Why were they told to make the Menorah with shape of almond blossom and not olives, vines or figs???
Scripture records that the pattern for the Menorah was given by God to Moses and almonds have specific meaning which was understood. We have seen the connection between the almond shaped receptacle for the olive oil at the top of each branch of the menorah. Only the Priest could tend the wicks and light them.
The next connection to Almonds was the Rod of Aaron:
Numbers 17:8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
8 Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the LORD to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.
Aaron’s Rod not only leafed out the next day, it also had flower buds, flowers, and even ripe almonds on the same stick! (Numbers 17:8).
Num. 17:1-5 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Get staffs from them—twelve staffs in all, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write each man’s name on his staff. Start with Aaron; write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi and then proceed with the rest, a staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe.”
The man’s name written on the sticks showed that it was the original one, but the growth in various stages of maturity also proves that no one had cut an almond branch and put it in its place.
Sometimes tribes are called Shevatim, which also means: supple BRANCH (still attached to the tree); sometimes they are called Matot, which means hard stick, cut off from the tree.
Although obvious that branches are alive and supple and growing when still attached to the tree and draw their strength from it and its roots; it must be noted that as we are grafted in, we too must stay connected to the tree of life. In our case this is Messiah Jesus/Yeshua HaMashiach, in order to stay alive and grow.
Aaron had his own staff. And it was Aaron’s staff which became a “serpent” before Pharaoh and which swallowed up the “serpents” of the magicians (Exodus 7:9-12).
Possible symbolic prophetic meaning that death would be swallowed up in life.
The spiritual shown subduing and overcoming the natural. The Creator shown superior over His creation – good triumphing over evil.
Aarons staff was from the almond tree and every tree bears the fruit God created it to produce.
In Ex. 25:31-36 The golden candlestick is recorded and in Isaiah 11:1 the prophetic word declared that…
A shoot, rod or branch (cutting) is how olive trees are reproduced. Just as we are grafted in to Him and He reproduces Himself in us.
1 A shoot (rod) will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a BRANCH will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD
Here the 7 Spirits of God are listed right along side the BRANCH connecting them there are 7 lamps and there is a confirming reference by John in Rev 4:5 – 7 lamps – 7 spirits.
Num 17:8-10; Jer 1:11-12
Has similar language
The budding of the staff/literally the BRANCH of an almond tree, is symbolic of resurrection life and fullness of God
and is typified in three elements connected to the menorah.
The Bud
the Flower
and
the Fruit.
See chart below for other symbolism.
The Priest is a picture of Yeshua/Jesus and represents man to God.
The Budding is a picture that assures us that HE IS our High Priest.
Apocalypse of the menorah – (revealing the meaning) – and the significance of the almond tree.
The shape reminds the onlooker of a flowering tree of life.
The Menorah was made from 1 piece and resembling a tree with branches, tradition says it also represents the tree of life that was present in the beginning – Beresheet.
The Tree of Life is in the Beginning – Genesis and at the end – Revelation.
On each of the six side arms were 3 golden almond blossoms and together with the 4 on the center shaft, there were exactly 22 almond blossoms. Between the 22 flowers, there are 21 connections. From the lowest flower to the top flower on the shaft to the 6 lamps, there are 3×8+3=27 connections, and together with the highest connection from the top flower on the shaft to the middle lamp, there are a total of 28 (4×7) connections. Together they are 50 parts + 7 lamps.
In Israel, toward the end of January, while the rest of the trees continue their winter slumber, the Almond Tree is the first to awaken to life and blooms.
Therefore, the white almond blossom is a symbol of life and purity.
God paid attention to the details from the very beginning; for He commanded that every single almond blossom on the Menorah should consist of three parts, namely, the cups, buds and blossoms (petals). Together they are 3 x 22=66 single flower parts.
The Menorah stood in the Tabernacle and in Solomon’s Temple. The Menorah also stood in the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified.
The BIBLE: 7 parts, 49 scrolls with 66/70 books = the word of God = the light in this dark world.
Three of the many 7’s in Scripture:
7 Appointed Times
7 Spirits of God
7 Days of the week, etc.
Some symbolism meanings:
The pattern of the menorah was for 3 decorative cups to be on each of the 6 branches only on the main center branch was there to be 4 cups.
4 cups of the Passover meal! For the servant/shamash, was at the center of the Menorah.
The cups of the menorah remind the bride of the cups she drank during the marriage vows with her bridegroom at His Appointed Feasts, vowing to be His faithful bride.
The cups on the menorah and the branches were designed in the shape of open almond blossoms because as already noted, the almond tree represents first fruits and in Israel is the first tree to bloom after the winter. Just as we saw in song of Solomon..the winter is past the spring has come she was watching for her beloved.
Jesus/Yeshua is the First Fruits from the dead and we are His first fruits. We like the rod of Aaron were dead outside of Jesus/Yeshua. When He redeemed us and was resurrected, then He raised us from death to life and we became His First Fruits. Ezek. 37:1-4
Was it also a reference to the burning bush or the almond tree or the type of sage that grows in Israel? Unless it is very clear, we don’t need to caught up too much in symbolism! However, there are some very clear ones with the blossoms and almond shapes.
How does an almond tree grow?
And what we can learn?
Today the temple of God is where He lives now, within the heart of the believer.
If believers do not know how to maintain the light of the menorah or preserve the bread of His presence, how will the bride know the timing of her wedding or be prepared to join her bridegroom?
The menorah is the only light in the Holy place.
Oil has been provided for the brides journey to light her way but, the oil can only be useful if the menorah has been maintained and the wicks are trimmed. Tended to daily by the priest.
Without the light the bride is unable to see the word, which is the bread of His presence and her path WAY Will be darkened. Maintaining the menorah will allow her to see clearly and find her way to her wedding.
The Lamp stand, the Menorah, represents the Messiah of Israel in John 8:12 Jesus said, I am the light of the world.
As the Bridegroom of Israel, He will light the path/WAY, to reveal the WAY of the bride.
The menorah is also a symbol of the brides mission.
As the Mishkan is to be made in the pattern given, when the bride walks in Jesus/Yeshua’s right ways, she will reflect His light to the nations. Isaiah 42:7
It is said that pure gold is one of the easiest metals to work with. It can be beaten into a transparent gold foil over 500 times thinner than the human hair. God required that the menorah was to be made using one piece of pure gold.
The cups of the menorah:
The pattern of the menorah required three decorative cups to be on each of the six branches extending from the lampstand.
The 3 cups of the six branches of the menorah are symbols which represent the commandment for the Israelites to come before the Lord at His Moedim/Appointed Times/ feasts, three times a year to worship Him. Deut. 16:16 – Devarim.
Only on the main shaft itself were there to be 4 cups. The cups on the menorah remind the bride of the cups she drank during the marriage vows with her bridegroom at His appointed feasts, vowing to be His faithful bride.
The first cup represents the cup of acceptance that the bride will drink at the first feast in the spring at the Passover and the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The second cup represents the cup of betrothal the bride drinks at the second feast in late spring or early summer called the feast of Shavuot /Pentecost.
The third cup represents the cup the bride will drink at the 3rd Feast in the Autumn /Fall at the feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot. This will be the wedding (Yom Kippur/ atonement) and celebration cup at the wedding supper of the lamb. Sukkot/ tabernacles).
Only on the main shaft of the menorah, which is also called the branch, is there a 4thcup.
This BRANCH represents MessiahJesus/Yeshua and the 4th cup represents the cup He drank on our behalf at His death – the cup of bitterness.
He took our cup in fulfillment of the law of jealousy, regarding a wife suspected of being unfaithful to her husband. Ex. 5:11-18; 25-28.
Believers are the ‘unfaithful bride’. In Jesus’s faithfulness to His bride and in fulfillment to the covenant He made with her, He took our cup and drank our judgment and our death upon Himself. This is the cup of judgment that sets us free and brought about our salvation and deliverance. Numbers 5:5 – 31; Luke 22:42.
The cups on the Menorah and the BRANCHES, were designed in the shape of open almond blossoms. The almond tree represents first fruits and as already noted, is the earliest tree to bloom after the winter in Israel. Jesus/Yeshua is the first fruits from the dead and we are His first fruits. We were dead (in our sins) outside of Jesus/Yeshua, when He redeemed us and raised us from death to life we became His first fruits. Ezek. 37:1–4.
The buds and blossoms of the menorah:
Gods’ pattern for the Menorah was to have buds and blossoms on the main branch as well as on the six branches. They were to be placed directly below the cups. These buds and blossoms represent how believers will start to bear seed and glorify Yeshua/Jesus bearing much fruit when they abide in His word. A solid piece of gold in the shape of a Menorah cannot stand on its own without some internal strength to support it.
Jesus/Yeshua has been tried and He is the living testimony, the true Menorah, the Light of the world. Only He can keep the covenant perfectly. His testimony is revealed in His Feasts/Appointed times/Moedim. He will be faithful to fulfill all that He has promised and appointed concerning His heirs.
The almond Blossom turns into fruit that contains an edible seed called a nut.
Almond in Hebrew is Shaqad (Strongs#H 8246 from the root verb Strongs# 8245) meaning to diligently watch.
Jeremiah 1:11 – 12
What do you see Jeremiah?
You have seen correctly for I am watching to see that My Word is fulfilled.
The bride is to diligently watch her ways, by rightly walking in His instructions and being obedient to His commandments as she eagerly waits for the return of her bridegroom, Jesus the Messiah/ Yeshua HaMashiach.
(Heres a reference back to the Song of Solomon 2:10–12.)
Notice the description begins at the base of the menorah and rises up through the description from the ground up from the earth to the heaven.
Base – shaft – knops and cups/blossoms in order.
When it begins before spring, the tree has only small buds on the branch, life is trying to push through.
It bends towards the light, receiving its’ nourishment from the stem to which it is attached; then the bud bursts into blossoms/flower and it gets its’ nutrients from the sun.
Then the blossom fades and falls away leaving a tiny green knop.
