A Guide to the Christian Observance of the Biblical Sabbath, Feasts, and Holy Days
For a general introduction to the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, see the article Theme Times elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website. This webpage builds on concepts explained in that article. If you are not familiar with the cycle of these Feasts and Holy Days, you may find t helpful to read that article first.
Reveille!
Reveille:
From Middle French reveiller,
from re-
from Vulgar Latin exvigilare,
from Latin ex-
to keep watch, stay awake
[related to vigilant]
1 : a signal to get up mornings
2 : a bugle call at about sunrise signaling the first military formation of the day
The bugle (along with trumpets, cornets, and other similar wind instruments) has long been used for many symbolic purposes to convey “messages” to groups of people. If you are in a military boot camp, you may have to get used to as many as fifteen or more different “calls” on the bugle throughout each day, starting with Reveille to rouse you from slumber, and ending with Taps to let you know it’s time return to that slumber. During times of war, these instruments have rallied troops on the battlefield, and have been played over the coffins of those slain in battle to honor their bravery.
These instruments of rallying and “wake up” calls are well-
It is the sound qualities of these instruments that make them so right for the job of waking people up or getting their attention. It would be very ineffective to try to wake up a barracks full of soldiers with a tinkling tune on a xylophone! And you wouldn’t think to try to lead a charge into battle with the lilting strains of a flute. No, it takes burly sounds like those of the bugle, cornet, or trumpet for such purposes. Or the sound of these ...
http://madisonpipesanddrums.org/bagpipe_history.html
The Scots fought long against domination by the English. The noise of the pipes together with the fierce war cries of the kilted “savages” of the north would strike fear into the hearts of the English soldiers. The Scots were finally disastrously defeated at the famous battle of Culloden in 1745. The English, determined to rid themselves of a thorn in their side forever, passed laws prohibiting playing of the bagpipe and wearing of the kilt on pain of death. ...
By the time the ban was lifted, it had done its job well. The Scots were well integrated into the British Empire. Famous Scottish regiments such as the Scots Guards, the Gordon Highlanders, the Black Watch, and the Fraser Highlanders were raised in the nineteenth century as part of the powerful British military force. The Scottish regiments earned strong reputations as some of the bravest and fiercest of His Majesty’s Army in battles from Waterloo where Napoleon was defeated to the Boer Wars in South Africa to the defeats of the independent rajahs of India. But wherever they went, the Scottish regiments brought bagpipes with them.
By then using modern weapons of the British army, the soldiers continued to be inspired
by their highland bagpipe on the battlefield. And the pipers continued to lead. In
the early days of World War I they leaped from the trenches in charges against the
German machine guns, leading the troops through the hail of bullets. After some time
an order was issued -
The clamor and pomp of these rousing instruments, from bugles to trumpets to bagpipes, have announced the triumphal entry of victors into cities and the grand entrance of monarchs at important occasions. And they have set a mood of majesty and awe at religious ceremonies of many nations.
A fanfare of silver trumpets
for the Royal Family
of Great Britain
on a visit to Scotland.
A trumpet fanfare for the Royal family of Nepal.
Trumpet fanfares featured
during religious ceremonies in India.
And this custom of using dramatic and ear-
Exodus 19:10-
And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.” After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet [Hebrew: shofar] blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
This “trumpet blast” didn’t just announce the arrival of a king—it announced the arrival of God Himself to a momentous meeting with the nation of Israel!
Later, in a private meeting with Moses up on that same mountain, God instructed Moses in the ways that the new nation of Israel should use trumpets for special occasions
Numbers 10:1-
The LORD said to Moses: “Make two trumpets [Hebrew: chatsotsrah] of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out. When both are sounded [Hebrew: taqah, to make a loud, insistent sound] the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you. When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the same signal.
The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies. Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”
The blowing of these trumpets was used for a number of purposes, including:
- Assembly
- Warning
- Leading into battle
- Rejoicing.
In addition to these silver trumpets, the Israelites used another kind of “wind instrument” for special purposes. This was the shofar, or trumpet made out of an animal’s horn (often a ram.)
The shofar is what was sounded by the Israelites when they surrounded Jericho:
Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no
one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your
hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with
all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’
horns [Hebrew: shofar] in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the
city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound
a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall
of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” (Joshua
6:1-
In most instances in English Bibles when the word trumpet is used, other than the two silver trumpets described in Numbers, and trumpets used in musical worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, it is translated from the Hebrew word shofar.
