In Israel we are in the period known as the Ingathering, the period from the 1st of the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar from YHVH God to Israel through the Day of Atonements on the 10th of the same month, and on into the Feast of Booths from the 15th-22nd of the month.
In Lev 23, the holy day of the 1st of the 7th month is both a New Moon (God beginning a new thing although we don’t see it yet), and also the Memorial of [Trumpet] Blasts/Shouts. Interestingly, or strangely, the Jewish people at some point changed the day to being the Jewish New Year.
God’s wisdom is above ours, and He has a way of doing things, or of letting things happen, that show His sovereign power and oversight. One example is how it is that in the synagogue readings for the holiest day of the year in Judaism — Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonements — the little book of the prophet Jonah is read. Yeshua told the leadership of the Jewish people, as they continually sought from Him more signs to validate Himself, that He would give them no other sign than the Prophet Jonah! And, praise God, He somehow got the rabbinic authorities to insert Jonah into the yearly reading on the day that most Jewish people might go to synagogue, seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness for their sins, while also showing His care and concern for even Gentile enemies!
So, too, with the switch of the beginning of the seventh month to becoming reckoned in most Jewish minds as the beginning of the new year. And, indeed, the Jewish reckoning of years begins from this month. (This year is 5776, which is not Biblically accurate.) God does instruct Israel that the Jubilee trumpet is sounded on the Day of Atonements to lead into the 50th year from whenever His count begins. (Lev 25) It may not be as strange as it is interesting, as we consider God’s sovereign wisdom. Just as the seventh day Sabbath brings to completion and to a close the week, leading into the beginning of the new week on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., Sonday, so, too, does the seventh redemptive month of the calendar given to Israel mark the bringing to completion and fullness of God’s plan to save His people in order to re-establish HIS Kingdom dwelling in the midst of His saved and cleansed people: the new beginning of the never-ending Kingdom of God/Heaven!
That is so corporately for the entire created order, and also has application for the individual believer in Jesus even now. When someone repents and believes the gospel — which is actually what the trumpet call of evangelism seeks — he/she is born-again and becomes a new creation. Truly a new beginning of a new birth for a new year of a new and eternal life!
In these end-times of the last days, as the gospel continues to be preached to all peoples in all places, and Israel is being regathered to her land, the Holy Spirit is calling Yeshua’s people — the Body of Messiah/Christ — back together (an ingathering) in love and unity in preparation for overcoming the things to come, and for the holiness needed to see the Lord as a Bride suited to Her Groom, who is returning to set up His Kingdom — with His saints — on the Earth from Jerusalem in Israel. Then will the Father’s will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. This final 7th 1000-year Sabbath day for this creation will bring to fullness all that YHVH God planned to bring to a close His redemption and the final judgment in order to have that which is perfect forever in eternity.
Again, even as man does things which are seemingly against God’s own word and commandments, nonetheless, to His everlasting glory, He can use it to ask them, “Then why did you not believe what you yourselves profess?” Born-again believers in Yeshua are free to be repentant and rejoiceful in God at all times, in all seasons because He has forgiven our sins! There is truly no wisdom, or understanding, or counsel against the LORD! Praise His Name!
Hi Howard, best greetings from France !
The best explanation I have found about the swap between 1st of Nissan (not Pessah which is the 14th of Nissan) and the feast of Trumpets to be the beginning of the jewish year is in Nehemiah chapter 8. After the return from captivity in Babylon, there was a big spiritual revival and it happened to be on the first day of the seventh month ! Since that time, this revival probably became Rosh Hashana “the head of the year”.
Many blessings to you and your family and your kehilat.
Merci, Jean-Igor!
I also just recently read Nehemiah 8. It’s very interesting, too, that Yom Kippur, the 10th of the month, is not at all referred to — only the first of the month, and then Succot.
Thank you for your ministry to the Body of Messiah! I recently read an article that gave the first explanation I had heard for the Jewish people’s changing the name of Yom Teruah to Rosh Hashanah. I won’t try to give the whole explanation, that can be read at the website, Nehemia’s Wall, article “How Yom Teruah Became Rosh Hashanah.” In a nutshell, he says that while the Jewish people were living in captivity in Babylon, the Babylonians celebrated two New Years, one being on the first day of their seventh month. The Babylonians also used a lunar calendar, so their months generally coincided with the Biblical calendar. Over the years in captivity, the Jewish people slowly began to incorporate the idea of a New Year beginning in their seventh month. The article is a very interesting and educational read. Hope this gives some new insight!
God bless!
Thank-you, Carol. I did read that article you referred to before I wrote my comments.
The calendar which YHVH gave to Israel is a lunar-solar calendar, with the moon having to adjust periodically to the rule of the sun in order to keep God’s order and times. For example, the Passover must always be in the Spring (Aviv) and begin with a Full Moon. In Islam, their’s is a lunar-based calendar, and so lacks any fixed marker for their holy days. Christians use a solar-based calendar, and the holidays are in close association with the lunar-solar calendar of Israel, yet set times by the Son.