Even as a bud, technically it has within it the almond but that is not what we see. With continual feeding of the flower, it matures into the green shape of an almond, with a velvet like covering, which finally matures into a nut.
The outer shell is hard, pitted and tan in color. When fully ripe, inside this shell is the kernel or nut or fruit, which is protected from the elements.
It is always moving upwards to the light. Aarons rod showed all the stages of growth and had come to life.
When a branch is cut from a tree it loses its source of life and becomes a dead stick, a dead piece of almond wood that Aaron used as a staff to walk with; until it was submitted under the authority of God when it was imbued with new life and purpose.
This is just like our lives, death to life, everything with God is from death to life. This is symbolic of resurrection of coming back to life from death.
However, while the sacrifice of Jesus/Yeshua gives us atonement (כַּפָּרָה) with God, the resurrection of the Messiah (i.e., techiyat ha-Mashiach: תְּחִיַּת הַמָּשִׁיחַ) justifies His work of salvation on behalf of the sinner and forever vindicates the righteousness of God.
Techiyat HaMaitim – המתים תחיית –
The Resurrection Of The Dead
Interesting note: We have seen that the Almond tree blossoms first, before all other trees in the spring and yet, it will be the last to drop its leaves in the fall; while the Olive tree is the last fruit to be harvested in the fall.
The husbandman of the orchard watches carefully for the Almond trees to bloom and burst forth in color; it is the signal to begin pruning his Olive trees! Those pruned are interior branches hidden from the light that would produce no fruit. Soon these broken off branches, littering the ground will be gathered, bundled and burned! The pruned tree can then reach for the sun, breathe and will spend the growing season developing good fruit.
At end of January /February, trees are clothed in spectacular white for only 2 weeks. It comes for a season and then its gone. Jesus’ resurrection is always likened to the blossoms of the almond tree and in 1Cor. 15:20-23 but now Christ is risen the first fruits!
Is the almond saying: this is how I am performing my word, He will die and will resurrect as the first fruits?
This interesting relationship between the Almond tree and the Olive tree illustrates our own relationship with the God of Israel – if we make the connections that exist between the Menorah of the Tabernacle….(described as an Almond TreeEx 25:31-40) and the Oil for the Menorah which comes from the Olive Tree. This oil is to be brought to the Priest by the Children of Israel continually….(Ex 27:20). In the natural earthly realm, the almond and olive trees represent the First and the Last to produce fruit.
In the spiritual realm, the inner intimate Holy Place of the Tabernacle – the almond tree and the oil come together and become one to produce and contain the light.
Helped by linen wicks, the olive oil in the almond-shaped cups bring forth the light that shines toward the bread, wine and incense on the table in the same room.
John 17:21.. that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
According to John 6:29 … the ‘work’ of God is this: that you believe in Him whom He sent.
Oil represents both Word of Truth and Holy Spirit and it could be said that it is the work of the children of Israel to bring pure oil to keep the lamp of the tabernacle burning. (Ex 27:20)
They were to bring the pure olive oil representing Truth and Instruction of His Word (Torah) and the Holy Spirit (Ruach). Jesus/Yeshua/The Word, said that we would… worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. (John 4:24)
When we think this through, we see that the gold Menorah shaped like an almond tree, together with the pure oil from the olives representing the Torah and Spirit; becomes symbolic of the burning bush/tree that would not consume itself.
Our God is a consuming fire to those who are not one with Him, and if we are one with Him will not be consumed. We can draw near and become one with Him because of the finished work of Messiah….if we believe that He is the One sent forth from the Father.
No one comes to the Father except through Messiah. Even as Jesus/Yeshua told the Samaritan woman: the Father is seeking those who will one day worship Him in Spirit and in Truth; represented spiritually by the pure Olive Oil brought continually by the Children of Israel to the Priest tending the Menorah.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Are our lives like the Menorah giving His Light and Life to a dying world?
Conclusion in Part 3 – including what did Jeremiah see?
Shalom Shalom ‘Mishpachah’ ‘Family’!
Please Don’t leave this page until you are certain He is the Light of your life.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
NOT SURE?
YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
because each of the letters in the Hebrew Alef-bet, also represent numbers.
Part 3 concludes The Apocalypse Of The Trump with the sound of the Neshama, (Neshamah/Neshimah), The Breath of God.
neshama (נְשָׁמָה nəšâmâh – Hebrew from the root nšm or breath).
Neshemah chayyim – breath of life.
Chayyim/Chaim is plural (literally lives/lifes, not life) Elohim is also plural.
The breath of our spirit and soul is combined with the wind, or breath that comes out from our inner selves. That wind or breath is then released out from our bodies.
In reality it is in part, the expelling of the breath of God’s life(chaim) in us. This same breath of God that was breathed into Adam.
God breathed lives/chaim/Chayyim into Adam.
For us as believers, our born again spirit, is further infused by the Ruach/Spirit of God.
The life-force is not a result of organic material, it is from God. The scripture says that spirit returns to Him when it leaves these physical bodies.
Following this thought…… Is it His indwelling Ruach/Spirit/Breath/Life/Chaim, that flows out through us and transferring along the shofar as it it blown/sounded; then it ascends to the realms of the heavens? The chaim, the lifes of God, issuing forth as Ruach/Spirit into the Shamayim/heavens.
Let’s look a little further…
As His presence was there at Sinai, at the Akedah/the binding of Isaac, and as the 2 shofars were ready to step in at the sacrifice and intervene/save/resurrect, the son.
That since God could raise him from the dead to perform his promises, he would sacrifice him to obey God’s command. Heb. 11:9
This faith grew from what God had done, in giving him Isaac from his own dead body, and Sarah’s dead womb.
The Covenant mandate was met; and God Who was the bodily fulfillment of the promise, eventually came. God will provide HIMSELF the Lamb.
He was to become the Lamb and prophetically declared it ahead of time.
Another mystical property of the sounds of the shofar, is the amazing ability to express the inner human neshama in the form of sound. (The shofar is not classed as a musical instrument.)
Neshimah
Breath: Psalms 150:6
Nun/Noon – Shin/Sheen – Mem – Hey/Heh
Some Sages teach that the sound made by the shofar, IS the sound of the human neshama, the soulitself to which the 5 physical senses are connected.
Hearing is an essential part of the well known Hebrew prayer called the Shema.
Long before Messiahs day, the Israelites recited a daily prayer called the Shema. The prayer comes directly from Deut. 6 and is a way for them to commit themselves to listening to God’s word and obeying it.
Just as there is no single Hebrew word meaning obey, there also is no specific English word for shema. While this Hebrew verb translates as, hear or listen, it means much more than just hearing or listening. It is an excellent example of the mindset difference between Hebrew, which stresses physical action and Greek and Western culture that stresses mental activity.
SHEMA: means HEAR and OBEY or LISTEN and DO.
In Mark 4:9, Jesus/Yeshua said, he who has ears to hear let him hear. And this would have included the understanding of action the same as believe it is an active participation not a mental assent or agreement. If we do not act on what we believe and hear we are not accomplishing what is required of us as believers.
Be a doer not a hearer only!
The individual who has ears to hear is the one who diligently attends to the words of Messiah, that he may ponder and OBEY them. Many heard Him out of curiosity, that they might bear something new, not that they might lay to heart the things which they heard, and endeavor to practice them in their lives.
This indeed is the true meaning of faith without works being dead and James 2:18 Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith.
Good works are obeying and doing. The action of doing the gospel message.
Blowing the shofar is possibly the raw sound of the neshama.
The bend of the shofar is said to be the transition between this world and the next; like a bridge, a joining, a vav, a portal, a dalet, a door; Jesus/Yeshua of course is THE door!
It is an entering in, through the veil. It’s a point of access into the heavenly places, joining the realm of His throne, to where we are situated, by the power of His Ruach flowing through us. Which is the voice/the kol of God.
Is the shofar the depth of, or somehow at the root of speech with its’ connection to the voice of God?
Teshuvah, means to go back, to return.
Look behold return to the cross!
Teshuvah is a compound word consisting of the Hebrew Tashan, meaning Return, and Hey, the last letter of the JHVH/YHWH name for God, also represents the Shekinah/Glory, or manifest presence of God. Thus, Teshuvah is a time to return to the presence of God.
So, in a way, are we (spiritually), going back to the moment of creation, to go back into the womb of eternity, to the moment of conception when everything began?
Do we return to our fetal state, our moment of creation; which is why we say we are bornagain! and in turn experiencing the understanding of CHAIM/lives?
(In Hebrew thinking it is believed that this teshuvah/return is what is meant by memory/zichronot – or remembering as a connecting function of Rosh HaShanah; when the blowing of trumpet/Shofar is sounded. The time of remembering when the Voice of God boomed out from Sinai’s summit.
Meaning of zichronot briefly explained:
There are 3 Basic Prayers said during Rosh HaShanah: Malchuyot, Zichronot, Shofarot. Celebrating God as the incomparable King of The Universe.
These thoughts are inspired by the letters shin, fey/fay, and resh/reysh.
The goal here, is to enjoy the silence that follows the shofar blast. To forget everything that is not urgently pressing for our immediate attention and to echo and reverberate with the vibrating air of the Shin, fey, resh/reysh which spells shofar.
Sh f r, the ram’s horn, is a figure of speech for the sound, however is it more than air and breath?
It’s the shofar blower’s own vibrations, those buzzing lips that make the sound.
Is there anything else contained in the sound and in the letters that make up the word for shofar?
Other words with the same letters;
Shin/sheen, pey/pay/fey/fay, resh/reysh are:
shafar שָׁפַר – to be good, pleasing shiper שִׁפֵּר – to improve, to beautify hishtaper הִשְׁתַפֵּר – to become better shefer שֶׁפֶר – beauty
This suggests the sound of the shofar may be pleasing to our ears, and have the effect of motivating self-improvement and change. Also that the echoes of the shofar uncover beauty throughout this coming year.
Truly the sounds of the shofar are unsettling and knock things out of kilter, and when placed in a different order, spell other words and different meanings.
