global gathering at God’s command, through His appointed instruments, in response to a trumpet from heaven.

Yom Teruah and Eschatological Trumpet Imagery

The Feast of Trumpets points forward to climactic events associated with the coming of the Son of Man. Yeshua describes a future trumpet blast:

“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matt 24:30–31 NASB1995).

Here a single “great trumpet” initiates a global gathering of the elect. The language recalls the trumpet at Sinai and the silver trumpets of Numbers 10, but now the scope is worldwide. Angels perform the “calling” function, gathering the called-out ones to the Messiah.

This event fits into a broader pattern of leadership “phases” implied by the annual cycle. Passover relates to initial redemption and deliverance. Shavuot relates to the giving of Torah and the outpouring of the Spirit. The autumn moedim, beginning with the Feast of Trumpets, relate to final judgment, resurrection, and kingdom.

Resurrection and Life: John 11

The raising of Lazarus in John 11 offers a key window into resurrection hope. Martha shows awareness of a future resurrection:

“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day’” (John 11:23–24 NASB1995).

Her answer reflects common Jewish expectation of a general resurrection at the “last day.” Yeshua then redirects her focus:

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25–26 NASB1995).

He identifies Himself as both the source and the guarantee of that future resurrection. The subsequent raising of Lazarus, though a return to mortal life, prefigures the greater resurrection to immortality. Lazarus rises to die again. The future resurrection will bring an incorruptible state.

Order of Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15

First Corinthians 15 develops the theology of resurrection and connects it directly to trumpet imagery. The chapter insists that Messiah truly died, was buried, and rose on the third day “according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3–4 NASB1995). The resurrection of Messiah becomes the pattern and guarantee of the resurrection of His people.

Paul states:

“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Cor 15:20 NASB1995).

He then outlines an order:

“But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father…” (1 Cor 15:23–24 NASB1995).

This sequence mirrors harvest imagery. Messiah rises first as רֵאשִׁית re’shît (first portion). Those who belong to Him follow at His parousia. “The end” arrives as He delivers the kingdom to the Father, having abolished all other rule and authority.

The chapter insists that without resurrection, faith is empty and sin remains unforgiven (1 Cor 15:12–19). Death is not a passage into a higher disembodied life; it is an enemy that Messiah must destroy (1 Cor 15:26). Those who “sleep in Christ” await bodily resurrection, not an escape from embodiment.

Paul then links resurrection to a “last trumpet”:

“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Cor 15:51–52 NASB1995).

This “last trumpet” corresponds to the decisive signal of transformation. Two groups appear:

• “The dead” who are raised imperishable.
• The living, mortal ones who are “changed.”

Paul contrasts τὸ φθαρτόν to phtharton (the perishable) and τὸ θνητόν to thnēton (the mortal) with ἀφθαρσία aphtharsia(imperishability) and ἀθανασία athanasia (immortality) (1 Cor 15:53–54). The dead, already in corruption, must put on incorruption. The living, subject to death, must put on immortality. The trumpet marks this double transformation.

This language echoes the dual function of the silver trumpets. A trumpet calls the assembly. A trumpet commands movement. At the last trumpet, God gathers the leadership of His people and moves them from mortality to immortality.

Baptism, Death, and Union with Messiah

Paul also addresses confusion about resurrection by asking:

“Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?” (1 Cor 15:29 NASB1995).

In context, the entire chapter disputes claims that there is no resurrection. The concern lies with being united to a Messiah who either is alive or remains dead. Romans clarifies baptism’s meaning:

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead… so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4 NASB1995).

Baptism joins a person to Messiah’s death and resurrection. If He remains dead, baptism has no power. Union with a dead Messiah cannot give life or hope of resurrection. If God raised Him, then baptism into His death anticipates shared resurrection life.

This logic supports the necessity of bodily resurrection and the reality of the future trumpet event.

Firstborn from the Dead: Colossians and Revelation

Colossians emphasizes the primacy of Messiah’s resurrection:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15 NASB1995).

“He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything” (Col 1:18 NASB1995).

The term “firstborn” (πρωτότοκος prōtotokos) indicates rank, priority, and inheritance rights. As firstborn from the dead, Messiah opens the way for all subsequent resurrection.

Revelation affirms the same truth:

“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5 NASB1995).

Here resurrection and kingship stand together. The one raised from the dead governs all earthly rulers. Trumpet imagery later in Revelation aligns with this kingship, as trumpet judgments unfold and the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Lord and His Messiah (Rev 11:15).

Trumpets, Leadership, and the Future Role of the Saints

The pattern that emerges from Torah, Prophets, Writings, and Apostolic Writings presents trumpets as instruments of order, gathering, and commissioning. The two silver trumpets in Numbers 10 distinguish between:

• The whole congregation.
• The leaders and heads of Israel.

Messiah’s future trumpet event in Matthew 24 and 1 Corinthians 15 gathers “His elect” (Matt 24:31 NASB1995) and “those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor 15:23 NASB1995). These include patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all faithful who “sleep in Jesus” (1 Thess 4:14 NASB1995). They form the leadership core of the coming kingdom.

This leadership will engage in warfare of a different order. Believers already “struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness” (Eph 6:12 NASB1995). They put on the “full armor of God” (Eph 6:11 NASB1995). The future trumpet will shift this spiritual conflict into a fully revealed Messianic reign in which resurrected and transformed saints rule and judge the nations with justice and mercy (cf. Rev 20:4–6).

The Feast of Trumpets thus anticipates not only resurrection, but also the commissioning of leaders who will teach God’s statutes and judgments to the nations (Isa 2:2–4; Mic 4:1–3). Just as Moses brought Israel to meet God at Sinai, future leaders, raised and changed at the last trumpet, will bring the nations to the knowledge of the Holy One.

Conclusion: Yom Teruah as a Moed for the Living

The Feast of Trumpets functions as more than a ritual sound of shofars. It stands as a prophetic rehearsal of God’s final acts in history. Torah links the day with holy convocation, rest, sacrifice, and trumpet blasts. The Writings and Prophets connect trumpet sounds with covenant, warning, joy, and kingship. The apostolic writings connect a final trumpet with the resurrection of the dead, the transformation of the living, and the gathering of the elect.

The key Hebrew term תְּרוּעָה teru‘ah (blast, shout) captures the urgency and joy of this day. The key Greek terms ἀνάστασις anastasis (resurrection) and σάλπιγξ salpigx(trumpet) carry its fulfillment into the future hope. At the appointed time, a great trumpet will sound. The dead in Messiah will rise imperishable. The living in Messiah will be changed. Leadership will assemble before the true tabernacle, and the King will issue commands for the final movement of history.

In this light, the Feast of Trumpets speaks most directly to the living. It calls for readiness, understanding, and alignment with God’s order. It summons those who hear to respond to God’s call, prepare for His movement, and await the day when the last trumpet will sound and death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54 NASB1995).