The Feasts of Israel...

 

Part 1.

ROSH HASHANA

“SHANA TOVA” (greeting for Rosh Hashana)


 


 

Psalm 89:15 “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound (blast) of the shofar, who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feast; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance.


 

On this Rosh HaShana, more than any other, we need to HEAR (shema) the shofar.


 

One of the many names for Rosh HaShana is “Yom Tekuah” which means “Sound of an awakening blast.”


 

So the theme is “to awaken from our slumbering state.”


 

It’s the same word used in Isaiah 12:6 “Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”


 

Psalm 98:6 “With trumpets and the sound of the shofar….shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.”


 

Zephaniah 3:14 “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel: be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.”


 

Zechariah 9:9a goes a step farther :Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion….Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you…...”


 

I like the way Paul says it in Ephesians 5:14 “…..Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”


 

The word Rosh means “chief or head…..

Ha means “the”…..

Shanah means “year”…..



 

So Rosh HaShanah means the head of the year, or the beginning of the year. Actually the beginning of the “civil” calendar, while Passover begins the sacred calendar.


 

Rosh HaShana is known as the birthday of the world since the world was created on this day according to the Jewish Talmud, which records historical events handed down through the generations.


 

Jewish tradition also believes that Adam and Eve were created on Rosh HaShana which at that time landed on the first day of Tishrei.


 

The first word of the Bood of Genesis is “Bereishit” or “in the beginning”.


 

Some of the most ancient scrole manuscript translations report “Aleph b’ Tishrei” or “on the first of Tishrei.”


 

Other events that happened on Rosh HaShana are:

  1. Adam and Ever were created

  2. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all born on this date

  3. Abraham offered Isaac

  4. Joseph was released from prison

  5. Moses appeared before Pharaoh to demand the release of God’s people

  6. And of course, few argue anymore about the fact that Jesus was born on Rosh HaShana and will return for His Bride on Rosh HaShana


 

When that great trumpet/shofar sounds, the miracle to surpass all miracles will take place:

  1. The graves will open and give up their dead

  2. The living believers will rise from the earth

  3. We will be changed and outfitted for immortality and glory


 

The victory of Joshua at Jericho is a type of the Rapture of the Church.


 

The people shouted and blew trumpets, and the walls fell down, and each man “ascended up” into the city!


 

Jericho was the place where God chose to take His people into their Promised Land. It was the first beautiful thing they saw after 40 years of barren, hopeless desert.


 

It represents our first glimpse of heaven as we “enter in”.


 

It’s customary at Rosh HaShana to dip apples in honey and pray for a sweet year.


 

Nehemiah 8:1-12 happened on Rosh HsShanah


 

  1. They heard the Word

  2. They got right with God

  3. They wept to the point that Nehemiah and Ezra had to tell them to stop mourning, weeping and grieving so much, because God HAS forgiven your sins!


 

Purpose of Rosh HaShana:

  1. Repentance

  2. Revival of the Lord’s covenant relationship with His people

  3. Confound and defeat the lies of the enemy

  4. To prepare the people for Yom Kippur


 

The 10 days from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur are called

“Yom-hahno-hah-eem” or “The 10 days of Awe”……a time of repentance and preparation.


 

Within those 10 days is “Shabbat Shuniah” or “The Sabbath of returning”.


 

Proverbs 28:13 “He that covers his own sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confessess and forsakes his own sins shall have mercy”.


 

The sound of the “Sho-fareem” (rams horn) strikes awe into the hearts of the people, just as an alarm would.


 

Romans 13:11 “And that knowing the time, that NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”


 

The order of the sound of the shofar alarm is as follows:

  1. The Tekiah the long straight notes which represent those who are strong in faith.

  2. The Shevarim and teruah the broken wavering notes which represent those plagued with doubts.

  3. Another Tekiah long straight note.


 

This is a message to the doubters to associate with men and women strong in their faith so your doubts can be resolved and your faith will become strong.


 

Psalm 103:12 and Micah 7:18-19 re: “Taslich”

A custom arose and is still followed, of going to a river or brook on the afternoon of Rosh HaShana; reciting these verses as they literally cast stones into moving water to represent letting go of our sins and the affects of them once and for all.


 

“Ve-Taslich” “cast/heave and cause to go deep.”


 

The sea is a place of purification in a sense because sea rocks are washed away by the clean purifying waters.


 

Any debree or dirt left in the pockets is also emptied out.


 

Ephesians 1:7 says “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace…..”

  1. Redemption: you belong to God now!

  2. Forgiveness of sins: we sin (fall short) every day


 

Three strands (of whatever) are braided together on Rosh HaShana to give significance to the over all theme of the Feast which is:

  1. First strand: To honor the kingship of God and His authority over creation.

  2. Second strand: A day of remembrance of God’s greatness and goodness to forgive.

  3. Third strand: Time for spiritual awakening.


 

Observance for all the feasts begins at sundown on the night before.


 

At home, challah (egg bread) is baked into the shape of a ladder to speed prayers upwards to God


 

Both challah and apples dipped in honey are eaten in the hope of a sweet and happy year.


 

The shofar was the signal for the field workers to come into the Temple.


 

The high priest actually stood on the southwestern parapet of the Temple and blew the shofar so that it could be heard in the surrounding fields.


 

At that instant, the faithful would stop harvesting even if there were more crops to bring in, and leave immediately for the worship services.


 

There’s coming a day when it will be too late to work in the fields that are right now so white and ripe for the picking.


 

It will be too late for the laborers to continue and it will be too late for the remaining crops to be harvested.


 


more to come...