The Blowing of Trumpets

The blowing of trumpets was the beginning of the feast of the seventh month. This was the final feast of harvest of the agricultural year in Israel. Each feast was a harvest feast and celebrated the first harvest, the next harvest 50 days later and the final harvest in the seventh month. In the seventh month the celebration began with the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets and then the Feast of Day of atonement and then the Feast of Tabernacles. This was the end of the harvest period however, the year was not yet finished. This was the 7th of 12 months.

Israel had two years that ran concurrently. One was the civil year or the governmental year and the other was the religious and harvest year. The two years didn’t begin and end together. The exact times of the beginning years is quite confused because Israel was to measure their years according to the moon and it’s cycle. Therefore, the New Moon Festival signaled the beginning of the next time period. This cycle of the moon is at a different sequence than the cycle of the sun that marks the calenders of other civilizations. The cycle of the moon varies a few days each year. Since Passover is set by the cycle of the moon it varies each year.

I am sure that God is revealing something significant in all this but I don’t know what it is. It may be that we can’t know the exact times and seasons but have to wait for the Sun of Righteousness to arise. MAL 4-2] "But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. [3] "And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the LORD of hosts.

LUKE 1:78] Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, [79] TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.

In Israel the religious year followed along with the cycle of the agricultural year which ties the spiritual year to the harvest year. The harvest then is not just concerned with the bringing in of natural crops but is a type and shadow of the spiritual harvest of the end times. Passover is the very beginning of the harvest year. EX 12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. [3] "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, `On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household. [4] `Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

Passover was also a harvest feast and the last part of Passover was the bringing in of the sheaf of the first fruits to the house of God. This feast could only be kept in Canaan. It could not be kept in the wilderness because there was no harvest there. LEV 23:10] "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, `When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

MAT 13:37] And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, [38] and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; [39] and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. [40] "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. [41] "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.

In Israel the Governmental or civil year began in the fall and was marked by the New Year celebration in the month Tishri which falls around September. The ecclesiastical year or religious year, the beginning of the harvest season, began in the spring in the month Abib. The name of this month was later changed to Nisan which explains the confusion in the scriptures. The exact days and months are irrelevant and all we have to know is that the end time is the harvest and the reapers are the Angels.

We could loosely explain the difference between the agricultural year and the governmental year as the difference between the Kingdom of God and functioning of the church to bring in the harvest of the Lord into the house of God. Both are intricately joined together. Whenever the administrative system in Israel collapsed the harvest was affected. As long as Israel sought and honored God He assured them good harvest and rain in the proper season. The economic prosperity , the government and administrative systems, the military structure, the religious life and the harvest were all linked together. The same is surely true today in the church.

Every time Israel was weakened politically and governmentally it encouraged the enemies to attack Israel. Every time their religious life became corrupted, even if the government was strong, the enemies attacked. If there was a conflict between the kings and the priests of Israel it produced very serious consequences. God’s purpose is for the government and the religious life to co-operate in harmony. The government without true worship or religious life without government is never complete.

From this example it is clear that the Kingdom of God actively working in the spiritual life of the church is essential to the end time harvest and the blessing of God. We really can not separate the true worship of God from the Kingdom Government of God in our lives. The harvest is linked to these two although they both may not have exactly the same starting time in our life. While the church has focused upon the harvest, the Kingdom government of God has been neglected.

The first four feasts are covered in other studies so we will focus on the last of the harvest feasts which are the feasts of the seventh month. These begin with the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, after Trumpets the Day of Atonement and after Atonement the Feast of Tabernacles.

LEV 23:23 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [24] "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. [25] `You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.'"

LEV 23:26 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [27] "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD. [28] "Neither shall you do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God. [29] "If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. [30] "As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. [31] "You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. [32] "It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath."

LEV 23:33 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [34] "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, `On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths [ TABERNACLES] for seven days to the LORD. [35] `On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. [36] `For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.

LEV 23:37 `These are the appointed times of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the LORD--burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, each day's matter on its own day-- [38] besides those of the Sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.

