Coronation of the King on Yom Teruah
There is strong belief that “the great sound of the shofar” (in Mat 24:31), “the great shofar that shall blow” (in Isa 27:13), and the seventh [and the last] trumpet in the Book of Revelation are one and the same. But while they all depict the coming of the Savior on the clouds of the heaven with a great host and with dreadful appearance, and the establishment of the Kingship of the Messiah, they do not connect this awesome event to any particular day.
Is there any evidence that the coming of King Messiah can be anticipated on a particular day of the year? We have Scriptural proof of this in the Book of Psalms.
Yom Teruah as a rehearsal for the Messiah’s return
Every appointed time of YHVH is a footstep of the Messiah closer to the Creator. Every appointed time of YHVH is also a rehearsal. As we walk in the footsteps of the Messiah, beginning with the sacrifice of the Pesach lamb, we rehearse all appointed times of YHVH and all events that will take place in their own time. And when there is a rehearsal, a real event is coming—the return of the Messiah of YHVH.
Why do we blow the shofars on Yom Teruah, the Day of Shouting? YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be Shabbaton for you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a set-apart gathering. (Lev 23:24).
Unlike the other appointed times of the Creator, the Torah does not associate the Day of Trumpets, Yom Teruah, with any particular event, nor does it give any reason why this appointed time has been established.
All autumnal appointed times are within one month: the seventh month of the year. All of them are either Shabbaton (Yom Teruah, the first day of Sukkot, and Yom HaShemini) or Shabbat Shabbaton (Yom Kippurim). Therefore, it seems that the seventh month of the year, like the seventh day of the week, is set-apart as a Shabbat or Sabbatical month, by set-apart convocations, and the suspension of labor.
Therefore, since the whole month has been set apart in the first day, as the beginning of the month, the whole month is raised to the status of being Shabbat to YHVH.
This significant character of the seventh month has been elevated by the shouting of trumpets by which Israel is to present herself loudly before YHVH on the first day of the seventh month, that He may forgive His children their transgressions.
The psalms of the Messiah’s return
We will explain the reason for Yom Teruah in due course with two psalms, to which we now turn.
Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to Elohim with a voice of triumph! For Yehovah Elyon is awesome, a great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, the excellence of Ya’akov whom He loves. Selah. (Psa 47:1-4)
We shall pause (selah) here as well in order to explain these verses of the psalmist.
The fame of the victory of YHVH Most High over the enemies of Israel will cause the fear of Him to be spread over all the nations in result of which His people will have rest in the Land. Undoubtedly, the psalmist spoke here prophetically because Israel had never had rest, much less all the nations subdued, nor has ever Israel received its inheritance. And if we consider that the nations have never come to the realization that the Elohim of Israel is a king over all the earth, we need to come to the most natural conclusion that the event spoken of in the psalm still lies in the future.
Yet the psalmist must have had something in mind when he was writing in inspiration this praise song–something that had already happened–the victory over the hostile peoples of Ammon, Moav, and Edom who invaded Judah with the purpose of driving the people of Elohim out of their Land.
Being greatly alarmed and troubled of this invasion, Yehoshaphat King of Yehudah sought help of YHVH, while he proclaimed a fast in the land. By the mouth of the prophet, the king received the promise that Elohim of his fathers would fight for the nation next day. YHVH said, “It is not for you to fight in this. Position yourselves, stand still and see the deliverance of YHVH with you” (2Ch 20:17).
On the following day, the army of Yehudah came into the wilderness to see the battle of YHVH. The Mighty one of Israel set ambushes against the hostile nations who had come against Yehudah, and they were smitten by the hand of YHVH–the peoples of Ammon, Moav, and Edom fought to destroy one another (2Ch 20:22-23). So Yehoshaphat and his people found the battle-field full of corpses and gathered spoil for three days, and then on the fourth day they praised YHVH for the wonderful deliverance.
That happened in the reign of King Yehoshaphat. But the mindful scholar of the Biblical prophecy will notice similarities with the final battle of YHVH: the war of YHVH against Gog of Magog foretold in the Book of Ezekiel.
Out of this wonderful deliverance in the time of Yehoshaphat and of the future deliverance yet to be fulfilled springs the call in the psalm: “YHVH Elyon is awesome and a great King over all the earth”. This awesomeness of El Elyon supports the view that the psalmist had that recent act of YHVH before his mind, when he wrote,
Elohim shall go up with a shout, Yehovah with a voice of a shofar. Sing praises to Elohim, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For Elohim is King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding. Elohim reigns over the nations; Elohim sits on His throne of distinctness. (Psa 47:5-8)
After the musical pause (selah) of the first four strophes, the poet envisioned YHVH Elohim going up with the blast of the shofar with which the final half of the poem begins.