Shin, resh, fay –sin, resh, fay or Saraph שָֹרַף – a troublesome thought, a fiery serpent or angel Sereipha שְֹרֵפָה – burning, fire, conflagration
Here we could say that the vibrations of the shofar stir up troublesome thoughts and the friction becomes fire. Our souls are burned by feverish minds and hot headed actions. However, the flames can also have a purifying effect too and burn away that which holds us down, the sin that so easily besets us and becomes a burden.
What happens next?
Rearrange the letters and we get more words:
What’s left after the fire? Is there a new spark bringing illumination to a new angle/aspect of our lives?
Resh, fay, shin Rephesh רֶפֶשׁ – mud, dirt, mire Raphash רָפַשׁ – to trample, to pollute
Pay, shin, resh Pashar פָּשַׁר – to melt, to be lukewarm
We must also see that the shofar itself is of this world and that the horn came from an animal. It’s not an instrument made in heaven.
In one way we are hearing our own human effort. While in this world we all get muddy, because our way of life tramples on beings around us whether we are aware of it or not.
This gives rise to the question we should regularly ask ourselves. Are we only lukewarm in our desire to change?
Turning the same letters around one last time gives us hope: Pay, shin, resh Pisher פִּשֵׁר – to compromise, arbitrate Pesher פֵּשֶׁר – interpretation, solution
Just as the vibrations of the shofars sounds are unsettling, let us pray that they may reveal to us new perspectives and understanding that will lead to solutions for balance in our spiritual walk embracing only Godly, healthy compromise, which will always bring us full circle back to shefer, beauty and goodness.
So it seems, shofarot may be connected to malchuyot biblically, (blowing of the shofar as part of the coronation at 1 Kings 1:34, 39, 41) even if it isn’t necessarily connected with Rosh Hashanah in the biblical text.
Malchuyot is a means to reaffirm the coronation of The Lord as King of the Universe, on the day that commemorates the beginning, the world’s creation where participants try to capture something of the awe-inspiring nature of the Lord God.
As we teshuvah, do we in some way return to the moment when the memories or seeds, of the parents are given to us?
This same Hebrew concept postulates that the sound heard by Adam HaRishon/the first human, on wakening from his creation, was the sound of a shofar. The sound made by his neshama as it entered him; that is, the presence of the spirit of God flowing into Him.
Was Hearing the 1st of the 5 physical senses activated in Adam?
When we wake someone it’s by sound, by speaking their name or the sound of an alarm clock.
The name Adam originated from the Hebrew word, אָדָם . Pronounced: aw-dawm, which means human, as a species, male and female. The Scriptures use this literal meaning for Adam, meaning simply humans.
These thoughts suggests that the shofar can also take us back to the very moment when our neshama entered us.
If indeed the sound of the shofar is the voice of God, why wouldn’t it be able to do so?
neshaMah
nun shin mem hey
נֶשַׁמַה
(Strong’s #5397) means: breath and is sometimes used in place of nephesh or rûach, it is derived from: נָשַׁם nâsham meaning: to pant or blow away (Strong’s #5395).
Nefesh, neshama and ruach are Hebrew words for soul… The first is the air, as it is still in the trumpet blower’s cheeks; and this corresponds to the neshamah.
The soul, or neshamah, is the self, the I, that inhabits the body and acts through it. It is believed that everything has a Soul, not just human beings, but every created entity has one also.
Creatures have a voice too.
The understanding is that animals also have souls, as do plants and even inanimate objects;
every blade of grass has a soul, and every grain of sand as part of creation as a whole, has the breath of God’s life in it.
The diagram shows a little of how it is viewed by some.
These concepts are unfamiliar to our western mindset.
We have also limited ourselves by the restrictions of translated texts, which fogs the pictures contained within the Hebrew alef-bet.However, it is revealed to those willing to dig into the very roots of the original language of the God of creation; whose very act of speaking brought forth all that is.
This same conceptual thinking, will help us to understand why a ram was found at the very moment of sacrifice.
There is even an understanding among some scholars that Isaac expired and was resurrected?!
What is certain is at that precise moment a shofar became available.Two rams horns to be exact.
In Hebrew thought:
Just as earthly kings have horns and shofarot blown to celebrate the anniversary of their coronation, so The Lord wants the shofar blown on the anniversary of the Creation- when there came to be a world that God could rule over, as it is said:
In the same way as earthly kings have horns and shofarot blown to announce their decrees – and only after this warning actually enforce the decree, so The Lord wants the shofar blown to announce the beginning of the 10 Days of Return, when all are commanded to turn their lives around.
Just as the shofar blew when The Lord gave the Torah at Mount Sinai, so it blows to remind us each year to do as our forebears said at Sinai.
Just as Yehezekel (Ezekiel) compared the words of the Prophets, calling for the people to change their ways, to a shofar, so we must know that those who hear the shofar and do not take warning and change their lives will be responsible for their own destruction, as it is said: Because the shofar was blown as a war-alarm when the Temple was destroyed, it should remind us of the destruction of the Temple, the disaster that we brought upon ourselves, and thus should warn us to abandon our misdeeds in order to avert disaster, as it is said:
Because The Lord used a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac, the ram’s horn should remind us how Isaac and Abraham were prepared to give up all their hopes and dreams for The Lord’s sake. Bereshit (Genesis) 22.
Since the blowing of a horn causes cities to tremble, so the shofar will make us tremble and fear our Creator, as it is said: Since the shofar will be blown on the great day of the Lord.
Since the shofar will be blown when the tempest-tossed of The Lord ’s people are gathered in harmony to the Land of Israel, we should hear the shofar to stir our longings for that day, as it is said: (Yeshayahu) Isaiah18:3
This reminds us of:
(Matityahu) Matthew 24:29-31
Since the shofar will be blown when Mashiach revives the dead, we hear the shofar in order to revive our faith in that supernatural transformation, the final victory of life and freedom over death, the ultimate oppressor, as it is said: and of another event at Yom Teruah (Yehezekel) Ezekiel 37:1-14
Another use of the shofar is to bring about the will of The Lord. This instrument is capable of breaking down the greatest of barriers: (Yehoshua) Joshua 6:4-9
The shofar is used to gather the people: (Shoftim) Judges 3:27
The shofar is capable of bringing fear to the heart of even the most hardened man: (Shoftim) Judges 7:16 And he divided the 300 [into] 3 companies,
The shofar can be used to halt actions that are not helpful: (2 Shmuel) Samuel 2:28
The shofar is used to announce the new moon and the Jubilee year.
The Torah provides for the blast of the shofar on Yom Kipppur to mark the start of yovel, Lev. 25:9
In this next verse we see, again, that the shofar is used to indicate the presence of The Lord: (2 Shmuel) Samuel 6:15
The shofar is also used to alert us and to call us to battle against our enemies: Ezra-Nechemiah 4:18
The shofar is used to call all of The Lord’s people to repentance on Yom Teruah Rosh HaShanah Tehillim Ps.81:3
As a call to return in repentance before The Lord, the shofar has no equal: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 58:1
There are 4 different sounds associated with the blowing of the shofar during the Yom Teruah service:
These sounds are interpreted as follows:
TEKIAH – תקיעה
The tekiah is a long blast.
A pure unbroken sound that calls man to search his heart/lev, turn from his wrong ways, and to seek forgiveness through repentance.
In an: It is finished! Proclamation of Gods’ sovereignty, hailing Him as ruler of the world. We, like the heralds trumpets, announce that the authority of the King has come; and at the Name of the Messiah, every knee shall bow.
The object of Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShana is to crown The Lord as our King. Tekiah, the long, straight shofar blast, is the sound of the King’s coronation. In the Garden of Eden/Gan Eden, Adam’s first act was to proclaim God as King; and now, the shofar proclaims to ourselves and to the world: God is our King.
We set our values straight and return to the reality, of God as the One Who runs the world; guiding history, moving mountains, and caring for each and every human being individually and personally.
SHEBARIM – שברים
A broken, staccato, trembling sound. It typifies the sorrow that comes to man when he realizes his misconduct and desires to change his ways. The shebarim or shevarim is 3 shorter blasts. It is said that Shebarim/Shevarim is the sobbing cry of a Hebrew heart yearning to connect, to grow, to achieve.
TERUAH – תרועה
A wave-like sound of alarm calling upon man to stand by the banner of Ha shem. The teruah is 10 (some say 9) very quick short blasts. The Teruah sound resembles an alarm clock, waking us from our spiritual slumber. Num. 10 (Also in 2Chron., Jer., Joel and Zeph.)
This shofar sound brings clarity, alertness, and focus, to fix what’s broken, open our eyes.
TEKIAH GEDOLAH . גדולה תקיעה
The prolonged, unbroken sound typifying a final appeal to sincere repentance and atonement. This note concludes each set of blowing during the Rosh HaShanah ceremony. It has been described it as a sign of divine withdrawal, based on the verse: “When the Shofar sounds long, they [the people] shall come up to the mountain…” (Shemot 19:13).
Please click link below to hear the sounds described above: Shofar begins at 00:11 mark.
It has been said that the tekiah blast represents joy, whereas the blasts of the shebarim/shevarim and teruah represent pain and affliction.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.
When we blow the Shofar we are accepting the Kingship of the Master of the World.
היום הרת עולם
Hayom harat olam
This day is the birthday of the world !
Why is Rosh HaSahanah called the birth-day of the world?
Hebrew texts tell us that this life is a corridor to the next life.
Death is a birth to a new existence.
This is in line with the meaning of chaim meaning lifes, not just one life, as the IM of chaim means a plural, more than one life.
Just as emergence from the womb/racham constitutes physical birth, and detachment from that body is the birth of the soul into the physical realm of earth. In the same way as the 8 or 9 months in the womb is the time period preceding the earthly birth, the 70 or 80 years on earth are the preparation or gestation period preceding Birth into the heavenly realm.
(Click link bellow to see in the season of our hiding the full apocalypse/revealing)
It could be said that Rosh HaShananah, is the birth canal of the new year!
It is very significant that a shofar with its narrow mouthpiece and wider opening somewhat resembles a birth canal?