LEV 23:39 `On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. [40] `Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. [41] `You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. [42] `You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, [43] so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'" [44] So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the LORD.

LEV 19:9 `Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. [10] `Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

DT 24:19 "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. [20] "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. [21] "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. [22] "And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

The final harvest in the Book of Revelation is not all at precisely the same time. There is the main harvest but whatever is not gathered in at the end of 3/12 years must be left for the gleaners to gather later, at the seventh year. The angels are still the reapers in the end time but not all will be ready for even the main harvest of 3/12 years but will be gathered in at the end of the great tribulation. The main harvest will be in the middle of the tribulation and there will not be provision to get the gleanings ready at that time. What ever is not harvested then must wait for the final call. If we miss the first fruit harvest before the tribulation we must make sure we are ready for the main harvest at the end of 3 1/2 years and not be a sheaf that falls to the ground and is left behind for the seventh year harvest.

This is precisely why the final harvest begins with the blowing of trumpets. The “blowing of trumpets” had many functions in Israel and we need to see as many as possible even though not all had to do with the harvests. Also there were TWO KINDS OF TRUMPETS used. There was the SHOFAR or ram’s horn that was blown on various occasions.

The trumpets we are especially concerned with are the two silver trumpets in Numbers 10. These were the signal trumpets or announcing trumpets that informed Israel of what God was saying and alerting them to be ready for the new move of God. Each trumpet or combination of trumpets must give a clear sound or Israel would not have known how to respond. [1 Cor 14:8] These trumpets could be compared to the prophetic word preached to inform God’s people and to keep them moving towards God’s purpose.

Joel 2 is an example of how the trumpets were used. The first trumpet is to warn that the day of the Lord is coming. [The angel trumpets in Revelation announce judgement because the day of the Lord has already passed.] V15 This trumpet is to call a solemn assembly and to gather the various groups of God’s people to prayer and fasting. V11 may also speak of trumpets as God’s voice. The trumpets gather the leaders and call for the intercessors. V16-17


