[Study adapted from the video “Yom Teruah- The Day of Shouting“, from the series Feasts of the Seventh Month.]
In this chapter we will talk about Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets), more accurately known as the Day of Shouting or the Day of Shofar Blasts.
We are going to cover a lot of very important information that we all need to know. I think the thing to begin with, to help us understand the importance of Yom Teruah, is that we need to think about Yahweh’s feast dates as actual dates. We need to understand that Yahweh is seeking a bride for His Son Yeshua, and that we hope to be that bride. The timing of the feasts is very important. We need to be there when He is going to be there, and we need to not stand Him up, so to speak. There has been a tremendous amount of bad teachings on the feasts over the years, so there is going to be a tremendous amount of unlearning for many people to do. We are going to talk about all that, as well as when the correct timing is for Yom Teruah.
Along the way, in the second half of this study, we are going to talk about the correct definitions of aviv, (meaning aviv barley). Because that also influences the timing of Yom Teruah.
We are also going to talk about what the word Teruah actually means. If Yahweh’s feast is called Yom Teruah, then, what is “teruah”?
But I think the thing that is going to help everyone put things together is coming up in the second half of this chapter, where we talk about the Ancient-Hebrew wedding ceremony. And this is something that is so important, many people do not know about it. But if we understand about the two-houses and also the Ancient-Hebrew wedding ceremony, this gives us a big-picture perspective. So we can really understand much more of Scripture, what it is about, and the big-picture perspective of how everything fits together.
And then, finally, we are going to talk about the prophetic symbolism of Yom Teruah in the book of Revelation. All that is coming up, so keep reading!
To begin, Yahweh establishes for us our Moedim, or the Appointed Times. These are the times that He has appointed for us to gather together to worship Him, to spend time with Him, and to be with Him.
One of the most basic of all of the Moedim is the New Moon Day, or what is called in Hebrew, Rosh Chodesh. We are going to see later that Yom Teruah (Trumpets or The Feast of Shouting) is a very special type of Rosh Chodesh. But first, we want to talk about the basics of Rosh Chodesh.
In Hebrew the term “Rosh” means “head” and then the term “Chodesh” means “month”. Basically it refers to is the renewing of the moon. The moon becomes renewed every month and that is Rosh Chodesh, or the New Moon Day.
Yahweh tells us that we are to set these days apart as being special by bringing Him certain offerings on the New Moon Days. For example, let us look at Numbers chapter 28.
Bemidbar (Numbers) 28:11-12
11 [Yahweh says] “At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish;
12 three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram…”
What we are going to see is that the New Moon Day of the first month, and also the New Moon Day of the seventh month, are very special.
The New Moon Day of the first month is also what is called Rosh HaShanah (or the Head of the Year). It is not just Rosh Chodesh for the first month, but it has its own special name, Rosh HaShanah. And the reason is because, whenever the New Moon Day for the first month is set, that is going to impact and establish the timing for every other feast in the calendar year. We talk about this in the book study Establishing the Head of the Year, which is effectively the transcripts for our previous video studies which we are going to briefly summarize in this study.
A little bit later we are going to see that Yom Teruah (or the Day of Trumpets or the Day of Shouting) is effectively the New Moon Day for the seventh month, or the Rosh Chodesh for the seventh month. But again, it has special requirements and there are special things to do. So, it has its own name, Yom Teruah, or the Day of Shouting.
Before we talk about Yom Teruah, first we want to talk about Rosh HaShanah. We want to talk about how to establish the Head of the Year. Because if we do not establish the Head of the Year right, we are not going to be able to keep Yom Teruah in the right time. And that is going to be a big problem. Because as we are going to see in the second half of this chapter, the timing of Yom Teruah is very important. We need to be there at the right time or else we are going to miss out on some very, very (and I mean very!) special blessings. And again, there exists is a big problem, because a lot of wrong things have been taught over the years. For that reason, we need to first explain what those wrong things are, and then we need to establish what the right things are that we should be doing.