In fact, the Bible mentions a great woman with a name of the same etymology/meaning: Shifrah. She was one of 2 named out of the many midwives of the ancient Hebrews who left Egypt.
Apparently the name Shifra comes from a Hebrew root word meaning: the capacity to make something better, or to improve its quality.
And that is what she did: In keeping with this characteristic, and contrary to Pharaoh’s orders, Shifrah ensured that the babies would emerge healthy and viable, then swaddled and massaged them to foster their strength and beauty.
The shofaris repleat with birth imagery:
It can be viewed as the birth canal, the air rushing through it to create a plaintive cry, is the breath of life, and the sound that we hear recalls the cries of labor.
Traditionally, we hear 100 blasts of the shofar during Rosh Hashanah. It has been said that the first 99 are the cries of a woman in labor, and the final one, equal to the tekiah gedolah, is the responding cry of the newborn child.
This day is the birthday of the world, or more accurately, this day is the pregnancy of the world.
On Rosh HaShanah our world becomes pregnant with Gods’ presence, and in a way He is pregnant with us, (carrying us).
It is a time of mutual awareness and understanding. It is the time when we enter the inner world, the world of the womb, in order to be reborn into change.
God intervened in the wombs of the matriarchs Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah and made them pregnant. Their stories are punctuated by an act of divine intervention:
God remembers [ז-כ-ר] or takes note [פ-ק-ד] of them; connecting the mysterious name of the day, called a memorial of trumpet blasts [זכרון תרועה; zikhron teruah](Lev. 23:24),
to God’s remembering these women:
שָׂרָה saw-raw’. Sarah. Gen. 21:1
חַנָּה khan-naw’. Channah. 1 Sam. 1:19
רָחֵל RAY-chel. Rachel. Gen. 30:22
On Rosh HaShanah, the stories of Sarah, Hannah, and Rachel are read to remind the listeners of the hope for new life.
In the same way He added the Heh/Hey into Abram and Sarai’s physical names.
Heh or Hey means: behold! look!
There is an understanding that Sarah, the mother of the Jewish people, herself was born on this day.
The story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, is also read. It describes the moment when Isaac is offered up as a sacrifice by his father Abraham, to let us know that this time of year also signals radical change, a part of us, the self life in enmity with God must die, in order to be reborn into the power of the resurrected life for another year.
We are the ones who inscribe ourselves for life or death by living our lives throughout the year the way we do. We are the ones who give birth to ourselves.
In the next world our birth and the nature of our experience will reflect the choices we, and we alone, made.
In this life we were born into circumstances beyond our control, but in the next life we will emerge from the womb/racham of circumstances we shaped with our daily life choices and actions.
If we are true to our soul here, then our soul will experience a happy birth in the next world. If we succumb to the low impulses of the material body, will we be confused and dismayed when we emerge into the wide space of eternity?
It is true to say that the shofar sounds like a child wailing.
Already mentioned is that Shofar is a Hebrew word that comes from a root meaning BEAUTY.
שָׁפַר
means: to beautify, alluding to the beautification of our ways as we turn to God in teshuvah. In this month (i.e., the seventh month of Tishrei) you shall amend (shapperu) your deeds.
Doing teshuva means getting to the root of the problem and deepening our awareness of God.
The Inner Voice
שׁוֹפָר
Rosh HaShanah is possibly linked to the word shofar to the verse:
Iyov (Job) 26:13 “By His breath the Shamayim/Heavens are spread (shifra).”
This verse refers to the dispersing of the clouds to reveal/apocalypse of the clear blue sky.
That which was clouded over and concealed becomes revealed.
The root of the word shifra also means to beautify,
and true beauty is to see the essence of something, the purpose for which it was created.
The 11th century Jewish commentary on the passage from Exodus identifies Shiphrah with Jochebed, the mother of Moses, and Puah with Miriam, Moses’ sister, making the 2 midwives mother and daughter respectively.
As a countermeasure, Pharaoh sent for the midwives named Shifra and Puah, and commanded them to kill every baby boy that was born. 3. The midwives feared God and did not obey.
Shifra/Shiphrah – from the Hebrew meaning: to beautify or to be beautiful, or translates as improvement, a reference to the way that Yocheved would improve the newborns by cleaning them and straightening their limbs. Puah, means cooing, a reference to how Miriam would make cooing sounds to the babies which soothed them.
The fact is, that all language needs a voice, an utterance, and that requires sound and frequency as its carrier, by which it is expressed. Another language sounds completely foreign and unintelligible to one who cannot speak it, just a jumble of sounds. However to the one who knows that language, it makes perfect sense. This is true of animals, birds and sea creatures, who communicate in their own way and combination of sounds. So why would we not think the sound of the shofar could communicate something to the listener as expelled by the blower?
Each has its nuances and subtleties, that when we understand them, adds a richness to the Word of God and to the overall meaning of the Appointed Time(s) of the Lord.
The shofar gives us a clarity to see beyond the clouds, to see to the blue sky beyond. It is this clarity that results in fear and trembling:
Amos 3:6 “Can the shofar be sounded in the city and the people not tremble?”
The shofar is said to be the midwife of the new year. Into its piercing cry, we squeeze all our heartfelt prayers, all our tears. Our whole being resonates with its call until it reaches the very beginning, the cosmic womb and there it touches a kind of switch as the Divine Presence shifts from the strict judgment of Yom ha Din (day of judgment) to the compassion of Rachamim/Mercies.
Shafir in Hebrew means fine, but mey shafir means the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus (ubbar) in the womb. (Think mem and waters and the paleo pictograph.)
שופר : In the original sense of incising
From the root שפר which means: to be pleasing, be beautiful, be fair, be comely, be bright, glisten, to be beautiful, to improve and to develop.
שפור – Shipur also means: to elevate to a new level,
Messianic Connections
Notice in the following verses that Gabriel is sent in the 6th month of Elul. It’s possible that this is Elul 29 and that Miryam will be remembered on Rosh HaShana, the 1st day of the seventh month:
Luqas/Luke 1:26 And in the 6th month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Yeshua.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the 6th month with her, who was called barren.
Gen. 22:8 is another example of His goodness, in the ascent of Abraham and Isaac up Mt. Moriah vrs, 13-14
So not only in the paleo letters but also in the numbers does each one represent and tell the good news of the gospel message of redemption and salvation. And it is also declared in the sound of the shofar every time it is blown as representing the voice of God announcing His presenceand His whole plan of redemption and restoration and reconciliation, being released into the air waves with a
breath….
the Shin/sheen, sh from shaddai
the pey of the mouth and
the reysh from the head of the person…
blowing – declaring – the end from the beginning…
the alef to the tav
Yeshua/Jesus our Messiah typified in the shofar the rams horn of the sacricifial offering of the son.
The WORD is living and breathing and should be viewed as life not as a story.
We walk in the footsteps of the Hebrews, the meaning of their name: those who have crossed over and their life/chaim walk is cyclical.
It is an annual rehearsal for a forthcoming marriage and likewise our lives/chaim are to be as well.
By blowing the shofar, we remember the faith of the Matriarchs/Patriarchs and our own capacity for self-sacrifice.
Blowing the shofar declares that the LORD God is the King of the universe, as it says in Psalm 98:6,
“With trumpets and the sound of the shofar (וְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר), shout for joy before the King ADONAI (הַמֶּלֶךְ יְהוָה).”
The Day of Trumpets truly is a rehearsal and celebration of that soon coming day of the Messiah’s return from heaven at the sounding of the great SHOFAR trumpet!
From Part 2…
Salpini is the Greek word for the trumpet
Saino is also associated with another primary Greek root verb, which is seio, meaning to rock or vibrate to and fro, to cause to tremble, or to cause to shake or quake. One of the important uses of this verb in the New Testament includes: Matt. 27:51 Just then the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom!
The silver trumpets referred to in part 1
Silver – Kesef – כסף
Kesaph Strongs #3702 כְּסַף
Phonetic Spelling: (kes-af’)
KAF SAMECH PEI
The Hebrew word for silver can be spelled: Kesaph/kasaph/kessef/kesef.
KAF = lines to follow the pattern and instructions, order, conduct, prescribe, establish, uprightness.
SAMECH = support, structure, the vine, the source, life, code, ideal, model, example,
PEI = open, opening, mouth, declaration-breath.
Meaning: The pattern – lines to follow,the Kodesh instructions of God our ALAHIM;
they are His order of conduct to teach uprightness, the source of our life support, the structure that trains us, according to the model – the ideal; our example is the One who declared it. God/YHVH, who is our deliverer, redeemer and our soon returning King, Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.
The cleansing of the earthly temple on the Day of Atonement was only a rehearsal of that Great Day of Atonement when Elohim will cleanse the earth of all sin.
This great Judgment Day will see all sin eradicated and HaSatan/Adversary judged and bound.
And lastly, the 1st and 8th days of the Festival of Booths (or Tabernacles) are sacred references, depicting the kingdom age and
rehearsing when the Messiah will tabernacle with His BRIDE after He has wiped sin from all the earth.
Finally
God is interested in the relationship HE has with the user and not the shofar itself.
The shofars have a great purpose. They were given to keep God’s children in the true memory and worship of Him, by keeping us constantly in the understanding of His great plan of redemption. The annual appointed days are all about the Messiah.
May this be our prayer today:
we want to be like a shofar in the hand of God, totally emptied out on the inside, emptied of ourselves and our ways of being and doing. We desire to be filled with His Ruach HaKodesh in mind and spirit giving Him the freedom to flow through us and entering in to the ears of the hearers.
May the sounds of the song of our lifes/chaim be music to His hearing.
Shalom shalom!
Please don’t leave this page until you have Made that life-saving decision – time is running out. Don’t miss the day of your visitation!
The Shofars Voice/Kol is Calling for you today!
This life is NOT all there is!
You are not here by chance!
If you’re not certain you are ready for His return, don’t leave this site without being sure.
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!
because each of the letters in the Hebrew Alef-bet, also represent numbers.