	Incomplete thoughts on the blowing of trumpets The blowing of trumpets was the beginning of the feast of the seventh month. This was the final feast of harvest of the agricultural year in Israel. Each feast was a harvest feast and celebrated the first harvest, the next harvest 50 days later and the final harvest in the seventh month. In the seventh month the celebration began with the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets and then the Feast of Day of atonement and then the Feast of Tabernacles. This was the end of the harvest period however, the year was not yet finished. This was the 7th of 12 months. Israel had two years that ran concurrently. One was the civil year or the governmental year and the other was the religious and harvest year. The two years didn’t begin and end together. The exact times of the beginning years is quite confused because Israel was to measure their years according to the moon and it’s cycle. Therefore, the New Moon Festival signaled the beginning of the next time period. This cycle of the moon is at a different sequence than the cycle of the sun that marks the calenders of other civilizations. The cycle of the moon varies a few days each year. Since Passover is set by the cycle of the moon it varies each year. I am sure that God is revealing something significant in all this but I don’t know what it is. It may be that we can’t know the exact times and seasons but have to wait for the Sun of Righteousness to arise. MAL 4-2] "But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. [3] "And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing," says the LORD of hosts. LUKE 1:78] Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, [79] TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace. In Israel the religious year followed along with the cycle of the agricultural year which ties the spiritual year to the harvest year. The harvest then is not just concerned with the bringing in of natural crops but is a type and shadow of the spiritual harvest of the end times. Passover is the very beginning of the harvest year. EX 12:1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, [2] "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. [3] "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, `On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household. [4] `Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Passover was also a harvest feast and the last part of Passover was the bringing in of the sheaf of the first fruits to the house of God. This feast could only be kept in Canaan. It could not be kept in the wilderness because there was no harvest there. LEV 23:10] "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, `When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. MAT 13:37] And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, [38] and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; [39] and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. [40] "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. [41] "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness. In Israel the Governmental or civil year began in the fall and was marked by the New Year celebration in the month Tishri which falls around September. The ecclesiastical year or religious year, the beginning of the harvest season, began in the spring in the month Abib. The name of this month was later changed to Nisan which explains the confusion in the scriptures. The exact days and months are irrelevant and all we have to know is that the end time is the harvest and the reapers are the Angels. We could loosely explain the difference between the agricultural year and the governmental year as the difference between the Kingdom of God and functioning of the church to bring in the harvest of the Lord into the house of God. Both are intricately joined together. Whenever the administrative system in Israel collapsed the harvest was affected. As long as Israel sought and honored God He assured them good harvest and rain in the proper season. The economic prosperity , the government and administrative systems, the military structure, the religious life and the harvest were all linked together. The same is surely true today in the church. Every time Israel was weakened politically and governmentally it encouraged the enemies to attack Israel. Every time their religious life became corrupted, even if the government was strong, the enemies attacked. If there was a conflict between the kings and the priests of Israel it produced very serious consequences. God’s purpose is for the government and the religious life to co-operate in harmony. The government without true worship or religious life without government is never complete. From this example it is clear that the Kingdom of God actively working in the spiritual life of the church is essential to the end time harvest and the blessing of God. We really can not separate the true worship of God from the Kingdom Government of God in our lives. The harvest is linked to these two although they both may not have exactly the same starting time in our life. While the church has focused upon the harvest, the Kingdom government of God has been neglected. The first four feasts are covered in other studies so we will focus on the last of the harvest feasts which are the feasts of the seventh month. These begin with the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, after Trumpets the Day of Atonement and after Atonement the Feast of Tabernacles. LEV 23:23 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [24] "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. [25] `You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.'" LEV 23:26 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [27] "On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the LORD. [28] "Neither shall you do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God. [29] "If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. [30] "As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. [31] "You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. [32] "It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath." LEV 23:33 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [34] "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, `On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths [ TABERNACLES] for seven days to the LORD. [35] `On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. [36] `For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. LEV 23:37 `These are the appointed times of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the LORD--burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, each day's matter on its own day-- [38] besides those of the Sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. LEV 23:39 `On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. [40] `Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. [41] `You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. [42] `You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, [43] so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'" [44] So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the LORD. LEV 19:9 `Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. [10] `Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God. DT 24:19 "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. [20] "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. [21] "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. [22] "And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. The final harvest in the Book of Revelation is not all at precisely the same time. There is the main harvest but whatever is not gathered in at the end of 3/12 years must be left for the gleaners to gather later, at the seventh year. The angels are still the reapers in the end time but not all will be ready for even the main harvest of 3/12 years but will be gathered in at the end of the great tribulation. The main harvest will be in the middle of the tribulation and there will not be provision to get the gleanings ready at that time. What ever is not harvested then must wait for the final call. If we miss the first fruit harvest before the tribulation we must make sure we are ready for the main harvest at the end of 3 1/2 years and not be a sheaf that falls to the ground and is left behind for the seventh year harvest. This is precisely why the final harvest begins with the blowing of trumpets. The “blowing of trumpets” had many functions in Israel and we need to see as many as possible even though not all had to do with the harvests. Also there were TWO KINDS OF TRUMPETS used. There was the SHOFAR or ram’s horn that was blown on various occasions. The trumpets we are especially concerned with are the two silver trumpets in Numbers 10. These were the signal trumpets or announcing trumpets that informed Israel of what God was saying and alerting them to be ready for the new move of God. Each trumpet or combination of trumpets must give a clear sound or Israel would not have known how to respond. [1 Cor 14:8] These trumpets could be compared to the prophetic word preached to inform God’s people and to keep them moving towards God’s purpose. Joel 2 is an example of how the trumpets were used. The first trumpet is to warn that the day of the Lord is coming. [The angel trumpets in Revelation announce judgement because the day of the Lord has already passed.] V15 This trumpet is to call a solemn assembly and to gather the various groups of God’s people to prayer and fasting. V11 may also speak of trumpets as God’s voice. The trumpets gather the leaders and call for the intercessors. V16-17 V23 gives assurance that then God’s people will be able to complete God’s purpose. V12 may be what the trumpets are saying.