Although silver trumpets, even the simple ones without push button valves (the type that was likely made according to the instructions in Numbers) can have quite an aesthetically musical sound, the sound of ram’s horn trumpets is not noted for its musical qualities. It is noted for its harsh, blasting noise. You can hear a sample at this Web address.
http://research.umbc.edu/eol/MA/index/number3/cdrev/cdr1.wav
The Feast of Trumpets
So when God instructed Moses regarding a special day of worship that is now called (in English) the Feast of Trumpets, from which of these various kinds of wind instruments was this name derived?
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 [Hebrew: teruah]. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the
LORD by fire.’ (Leviticus 23:23-
On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. (Numbers 29:1)
Actually, none of the Hebrew words implying one of the ritual silver trumpets, or a trumpet for music, or a shofar is used in these passages. The phrases “trumpet blasts” and “sound the trumpets” are both used to translate the single Hebrew word teruah. This word indicates a “clamor, that is, acclamation of joy or a battle cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarum.” (The archaic KJV word alarum means a “call to arms.”)
In other words, the English translators here have made the assumption that trumpets are implied in the noisy clamor. And, indeed, to this day this particular observance is referred to in English by many as the “Feast of Trumpets” or “Feast of Blowing of the Shofar.” In Hebrew it is actually Yom Teruah (Hebrew yom=“day”—the Day of Teruah). Although no Hebrew word for trumpet occurs in this name either, Jewish scholars also assume that the reference is not just to “clamor” in general (shouting or battle cries) but to the sounding of actual physical trumpets. On this day, worship gatherings featuring the ceremonial blowing of the shofar are typical in Jewish synagogues.
The Symbolism and Significance of the
Feast of Trumpets
Although the Bible nowhere specifically states the exact “meaning” of the Feast of Trumpets, both Jewish and Christian commentators and teachers have connected it to a variety of passages in the Bible that speak of blowing of trumpets. Consider this verse:
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet [Hebrew: shofar]. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)
One lesson that can be taken from these words of God is this:
When God’s people are in trouble, because of their sins, God will send messengers such as Isaiah to sound the alarm, that they may turn and repent … and then God will hear the “sound of the trumpet” and remember them and rescue them.
This symbolism is not lost on modern Jews. The picture below from the Jerusalem Post newspaper, of silver trumpets being blown is from an event in 2002 in Jerusalem:
JP 2-
In addition, some commentators, including Philo (a first century Jewish philosopher) have connected the symbolism of the blowing of shofars on the Feast of Trumpets to the shofar blasts of the event of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai shortly after the Exodus, quoted from Exodus 20 above.
Trumpets in the New Testament
The symbolism of blowing of trumpets shows up in a number of places in the New Testament connected to the return of Christ, with the sense of “waking up” and “gathering” those who belong to Him. It is thus not surprising that many Christian prophecy speculators have bombastically declared that Jesus will actually return on the exact date of the Feast of Trumpets some year.
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations
of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the
sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet
call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens
to the other. (Matthew 24:30-
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in
a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with
Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell
you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly
not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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 Christ 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 forever. Therefore encourage each
other with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
(Revelation 8:1-
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)
Some of these trumpets scriptures have convinced certain “prophecy speculators” for the past 150 years and more that we ought to expect Jesus Christ to return to Earth in the Second Coming on this very day. After all, He died at the time of the annual Passover, and the Holy Spirit was sent on the very day of Pentecost. So it is not unreasonable to speculate that future special events in the history of the Plan of God will occur on annual Holy Days or around the time of the annual Feasts.
It is not impossible, of course, that Jesus will indeed return on Trumpets. But is that the only, or the primary, focus of symbolism that Christians should assign to the significance of this Holy Day?
The reality is that Trumpets teaches the lesson that we should be sober, vigilant, spiritually prepared and awake, and keeping watch all of the time in every generation. Because, of course, Jesus will “come for” each individual in a sense the moment they die. There is no more time for preparation then.
Perhaps it would be good to consider that the Feast of Trumpets year by year may be calling our attention to the need for spiritual “watchfulness” in general. The notion of a “wake up call” has been used in recent years by many religious teachers to suggest that world conditions, including, for instance, the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, ought to be sobering.
They should cause Christians to “wake up” to their own sins and the sins of their nations, to quit being distracted by shallow values of greed and temporary physical pleasures, and turn to God.
Perhaps these events could even be considered comparable
to the voice of the prophets of the Old Testament “lifting up a voice like a trumpet.”
Now that you have an overview of the Biblical background, symbolism, and Christian significance of the Feast of Trumpets, you may wish to explore some of the ways in which Christians observe this Holy Day. The 3Rs:Day of Trumpets booklet provides a variety of descriptions and suggestions for such observance.
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The Feast of Trumpets
Reveille!