(Alef=1 etc., See Modern and Paleo Alef bet charts below which are included for convenient visual reference.)
The letters that make up the word
שׁוֹפָר – Shofar are:
Sheen/Shin +Vav +Fey/Pey + Resh/Reysh
(read the (pictographs from right to left)
They have numerical values of
200+80+6+300
Taking each letters numerical value and revealing the meaning:
The letter Sheen/shin value of 300 signifies the final blood sacrifice made by the only perfect One, the Lamb of God Himself, Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.
The letter Vav value of 6 indicates human weakness in our hostility, and antagonism, our enmity toward God.
The letter Pey/Fey value of 80 which is also 10×8 stands for a new beginning. This new beginning can also be a new birth which has been ordained in His presence/heaven: (being spiritually reborn into the realm of His heavens/ shamayim.)
The letter Resh/reysh has a value of 200 which has a meaning that reminds us of our human insignificancy when compared to the all sufficiency of God.
The name we associate with all sufficiency is El Shaddai:
It is God as El who helps, and it is God as Shaddai who abundantly blesses with all manner of blessings.
As Nathan Stone wrote: “…the idea of One who is all-powerful and all-mighty is implied . . . for only an all-powerful One could be all-sufficient and all-bountiful.
When all these are put together, we have a meaning that could be said as:
God wants to meet with and talk to each of us and to make this possible He has not only provided the (300) perfect sacrifice for each one of us but He provided as Jehovah Jireh, the perfect lamb of God in Messiah; which was necessary because of our (6) enmity toward Him. And by this (300) sacrifice, we can receive (the 80), the new birth, ordained in the heavens. That which we are unable and incapable of doing for ourselves in our insufficiency; that which He was able to do as (200) El Shaddai by His all sufficiency.
Another possible meaning of El Shaddai is
The God of the Mountain.
Some Messianic teachers say shaddai comes from the Akkadian word:
shaddu, meaning mountain.
Gods’ presence in heaven, but He also inhabited a mountain top—Mount Sinai.
It was on this mountain Moses met with God and received the Ten Commandments.
The Hebrew root word shadad (meaning to overpower or to destroy) suggests absolute power.
While Elohim is the God who creates, in the name Shaddai, God reveals Himself as the God who compels nature to do what is contrary to itself.
He is able to triumph over every obstacle and all opposition; He is able to subdue all things to Himself.
In the Babylonian (Akkadian) language that Abram spoke, Shaddai comes from sadu, a word meaning mountain and so El Shaddai would be
El Of The Mountain, or
El of the Gathering.
According to Exodus 6:2-3, it was the primary name by which God was known to the founders of Israel (the Name YHVH given to Moses suggests God’s absolute self-sufficiency).
The word Shaddai (by itself) was used later by the prophets (e.g., Num. 24:4; Isa. 13:6, Ezek. 1:24) as well as in the books of Job, Ruth, and in the Psalms.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English Eph.2:8
For it is by his grace that we have been saved through faith, and this faith was not from you, but it is the gift of God,
and
2Cor.9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed
In Part 1 we saw that Gods’ presence was symbolically manifest with rams horns at the moment of provision and substitute for Isaac. Just as He was the substitute for all, at the same location millennia later.
Jehovah JirehGod will provide Himself, a lamb.
Through Jesus/Yeshua, God did for us what we could not do: which is, atone for our sin (Romans 5:6-11, 8:1-5, Ephesians 2:1-18).
So Abraham was correct in that God would provide Himself – the lamb for an offering. That Lamb would come to earth 2,000 years later and die for all sin, including those of Abraham and Isaac.
Gen. 22:8 is another e.g. of His goodness in the ascent of Abraham and Isaac up Mt. Moriah, (vrs. 13 – 14).
Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
This Hebrew word is usually translated as a ram, but also as an oak tree!
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance:
mighty man, lintel, oak, post, ram, tree.
From the same as ‘uwl ; properly, strength; hence, anything strong; specifically a chief (politically); also a ram (from his strength); a pilaster (as a strong support); an oak or other strong tree — mighty (man), lintel, oak, post, ram, tree.
There are 6 Hebrew words in Scripture rendered oak.
The word used in Isaiah 61:3 is ayil, which is most often translated ram.
Its’ root word refers to strength and power.
Recall from previous posts that, because our modern western minds associate an object with an image, we cannot understand how the Ancient Hebrew/Eastern mind saw these two objects as being similar.
In our minds we would never relate an oaktree to a ram, or view them as the same. The reason being is that we relate to features and appearances. However, the Hebrews relate to the function; and in the case of the oak and the ram, in their thinking, they function in the same way because:
an oak tree is a very hard woodand
the horns and skull of a ram are equally as hard.
That the Ancient Hebrews associated an object with its function, rather than its appearance, is a Mindset; and much of our western thinking is based on a Greek mind set/way of thinking.
Ram – אַיִל
Strongs # 352
ayil: ram
Phonetic – ah’-yil
The functional meaning of ayilis a strong one;
the ram is the strong one of the herd and
the oak, the hardest of woods,
is the strong one of the forest.
A ram or stag deer (the strong leader of the flock or herd),
chief (strong leader of the tribe),
pillar (as the strong support of a building), oaktree(one of the strongest of the woods).
l i a (איל AYL)
Strong One: Anyone or thing that functions with strength like an ox.
This is the same mount in Jerusalem where Jesus/Yeshua was THE sacrificial lamb!!
A detail we may have missed is that, the only reason they were able to sacrifice this animal, was because it was caught by its horns.
Therefore the shofars/horns were the instruments of declaring and enabling the sons’ deliverance, thus saving his life/chaim, by forfeiting its’ own as an innocent substitutionarysacrifice.
As we have noted, the shofar is a rams horn. This is the very thing which announces the presence of God when it is sounded; and in which, the letters tell us that:
God is connected to that sacrifice which was both provided and given for our benefit.
So the shofar, which is a ram’s horn, reminds us of the ram that Abraham offered as a sacrifice in place of his son Isaac; and of the faith of those who trusted in obedience, to the point of death. They demonstrated to us the highest devotion of which man is capable of giving to God.
קֶרֶן
Horn – qeren
Strongs # 7161
Save me from the lion’s mouth; Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me. (Psalm 22:21)
The horns of animals were very versatile objects. They were used as trumpets and even as a weapon in war. Horns were used to store liquids such as olive oil, foods and medicine. In many ancient cultures, (Vikings), kings wore horns as a sign of their power; in fact, the points on modern day crowns are really a leftover representation of horns and, in addition, our word crown comes from the Hebrew word qeren.
When Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
The thicket with spikes like the thorns on His Crown and the horns on the ram.
Jehovah Jireh
Yhvh Yireh
Phonetic Spelling:
(yeh-ho-vaw’ yir-eh’)
Strongs #3070
Original Word: Yireh
Modern & Paleo letters for Yireh:
Y
Yud – Hand: The Yud/Yood in pictograph form shows an arm and a hand. The picture can mean to work, throw, worship, or it can simply mean an arm or hand.
R
Resh – Head: The Resh symbolizes a head, man, chief, highest, top, beginning, or first.
Alef is the e part of the eh sound, always a vowel sound.
H
Hey – Behold: The Hey pictograph represents a man with his hands in the air trying to get someone’s attention. It suggests look, reveal, behold.
Jehovah,
in this compound name of God represented by the
Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey,
indicates
I EXIST!
God’s presence is followed by Jireh/Yireh that declares:
Through the work of an arm, man will be sustained.
Together these names tell us that:
The work is accomplished by Jehovah. Behold, it is the hand of God who provides for man by His work.
Jehovah Jireh is typically translated as God our Provider.
Abraham said, God will provide HIMSELF, the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they both went together. (22:8)
God will provide for Himself the lamb.
The Hebrew word, for, has a range of meanings, including:
of, by, that, and from.
Take a moment and read verse 8 with each of those words substituted in the place of the quite common translation for; the meaning changes dramatically.
God will provide for Himself the Lamb. (Hebrew seh). for a burnt offering.
God will provide
יִרְאֶה: To see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative) provide,
HIMSELF a lamb…
הַשֶּׂ֛ה: A member of a flock, i.e., a sheep or goat:
himself lamb for a burnt offering: לְעֹלָ֖ה
He HIMSELF
IS
the Lamb provided.
The name JIREH is a Hebrew word which means: See and Provide.
It is a transliteration of a Hebrew word which means:
to see, or
to foresee, or
to appear.
The four letter name of God comes first but the
יִרְאֶה (yireh) part,
comes from Hebrew verb
לִרְאוֹת (lirot)
which means:
to see, to perceive, to look.
This same root is used to describe someone who has, an ability to see things others cannot,
a רֹאֶה (roeh)
and it is often used to refer to certain people who could foresee like the prophets.
The term Jehovah-Jireh is more appropriately transliterated, Yahweh-Yireh,
The Hebrew word jireh is usually pronounced jai rah.
It means that God is the provider of all the good things.
The name YHWH-jireh, (or Jehovah-jireh) occurs in only one location in the Bible, but the phrase is repeated once (or twice). This is when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. The angel of YHWH calls out to him and stops him (Genesis 22:11-12). Then Abraham raises his eyes and sees a ram in the thicket.
This ram became the substitute and was sacrificed in place of Isaac, even as Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah became the substitute for us and provided Lifes/Chaim, for us through His death.
In Pirke deR’Eliezer, (a rabbinic work,)
the left Horn (first- trump) was blown on Mount Sinai when the Torah was given
and it’s right horn(the last trump) will be blown to herald the coming Messiah/Moshiach.
The midrash claims that the two horns of the ram became the two trumpets, that is in Hebrew the shofarot, of God.
The right horn was larger than the left, and thus concerning the days of Moshicah it is written,
‘on that day, a great shofar will be blown.’
(Tz’enah Urenah)
The Akeida Genesis 22
The Binding of Isaac (Hebrew: עֲקֵידַת יִצְחַק) Aqedat Yitzhaq,
in Hebrew also simply “The Binding”, הָעֲקֵידָה Ha-Aqedah, -Aqeidah
Rav/Rabbi Zadok HaCohen Lublin alludes to the afore mentioned idea that the ram had two unequal horns and says the larger horn symbolizes the power to permeate
(hitpashtut).