Universal presence vs. manifested presence
But is it reasonable to say that the Creator, who is present everywhere at once, goes up or down, or moves from one place to another? Most evidently, we will be in error to say that. We should therefore learn that there is difference between the presence the Everlasting One, which is everywhere, and His manifested presence, which can be revealed in a certain place at certain time. This manifested presence is best represented by the means of expressing indirectly by an image or form.
Thus, this manifested presence of YHVH can take the place of or be parallel or equivalent to the Omnipresent One in any place at any time. Yet, this manifested presence expressed in the finite world by the means of image is not equal, i.e., having the same quantity, value, or requisite qualities, as the source, that is, the Infinite YHVH, who has no limits or boundaries in spacetime or extent or magnitude.
Therefore, where it is said by the means of parallelism that “Elohim shall go up with a shout, Yehovah with a voice of a shofar”, it should be understood by the means of reasoning that His manifested presence goes up, not the Omnipresent One Himself, who is present everywhere at any time. This complexity of His universal presence and His manifested one, on the one hand, and the quality of being united into one, on the other, we explained to the best of our ability in the series of articles The Oneness of the Creator and in articles such as The Ancient of Days and His Manifested Presence and Is It Lawful to Call Yeshua ‘Elohim’? (Refer to the source for the complete explanation)
Note: In Hebrew language, there is no explicit word for what the nations call “God”. The Hebrew word “Elohim” does not mean “God” in the strict sense of the word. Rather, “Elohim” means one in power and authority when used in the so-called royal plural to express majesty of a deity. In that sense of the word, “elohim” is commonly translated “God”. But when used in plural form (the verb will determine the plurality), “elohim” can refer to the messengers of the deity (angels), or to the judges in the court of law.
The Cryptic verse still to be explained
With that being explained, the ascent of Elohim (His manifested presence) presupposes a previous descent, whether it be a manifestation of Himself by the mediation of the Messenger of YHVH (see Jdg 13:20), or by some direct Supernal manifestation in order to bring promises, such as in Gen 17:1,22, or a triumphant execution of judgment as in Psalm 47. In Judges, we read thus,
And it came to be, as the flame went up toward the heavens from the altar, that the Messenger of Yehovah went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoach and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. (Jdg 13:20)
This miracle is explained in the words, “when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar”, and the Messenger of YHVH ascended in this flame. We should recall that on another occasion the Messenger of YHVH appeared to Mosheh in the burning bush. Manoach and his wife must have recalled that story at Sinai. Then Manoach knew that this was a messenger of YHVH and said to his wife, “We shall certainly die, because we have seen Elohim!” (Jdg 13:21-22).
So here in the psalm, it is said, “Elohim shall go up with a shout”. But the question arises as to why Elohim would fight the enemies of Israel ascending to heaven. Should we not expect to read, “Elohim shall go down with a shout”? This is a difficult question to answer decisively.
This cryptic and short statement can however be understood in a two-folded way: (1) either Elohim has come down to fight on behalf of His people Israel, and they return to Jerusalem and He to His throne above in heaven, or (2) He has already come down previously and now He returns back to heaven.
The giving of the Kingship to the Son of Man
Daniel saw a vision in which someone who looked like a man appeared in heaven. This one came to the Ancient of Days with what appears like clouds of the heavens. And he was brought before the Ancient of Days to receive the rulership over all nations in the world,
I was looking in the night visions and saw one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of the heavens! And he came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before Him. And to him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Dan 7:13-14)
This manner of appearance of the Son of Man is further prophesied in Mar 13:26, Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64, and Rev 1:7, when he will come on the earth to execute what has already been prophesied about him in Daniel 7, namely, to receive dominion, glory, and a kingship over all the nations.
And even though the Scripture is very explicit in saying that the Messenger of His Face is the image of the invisible YHVH, this image should not be confused with equality and essence, but it must be viewed as a representation or manifested presence of the One who has entrusted His authority to him, as we argued above.
This representation is most evident in the solemn inauguration of the Son of Man as the ruler of the world by giving him the power and authority fully vested in his kingship. This means that while the heavenly throne is inalienably possessed by the King for eternity, His representative is appointed for its governing. This is how we explain the verse that says that “Elohim shall go up with a shout, Yehovah with a voice of a shofar” to receive the Kingship of all the earth and to reign over the nations in Psa 47:5-8.
