Yom Teruah

God named all the other Biblical holidays (Shabbat, Passover), however this holiday has no name.  It is simply referred to as Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the Shofar or Feast of Trumpets), a special day calling attention to the coming holy day – the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). 

    Leviticus 23 tells us that the blowing of the Shofar is a memorial but not of what.  It is also regarded by both Jews and Christians as a memorial of the creation of the world, at which the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7.  It is a time of offering forgiveness reconciliation with others.  If anyone has mistreated another, it is a time to correct it and make amends. 

    Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement):  The 10 days of Awe’ begin with Yom Teruah.  This ten day period is devoted to repentence, prayer, and fasting in preparation for Yom Kippur.  Before Messiah Yeshua came, a dove or goat was sacrificed by man for his sins, the Priest sacrificed a sin offering for the Nation, and Messiah Yeshua the “El-Ha’She” (Perfect Lamb) was a sacrificial offering for the World!  The moment Yeshua died, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked beneath men’s feet. This event is important because it established Yeshua as being the new High Priest and Lamb of God.  No longer must there be an annual sacrifice for sin on our behalf, Messiah Yeshua made payment once and for all!  The believer need not stand afar off, as did the Israelite of old, but may now through Messiah Yeshua approach the very Throne of Grace!

     Shofar: Genesis chapter 22 is the source of the ancient rabbinical explanation of the Shofar’s beginning.  When Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed, an Angel appeared and stopped Abraham just before he sacrificed Isaac.  God provided the sacrifice, a ram caught in a thicket.  After sacrificing the ram, Abraham took one horn of the ram to remember this day and God took the other as the ancient Rabbi’s tell us in the Hebrew Akedah, a Jewish Historical account documenting the “binding of the Sacrifice” of Isaac in Genesis 22.   Abraham made altars wherever he met God and would go back and visit those places.  The Shofar is a spiritual instrument that calls in Gods Glory and is a warfare instrument.  The Shofar is symbolic of obedience to God!  -Shofars are made from the horns of the ram, mountain goat, kudu, antelope, and oryx .

    The Rabbi and Talmudist Saadia Gaon (892-942) stated “The Israelites know how to serenade their creator with the Teruah (Hebrew for shout)” The ancient Rabbi’s explain in the Kabbala and the Talmud (Rabbi Bey Hayyim 820A.D.) that the Shofar “staggers and confuses Satan who at the first sounding imagining that the Jews are merely complying with the Law (command to blow the Shofar) – the second blowing he (Satan) thinks it might be the Messiah as we know from Matthew 24:30-31 “30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory. 31 He will send out His angels with a great Shofar; and they will gather together His chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”  It was blown during coronation of a new King ( 1 Kings 1:34).  It was sounded as a warning (Amos 3:6).  It is a sign of the re-gathering of dispersed Israel (Isaiah 27:13).  And the greatest anticipation of all is the day of the arrival of the Messiah (Zech. 9:14).
The shape of the Shofar is not straight like a trumpet. It is curved and bent as a reminder to bend in respect to God.

Tekiah:- A pure unbroken sound that calls man to search his heart, abandon his evil ways, and seek the Messiah to forgive his or her sins.

Shevarim:- A broken, staccato, trembling sound. It typifies the sorrow that comes to a man upon realization that he was born a sinner and needs to repent and change his ways.

Teruah:- A wave like sound of alarm, as the watchman on the wall sound the alarm.

Tekiah Gedolah:- A prolonged, unbroken sound that will announce the coming of the Messiah.

     A total of one hundred notes will be sounded after reading the Torah to announce the setting up of the eternal court, with the Shofars heralding God as the all-seeing, all-knowing judge of the universe. Jewish tradition says this court date is to find out who are righteous and have their names remain in the Book of Life through Messiah.
     “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s Shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air;  and thus will always be with the Lord.” 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17