Hitpashtut hagashmiut
is a method of not just quieting thoughts but of mastering them.
The practice is simple.
First choose something as the focus of your meditation (which could be a verse, a name of God, a holy word, or a prayer).
Next, try to hold your mind on that focus for ten minutes or more. When our attention wanders, which it surely will, return to our focus and let the distraction go.
Don’t suppress it or condemn ourselves for its presence, just shift our attention back to our focus, letting the distractions go and so reinforcing our independence from them. Each time we dismiss the distraction and return to our focus, we strengthen the muscle of self-determination.
Hitpashtut hagashmiut breaks the link between reactivity and action. When an impulse arises we can choose not to let it distract us. This muscle develops through daily meditation and strengthens year after year.
Redemption is the message of the shofar permeating completely. The idea that complete redemption comes when the universe is filled with the sound, and our personal redemption is completed when we are immersed in it.
Because God cannot look upon sin and since all of us are sinners (1 John 1:8; Romans 3:23), based on our own merits, our only expectation, is to receive the punishment as a result of sins; however, the Lord provided a lamb for us as well.
Once the horn has been cut off and taken through a cleansing process; it is then an instrument separated /set apart/holy; from any other purpose than responding to breath passing through the length of its chamber. We, the servants of the King, are maturing in a similar process, in the school of Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit.
The patterns of sound released from this instrument in faith and understanding; and at the direction of Ruach HaKodesh, are one of the most powerful agents of change in the earth.
Each sound is the product of breath and spirit combined.
Spiritual forces in the heavens understand fully and must respond to such set apart/holy sounds.
Portals/Dalets in the heavens are opened and the earthly atmosphere becomes charged with the power and presence of the most high.
Spiritual forces and obstacles resisting His kingdom are removed, the heavens shift, walls fall down and His people move forward to possess their inheritance and fulfill their destinies.
Scripture says the whole of creation longs for the mature saints of God to awake and appropriate the sound of the victory which is already won. His kingdom must now come, on earth, as it is in heaven.
The connection between breath and knowledge of God, is so deep that it is even rooted in our languages and we don’t even notice it.
In the English respiration and SPIRitual share the same root.
In Hebrew, neshamah (soul) and neshemah (breath);
Pronounced nesh-aw-maw’,
share the same root, while ruach can mean either wind or spirit.
A sense of incising; a cornet or curved horn; cornet or trumpet.
Furthermore, Shofar is a Hebrew word that comes from a root meaning beauty.
Through tradition however, the word shofar, came to mean almost solely ram’s horn.
As we saw in part 1; the shofar was used in biblical times for various occasions, ranging from calling the armies together, to signaling death.
This last meaning of shofar, is also literally translated as a sense of incising. It’s a curious point because, incising means: to cut or burn into.
So obviously the sound of the shofar meant far more to the ancient Hebrews, than a mere horn blast notably when it was known by a name that signified, a cutting or burning into the lev/heart and soul of the people.
This understanding with this definition is confirmed in Strong’s#7782: (Renoted here for convenience.)
showphar, sho-far’; or shophar, sho-far’; from 8231 in the orig. sense of incising; a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn:-cornet, shofar.
8231 shaphar, shaw-far’; a prim. root; to glisten, i.e. (fig.) be (caus. make) fair:-X goodly.
The shofar is the most spoken of musical instrument in the Bible, together with the harp.
While the harp is used to calm and soothe the spirit and soul; the shofar is constantly used to grab hold of the attention and spirit of the people.
The shofar is a preparer whereas the harp is a consoler.
There is more to this simple musical instrument than meets the eye!
The shofar produces some very mystical sounds, which have some very unusual properties. One of its properties is the ability to stir a heart to repentance.
What is it about the sound of the shofar that calls us to return to HaShem? To answer this question we must return to Gan Eden, that garden wherein we have the beginnings of everything and a sound that walks
After the first sin we find:
Bereshit (Genesis) 3:8
And they heard the voice (kol) of HaShem God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of haShem God amongst the trees of the garden.
How does
a voice/ a kol,
go walking?
This particular Hebrew word for sound or voice, kol, resonates with another kol, the sound (kol) of the shofar:
Shemot (Exodus) 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders (kol) and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice (kol) of the shofar exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled.
This kol that we hear of at Sinai, is the same kol that went walking in Gan Eden right after the first sin.
The kolthat walked had a question:
Bereshit (Genesis) 3:9
And HaShem God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where are you?
This question: Where are you (Ayekah)? was obviously not concerned with Adam’s physical location.
A redundant question because, how can anyone hide from The One who is everywhere?
This question must be asking a more profound question:
Ayekah?
Meaning..
Where are you? Where do you stand morally and spiritually? To what place are you directing your efforts?
The kol of HaShem in Gan Eden is very significant because the shofar blessing on Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur, which one would have thought could have placed greater emphasis on the blowing of the shofar, instead, emphasizes the sound or voice,
lishmoah kol hashofar,
to hear (or internalize)
the sound of the shofar.
The action is defined as one of HEARING the shofar,
rather than BLOWING.
This then is
the KOL/VOICE that walks.
This kol comes, seeking the condition of the soul of His beloved.
This same kol approaches us at this time of judgment.
This kol from the shofar – walks to us, His beloved,
and asks:
Where are you?
The question, AYEKAH?.. is directed at each one of us every day, just as it was asked in Eden and in the cool of the day was probably early morning, around the same Jesus/Yeshua did rose early to pray.
In the morning He rose early, while it was still quite dark, and leaving the house He went away to a solitary place and there prayed. Mark 1:35
As is often the case, once again there is always more… and Part 3 will follow shortly! Concluding the sound of the Neshama, The Breath of God.
Make that life-saving decision – time is running out. Don’t miss the day of your visitation!
The Shofars Voice/Kol is Calling for you today!
Shalom
Mishpachah/Family.
משפחה
Mish-pa-KHa
Tell someone today, this life is NOT all there is!
You are not here by chance!
If you’re not certain you are ready for His return, don’t leave this site without being sure.
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!
shophar {sho-far’}; from shaphar in the original sense of incising; a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn, cornet, trumpet.
Strongs # 7782 Lev. 25:9
Plural: shofarot
It is sounded during the month of Elul, on Rosh Hashanah, and on Yom Kippur.
This first blast of the shofar horn is believed by the Jewish faith to open up the gates of heaven. It is the Voice/Kol of God announcing His presence/declaring His throne manifesting in our midst.
Shophar
The shofar and Yom Teruah – day of blowing of trumpets –
Blowing the Rams Horn.
A shofar is the horn of an animal that in most cases is twisted. There are three specific types of horns used to make shofarot; the ram’s horn, African kudu horn (later to become a Yemenite shofar), and the African Gemsbok horn (a straight horn).
These horns are from kosher animals that have a horn which can be hollowed out (not the antler of a deer).
Below are other types of horns:
Cattle horn shofar (nonkosher),
Kudu shofar,
Ibex shofar,
Aoudad sheep shofar,
Water buffalo shofar (questionable if kosher),
Partially-straightened ram’s horn shofar,
Fully-twisted ram’s horn shofar,
Blackbuck shofar,
Pronghorn shofar. Most animal horns are hollow and can theoretically be made into shofarot. (Although some are pasul, disqualified, such as that of a cow.) Horns that are not hollow may not be used as shofarot, even if they are drilled through. Antlers, the branched horns of deer, may therefore not be used as shofarot since they are not hollow. Although the horns of pronghorns superficially resemble deer antlers, they are, in fact, hollow and therefore kosher. However, it is preferable not to use the pronghorn shofar because it is not curved.
Gemsbok shofar
God said to Moses/Mosheh, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘The appointments of Yahuwah, which you are to proclaim as set-apart proclamations. These are my appointments. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a set-apart proclamation. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to Yahuwah. These are the appointments of Yahuwah – set-apart proclamations which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
These are the Appointed Times of the Hebrew cyclical calendar.
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning the
head [of] the year
and is the Jewish Civil New Year.
The biblical name for this holiday is
YomTeruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה),
literally,
day of shouting or blasting.
Because the roots of its use, go so far back through the millennia, it is literally a blast from the past! and maybe it’s where we get that saying from?
The Shofar Blasts
The ram’s horn is blown on the Autumn/Fall Moedim days in three specific ways.
Sounds of the Shofar.
There are three types of sounds that are blown with the shofar:
a tekiah, a steady blast;
a shevarim, a broken note; and
a teruah, a shattered quavering note;
The shofar-blower can only control the number, length and clarity of the notes, sounded not the key or pitch”
Click link below to hear the sounds of the shofar being blown.
The Shofar is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, in reference to its ceremonial use in the Temple and to its function as a signal-horn of war.
The sound of the shofar is comparable to the trumpet-blasts that announce the coronation of a king.
According to Hebrew tradition, it was on this day, Rosh Hashanah, God created the world and assumed the role of its’ Sovereign; and in the sounding of the shofar we acknowledge Him as our King.
Rosh Hashanah is the first of the 10 Days of repentance; in Hebrew it is called Teshuvah and means Return. The promise of Teshuvah is that no matter how far we have strayed from our soul’s path, we can find our way back. The root, SHUV, means to TURN.
Rosh Hashanah is
Pronounced: roshe hah-SHAH-nah, also roshe ha-shah-NAH,
Always on the 1st day of the 7th month and falls on a new moon.
The Torah describes the first day of the seventh month;
1st of Tishri = Rosh ha-Shanah as a
Zikron Teruah,
Memorial of Blowing;
Lev.23
and as a
yom teru’ah
day of blowing;
Num. 29.
This was interpreted by the Jewish sages as referring to the sounding of the shofar.
Appointed Times of Leviticus 23:3 which in Hebrew is:
Moedim – pronounced, MO eh DEEM
The Moedim are times to give thanks to the LORD for all He has done…. Rejoice in the Lord always!