The return of the King with a shout
We shall now return to our primary subject of this study, which is the coming of the King on Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpet.
Above small ram’s shofars and long shofars from antelopes. According to the tradition, the use of a ram’s horn is a reference to the binding of Yitschak, when Avraham sacrificed the ram in place of his son. Other animal horns may be used, such as the horns of antelope, but the horns of oxen are forbidden, as they bring the memory of the sin of the Golden Calf.
The psalmist envisioned Elohim ascending to heaven “with a shout, with a voice of a shofar”. In Hebrew, we find the words: (1) רוּעַ rua (Psa 47:1) a primitive verb which means “to mar” (especially by breaking); figuratively to split the ears (with sound), hence, rua means to shout (for alarm or joy), (2) תְּרוּעָה teruah, “shout” or “blast”, and (3) שׁוֹפָר shofar, meaning “curved [ram] horn” (both in Psa 47:5).
Remarkably, Rabbi Abbanu said in Rosh Hashanah 16a,
Why does one sound a blast with a shofar made from a ram’s horn on Rosh HaShanah? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Sound a blast before Me with a shofar made from a ram’s horn, so that I will remember for you the binding of Yitschak, son of Avraham, in whose stead a ram was sacrificed, and I will ascribe it to you as if you had bound yourselves before Me.
Thus, the “shout” (teruah) is here the people’s loud voice of victory, which Elohim delivered to Israel, or the blast of the horn, that is to say, “the voice of the horn” announcing the victory.
In other words, what takes place here is a prelude of the final moments of this world. The manifested presence of YHVH Elohim has come down to earth and after having subdued the enemies of Israel, with the blast of the shofar He ascends again to heaven to take up His throne in visible kingly glory.
The blasts of two shofars 3,500 years apart
Psalm 47 precludes with the ascending of the manifested glory of YHVH with the blast of the shofar in heaven to sit on His throne. This magnificent picture of the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom is sung with praises to Elohim, the King of all the earth, nay, with a new song which continues in Psalm 98.
Shouting of the silver trumpets for the King on Yom Teruah
After the wonders Elohim has done by the might of His right hand that has brought salvation and righteousness openly shown before the eyes of the nations, He has remembered His mercy and faithfulness to Israel for all the ends of the earth to see (Psa 98:1-5) with the blast of the silver trumpets and the voice of the shofar.
With trumpets and a voice of a shofar shout before the King Yehovah. The sea roars and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it. The rivers clap their hands, the mountains sing together for joy before Yehovah, for He shall come to judge the earth. He judges the world in righteousness and the people with equity. (Psa 98:6-9)
The last and only time YHVH came down on the earth and ascended was some 3,500 years ago at Mount Sinai in smoke and in fire like of a furnace, when all the mountain trembled exceedingly, because of the long and very strong voice of the shofar (Exo 19:18-19). Now, in our psalms it happens again but this time for righteous judgment.
The judgment in the seventh month
The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught in the Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16a:9 thus,
At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on the festival of Sukkot, they are judged concerning water; and mankind is judged on Rosh HaShanah and the sentence is sealed on Yom Kippur. And when the mishna is taught, it is taught with regard to the beginning of the judgment process, i.e., the judgment of mankind is initially passed on Rosh HaShanah.
In the Rabbinic tradition, the new year begins on Rosh HaShanah (the first day of the seventh month) when all the earth passes before Him for judgment. The Rabbis believe and teach that the sixth day of the Creation, when mankind was created, was the Rosh HaShanah, but the Torah calls this day Yom Teruah, the Day of Shouting [of the shofar]. And for that reason, they teach that the King of the universe will be crowned over the mankind with the blast of the shofar.
Whether by coincidence or not (we do not know, the time will tell), but in the year of writing of this article, in the eve of Sukkot of 2022, the judgments in the Talmud might have already begun with the Ukraine war.
The war that began in February 2022 led to the shortage of grain and the disruption of food supply worldwide; on Passover, the world was judged concerning the grain in the appointed time of the King the Festival of Unleavened Breads. This continued through the other appointed time for judgment, Shavuot, which is also known as the harvest of the wheat.
Yom Teruah and Yom Kippurim passed under an unprecedented nuclear threat since the Caribbean crisis, and the seven days of Sukkot, the judgment concerning water, is approaching, while the world is already in water crisis. If we do not see the Messiah of YHVH in His appointed times, we have seen too little.
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May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days!
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