Notice that the Hebrew calendar is divided into two equal parts of exactly six lunar months each; both of which center on redemptive rituals and end with harvests.
The Moedim: the Appointed Times of God. He has set-apart, (Holy), precious times, to meet with His beloved.
Note in the chart above, the use of Gods’ Name as Yahuwah. This is taking the Hebrew letters of YHWH (often pronounced Yaweh); and adding vowels, (vowels are not present as letters in the Hebrew Alef Bet as in English Alphabet.) YaHuWaH.
Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, came and gave us a full understanding of the springtime Appointed Times and He has promised to come again and also fulfill the Autumn/fall Appointments.
MOEDIM
מועדים
Comprising the Hebrew Letters:
(open) mem – vav/waw – ayin – dalet – yod – mem
(closed)
(Hebrew reads from right to left)
and in paleo pictograph letters, both Moed and Moedim:
Moed is pronounced mo-ade’
מועדים
(Note the variant shape of the open/first letter M as the shapes changed over the centuries. Shown in charts further down in post.)
Strongs # 4140 Or moled {mo-ade’}; or (feminine) moweadah (2 Chronicles 8:13) {mo-aw-daw’}; from ya’ad; properly, an appointment, i.e. A fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation are typically called, Jewish holidays/Yamim Tovim but in the Bible are referred to as God’s feast days.
Moa’dim in Hebrew means appointments or rehearsals. They are found in Leviticus 23 and each are called a shadow of things to come. (Col. 2:16-17).
God designed the universe itself, (the sun and moon and the whole planetary structure); in order to point to and regulate the Festivals, the Moedim. Thus, the Moedim are first and foremost…
a part of the creative order,
not merely
a part of the covenant
made with Israel at Sinai.
So from the foundation of creation,
God set within that creation His Moedim -(rehearsal and appointed times,) in order to remind us of His eternal plan.
This is the pattern of the Moedim, invisible yet imprinted within the seed of every woman. Of those who become pregnant, an apocalypse/revealing begins as a new chaim/life develops within her. Click link for the apocalypse/the revealing of this mystery.
The Moedim represent Gods’ plan of salvation for mankind.
As we have seen the Hebrew word for appointment, appointed time, place, or meeting is
מועדים
Meanings of the letters:
Mem: the pictograph is of water like the waves of the sea and comes from the word mayim meaning waters, as in seas with abundant life. Symbolized by water, for the way that many living things can be pulled out even referring to the waters of childbirth. Mighty massive, many chaos(like the deep, to come from like water down a stream.)
Think of: The water/ word that washes us clean. The Blood that purchases us and saves us. To question as in the wonders of the sea. Mightiness as in the size of the sea. Chaos as in the storms of the sea.
Vav: The pictograph for Vav looks like a tent peg or nail. The meaning of the word vav is hook, as in a connecting hook used when the mishkan (tabernacle) was constructed; giving the meaning of joining together, making secure, becoming bound or nailed to.
Ayin: the pictograph is the eye. Look, appearance, to see, understand, experience, to be seen, a fountain. Spiritual sight and vision, to watch, to know. His word and His Spirit/Ruach coming together in our souls.
Dalet: the tent door, a path, a way of life. Jesus/Yeshua is the door. Movement back and forth, in and out of the door. Also means dangling or weakness, as in hanging ones head down. The 4 dimensions of Space and Time as in length, breadth, depth and height.
Yod: Arm and Hand Work, what a person makes, Actions what a person does, Throw. A hand closed or closing upon, to work, a deed done, a finished work.
Mem: The closed Mem at the end of the word has the same meanings as the open Mem at the beginning of the word. Mayim begins and ends with the same letter. Waters and is always plural.
These letter meanings when put together give a pictorial insight of the Moedim.
The Pictographs for MOEDIM could read something like this:
Moedim are like the ever moving watersMEM of the ocean they are never still, and life is like that too. It is in constant motion flowing forward, like the cycle of the Moedim.
Following them brings abundant life. From out of chaos comes order, as deep calls unto deep. Then as we are born the first time, we come through the waters of childbirth. Next, as we are born again by His spirit, we are washed cleansed first by His blood and then by the washing of the waters of baptism and then by His Word, the river of Life.
We become connected by covenant VAV,joined together.
As we become His tabernacle on the earth, we become safe and secure, becoming bound to Him and remember the VAV, nails, that made this relationship possible.
We then have our eyes AYIN opened and see His wonders and His mightiness.
We see AYIN more and more clearly as we experience and understand His Ways, His Moedim and Jesus/Yeshua so clearly in them all. Our spiritual sight and vision is increased and increasingly finely tuned as His Ruach leads us day by day.
The DALET, the door Jesus/Yeshua Himself is our path our Way of Life and we in our weakness depend on His strength as He leads us, we follow Him and we go into Him. The Moedim are action and declare to us that the deed was done and His life was a finished work.
As the MoediM are cyclical, every year the beginning reaches the end, which is also the new beginning.
Mem to Mem – Open Mem to closed Mem. And like the water it is a picture of, the MoediM and life, keep flowing. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest will also; according to His promise and are celebrated annually in the MoediM. The picture of creation and of continuance and of fulfilled promises to us the bride of His covenant.
Below is a chart showing all the letters in early Paleo script, (used until 1st century A.D.) and modern Hebrew.
Moed is pronounced mo-ade’
A common nomenclature/terminology for this Moed is calling it, the Feast of Trumpets. The truth is, it is not a feast in the cycle of annual Moedim/Appointed Times and is only linked with trumpets/shofars or rams horns by inference.
The Biblical Hebrew name for this Moed/Appointed Time is
Zikhron Teru’ah
The term RoshHashanah does not actually appear in the Torah, but rather is referred to as the
(Memorial of blowing [of trumpets
or a memorial with the blowing of horns], Lev. 23:24)
or Yom Teruah
(Day of Blowing [trumpets] Num. 29:1)
Yom Teruah יוֹם תְּרוּעָה
The Ancient Paleo Hebrew meaning is that: God stands in the crossroads to judge. He is judge over every authority and household. He will judge every spirit in righteousness and truth. All the earth will rejoice in His justice.
The term Rosh Hashanah literally means head of the year. However, was not applied to this Moed until the 2nd Century A.D. more than 1,500 years after the institution of the Holy-day, holiday.
With the Temple destroyed and the Jewish people scattered after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem; observation of the day had to be changed.
Rosh Hashanah is celebrated as the Jewish New Year.
The unique feature is wrapped up in the phrase zik’ron t’ruah, which is rendered Remembrance – zik’ron
or a
remembrance of blowing with loud blasts of sound.
Zichron Teruah
זכרון תרועה
(Vayikra/Lev. 23:24)
Therefore, zik’ron t’ruah or
yom t’ruah/Yom Teruah – יום תרועה
Bamidbar/Num. 29:1
would be more accurately translated as memorial/day of loud blasts (of sound).
So we are remembering or memorializing something; caused by, or done in conjunction with, loud blasts of sound.
Teruah: Phonetic Spelling: (ter-oo-aw‘) Definition: a shout or blast of war, alarm, or joy.
The word teruah, (root: resh, vav, ayin); points us in various directions. While it clearly means a loud sound, sometimes it is a loud sound of war or threats, and other times it is a loud sound of joy or praise.
The word teruah, in its various forms, appears over 30 times in Tanach.
While teruah refers to the short blasts (of the trumpet or shofar) and
tekiah תקיעה refers to the long blasts,
the verb – taka -תקע – simply means
blowing on an instrument
(regardless of the length of the blasts).
Klein writes that the verb fully means to thrust, clap, give a blow, blast.
The word Zichron
is sometimes translated as
memorial,
but this Hebrew word also means
to mention,
often in reference to speaking the Name of God. E.g., Ex. 3:15; Is. 12:4; Is.26:13; Ps. 45:17 [Heb. 18].
One Greek word was used for both shofar and trumpet – Salpiggi
salpigx: a trumpet
Original Word:σάλπιγξ, ιγγος, ἡ Part of Speech:Noun, Feminine Transliteration:salpigx Phonetic Spelling:(sal’-pinx) Definition:a trumpet Usage:a trumpet, the sound of a trumpet.
Strongs#4536sálpigks – properly, a war-trumpet (WS, 797) that boldly announces God’s victory (the vanquishing of His enemies).
In the Old Testament, trumpets were used to called God’s people to war, and to announce victory wrought by Him. Which was a military clarion that proclaimed the Lord inspired and empowered the victory on behalf of His people.
[“The trumpet was the signal employed to call the hosts of Israel to march as to war, and is common in prophetic imagery (Is. 27:13). Cf. The seventh angel (Rev 11:15)” (WP, 1, 193).
Trumpets in the OT summoned God’s saints for His righteous wars (Nu 10:9; Jer 4:19; Joel 2:1). See also Lev 23:24,25; Nu 10:2-10; Ps 81:3.]
The shofar is used to call people to Teshuvah/repentance, and many think that judgment day will be on the day referred to as the day of memorial which is a call to repentance.
The Hebrew understanding of repentance is: (The burning of that which is behind).
Lev 23:24 is commonly called the Feast of Trumpets or Yom ha din – day of the blowing of shofar.
The Hebrew text has neither the word feast nor the word trumpet these are added English words in the translation!
The shofar is the instrument used in 1Cor. 15:52 and 1Thess. 4:16.
This Greek word salpiggi, is often translated trumpet, but from the context of Resurrection.
The last trump: The shofar would be used because resurrection is for judgment. Jewish scholars say, judgment takes place during the feast of unleavened bread in the spring. Whether it’s then or day of memorial, resurrection will probably be called by a shofar.
If Paul meant trumpet in 2 Cor. 5:10; the reference he was making would be to the Feast of Booths /Tabernacles/Sukkot; calling for the celebration of the eternal kingdom.
We are to remember the abundance of His greatness, the expanse of His strength the mighty acts of the Lord God and praise Him in His Holy Place. (Since Jesus/Yeshua made the WAY, we ourselves are now His sanctuary.) In the glorious splendor of His majesty, we remember the One who gives us Chaim (lifes), and we return to Him every breath He gives to us, in praise and loving adoration.
We remember what we were and the life that once was and marvel at the unconditional love that caused the One who bore the penalty of sin, in our place. He lost His life that we may be found and we are raised to life everlasting, abundant and victorious over the finality of death. A death that would have meant eternal separation from His presence,
Do we ever really fully comprehend the reality of salvation?
We have so very much to remember and praise Him for.
Ps.81:3 gives insight indicating this occurred on either the 1st or 7th month.
The shofar was blown at the temple to begin each Sabbath. There was an inscription on the inside wall of the Temple that said:
To the place of the blowing of the trumpet [shofar].
Recently, there were archaeological excavations at the southeast area surrounding the Temple Mount, in an area called the Ophel. Amongst the debris of stones from the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, archaeologists actually found a piece of stone with the above inscription. (Zangla, 1998)
When the second Temple was destroyed the stones were scattered all over the place, but most ended up close the Temple, near the present Western Wall.
This stone which was discovered, was one of the top cornerstones. In the times of the Temple, the priests would gather at these cornerstones and blow the trumpet (shofar) to announce it was
Yom t’ruah/Yom Teruah – יום תרועה.
This stone has this inscription on it:
The Place of Trumpeting.
So, this cornerstone now actually gives us an association between the Temple and the
Zichron Teruah,
yom t’ruah/Yom Teruah – יום תרועה.
Of course Yeshua/Jesus is our true cornerstone.
He has now made His tabernacle within His Bride. Since Shavuot/Pentecost, there is no need for any special building, but prophecy reveals that the next Temple will be rebuilt by the Jews, many still unaware of who their Messiah is.
There are numerous prophecies indicating that there will be a new Temple built on the Temple Mount. Scripture says it will be the Temple in which the antichrist proclaims himself to be god at the half-way mark through the tribulation; so it could indicate that if we can establish when the Temple will be rebuilt, it may be possible to approximate when the tribulation period will begin.
Arthur Finkle shares the following significant purposes of the shofar: “The shofar is prescribed for the announcement of the New Moon and solemn feasts (Num. x. 10; Ps. lxxxi. 4), also for proclaiming the year of release (Lev. xxv. 9).
The first day of the seventh month (Tishri) is termed “a memorial of blowing” (Lev. xxiii. 24), or “a day of blowing” (Num. xxix. 1), the shofar; the modern use of the instrument survives especially in this connection.
In earlier days it was employed also in other religious ceremonials, as processions (II Sam. v. 15; I Chron. xv. 28), or in the orchestra as an accompaniment to the song of praise (Ps. xcviii. 6; comp. ib. xlvii. 5).
More frequently it was used as the signal-horn of war, like the silver trumpets mentioned in Num. x. 9 (see Josh. vi. 4; Judges iii. 27; vii. 16, 20; I Sam. xiii. 3).
The shofar is used in the desert, on the temple mount, during the times of Rosh HaShanah (Yom Teruah) and Yom Kippur, as well as in the end of days.
The shofar was also blown at the following occasions:
The sound of the shofar is analogous to the trumpet-blasts that announce the coronation of a king. On Rosh Hashanah, God created the world and assumed the role of its Sovereign, and in the sounding of the shofar we acknowledge Him as our King.
Rosh Hashanah is the first of the 10 Days of Penitence/Teshuvah, and the shofar is sounded to stir our conscience, to confront our past errors and return to God, who is ever ready to welcome the penitent.
The shofar is reminiscent of the revelation of God at Sinai, which was accompanied by the sounding of a shofar. It thus reminds us of our destiny — to be a people of Torah, to pursue its study and to practice its commandments.
The sound of the shofar is reminiscent of the exhortations of the prophets whose voices rang out like a shofar in denouncing their people’s wrongdoing, and in calling them to the service of God and man.
The shofar reminds us of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and it calls us to strive for Israel’s renewal in freedom and in fellowship with God.
The shofar summons us to the feeling of humility before God’s majesty and might, which are manifested by all things and by which our own lives are constantly surrounded.
The shofar is a reminder of the Day of the Final Judgment, calling upon all people and all nations to prepare for God’s scrutiny of their deeds.
The shofar foreshadows the jubilant proclamation of freedom, when Israel’s exiled and homeless are to return to the Holy Land. It calls us to believe in Israel’s deliverance at all times and under all circumstances.
The shofar foreshadows the end of the present world order and the inauguration of God’s reign of righteousness throughout the world, with a regenerated Israel leading all people in acknowledging that God is One and His name One.
Where does the phrase last trump come from?
In Judaism there are 3 recognized shofarim or ram’s horn trumps.
They are the first Trump,
the last trump, and
the great shofar.
These shofarim should not be confused with the two silver trumpets called chatzatzerah in Numbers 10.
The first trump and the last trump relate to the two horns of a particular Ram.
According to Jewish tradition the Ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah when Abraham was ready to slay Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering.
The first reference the Voice of God announcing His presence was Exodus 19:16
שׁוֹפָר on the top of Mount Sinai
an instrument (not necessarily musical) used to shout to God in a different way. God’s voice on the mountain sounded like shofarot (Plural of the singular shofar) to the Hebrews at Mt Sinai.
Something to think about. When the shofar is blown at anytime, is it an extension of the soul, is it a shout unto the heavens?
It is a reminder to the hearer to wake from spiritual slumber.
Could shofarot and shouts be counted as one and the same in the scriptures?
If we believe in the Messiah of the Brit Hadasha/New Testament, HIS return will probably be announced with the sound of the shofar at God’s specific timing. If we are not listening / hearing we may be caught unaware.
Timing is everything in the scriptures. From the gathering of Israel around the tabernacle in the wilderness, to the fall of Jericho, and from Messiah’s birth to HIS return.
We recall what happened when both shouts with voices and with the shofar were released; huge walls fall at their sound as at Jericho.
Jericho in Joshua 6:20 is another scriptural connection between T’ruah and the Shofar.
The wall fell flat – a closer reading of the scripture reveals that it was the people, not the shofar, making the T’ruah. T’ruah is the sound of people shouting, yelling, or otherwise making loud sounds with their mouth (pey/fey).
Elsewhere in scripture t’ruah is the sound of alarm from the silver trumpets
Numbers 10:5 B’midbar
These silver trumpets are for the temple and are called chatzatzerah in Numbers 10.
Also spelled in Strongs#2689
chatsotsrah: (an ancient) trumpet
Original Word: חֲצֹצְרָה Part of Speech: Noun Feminine Transliteration: chatsotsrah Phonetic Spelling: (khats-o-tser-aw’) Definition: (an ancient) trumpet
The sound of the shofaron,
Yom Hakipuriym
in the year of Jubilee –
A shout of praise. 1 Sam. 4:5-6; Ezra 3:11.
A shout of joy. Job 8:21; Ps. 89:15 and the playing of musical instruments Ps. 150:5 in other words loud blasts of sound.
Mmm is not claiming to be expert on any subject, especially when discussing issues from the scriptures, simply offering information upon which to ponder.
Next let’s look at the Paleo Hebrew Pictographs and see if there is any further apocalypse/revelation…..
שׁוֹפָר
Sheen/Shin +Vav +Fey/Pey + Resh/Reysh
Shen/shin/sheen
is the letter God uses to identify Himself. Meaning: sharp, to consume, destroy.
The ruach/spirit, the fervent ardency, the intense, fiery, consuming, passionate, POWER of His being/His essence.
VAV/ UaU/VAW
It’s the letter that joins together a nail or peg. Meanings: ownership, custody, purchased, WAV binding together as one in and through Messiah/Mashiach. We are grafted into the branch.
Fay/Fey-F/PH; Pay/Pei Pey
Pey can also look like this:
Mouth, To speak or, to open.
Brit Chadashah speaks of the Renewed covenant. We can see Pei, a mouth open, words of life or death and we are to choose life. Luke 6:45. Messiah is the way, truth and the life. Life abundantly, and our mouths are to open ready to share the gospel message. Showing the entrance, the way, the door, the beginning of new life. (80 is 8 x 10 and is the number of Yeshua/Jesus and of new beginnings.
R – RESH REYSH
Person/head or leader.
A messianic interpretation:
The first mystery is that God is identifying Himself and was connecting Himself to Moses so that he could speak with him. Gods’ Holy presence, which was announced by the shofar, was so terrible that Moses was filled with fear!
The VAV connects what is on the right to what is on the left within the word shofar. …Sheen says, God has already identified Himself from one side… so what is on the other side?
The letters on the other side are letters pey and reysh. They make a word of their own, originally found in Genesis 12:16. This word is translated as ox Judges 6:26. It’s the word used for a bullock that Gideon offers as a sacrifice for sin. The fear created by sin, caused the great divide/separation, between God and us. This is because of His Holiness and our sinfulness.
However it is the very same God who provides the sacrifice/Himself, that is the AT ONE MENT for that sin bringing reconciliation between Himself and us. For the Hebrews is was just once a year at Yom Kippur.
Heb. 9:13-14 points us to the ultimate sacrifice, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkled, was a sanctifying action. How much more the blood of Messiah!
The bull/heifer was a mere type of the ultimate sacrifice.
Part 2 will conclude.. The Apocalypse of the Trump
Meanwhile..please visit last years post on Yom Teruah where the sounds of the shofar being blown can be heard.
You are loved! Abundant shalom and New Year blessings to every reader from your family and friends at MMM.
L’shannah tovah – may this new year be filled with health and happiness!
Make that life-saving decision –
time is running out.
Don’t miss the day of your visitation!
The Shofars Voice is Calling for you today!
This life is NOT all there is!
You are not here by chance!
If you’re not certain you are ready for His return, don’t leave this site without being sure.
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…Don’t put it off one more moment…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You are now Born Again by the Holy Spirit of the Living God and you are part of the ever growing family of believers. You will never be the same again!
There is a further 
R 
H 
If you’re not certain you are ready for His return, don’t leave this site without being sure.
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