There is a big key to timing Rosh HaShanah correctly and that is to focus upon the wave sheaf of barley, or what is called the Omer. We are going to see the reason for that is because the Omer is symbolic of Yeshua our firstfruits. So, just like we are told that all of Scripture speaks of Yeshua, meaning that all of Scripture revolves around Yeshua, the whole calendar is going to revolve around the Omer. Because the Omer is symbolic of Yeshua. That is why, 15 to 21 days after Rosh HaShanah, a Levitical priesthood is going to have a requirement to present the very first full sheaf of aviv (medium dough) barley in the whole land of Israel to Yahweh. The idea is to bring the very first of the barley. Again, because this Omer offering, this presentation sheaf (wave sheaf) is symbolic of Yeshua our firstfruits. We explain this fully in our Establishing the Head of the Year study.
Now we know that this is symbolic of Yeshua because, for one, everything in Scripture refers to Yeshua. And apart from that, the apostle Shaul tells us that it refers to Yeshua in First Corinthians chapter 15.
Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 15:20-23
20 But now Messiah is risen from the dead, and has become our firstfruits, afterward those who are Messiah’s at His coming.
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah all shall be made alive.
23 But each one in his own order: [first] Messiah the firstfruits, afterward those who are Messiah’s at His [second] coming.
So, again, the presentation of the wave sheaf is extremely symbolic. It is very important for any believer in Messiah Yeshua to understand these things.
The problem is that there is also a false timing of Rosh HaShanah. And that is why there are so many people this year who are on the wrong calendar and are worshiping a month late. I am going to try and say this as nicely as possible. But part of the reason for this error is because there were certain Karaites (modern-day Sadducees) this year in 2021 CE, and also certain Messianic barley search groups, who are incorrectly teaching that the Omer (presentation sheaf for the wave sheaf of barley) does not need to be of the true firstfruits. Meaning, it does not necessarily need to be the first of the barley.
To explain, the Karaite doctrine is this. That first you should bring in the harvest, and then you can take some random sheaf of barley from that full harvest. And then you bring what we would call an anti-sheaf as your Wave Sheaf Offering. In other words, it is a false sheaf. It is not the correct sheaf, it is not the way to do it. It is not the true firstfruits of barley. When you look up the term firstfruits, it is intuitive, the first fruits are the first. But when you bring in the main harvest and then bring some random sampling of barley from the harvest, that is not the true firstfruits. So, this is the problem. The Karaites are teaching that you do not have to bring the first fruits, you can just bring any old sheaf of barley. And then the Messianic mimic from the Karaites, and it creates a huge mess. We talk about that a lot in the other presentations.
Now, as we explain in Establishing the Head of the Year and in the study of “Aviv Barley Simplified”, the correct way to establish the timing of Rosh HaShanah (the New Moon Day) of the first month is to cite the very first sheaf of aviv (medium dough) barley in the land of Israel. Again, the very first of the firstfruits, which are symbolic of Yeshua. And then we are going to cite the first crescent sliver of the New Moon from the land of Israel, and that is when the priesthood is going to declare Rosh HaShanah (the Head of the Year).
Okay. Now we need to understand that it is the New Moon of the first month and it can take place regardless or irrespective of the spring. There are a lot of teachers who use the phrases “the spring feasts” and “the fall feasts”. We also used these wrong terms in a lot of our earlier material because we did not know any better, but Yahweh has since then given us more light. There are big problems using the terms “spring feasts” and “fall feasts” because they are not necessarily accurate. For example, in 2021 (the year of publishing this study) the firstfruits of barley became ready before spring.
The rabbis use the terms “spring feasts” and “fall feasts”, but the rabbis also have all sorts of sun-worship incorporated into their calendar. In fact, not many people know, but the rabbis actually hold a day in honor of the sun (known as “blessings of the sun”) once every 28 years. So, it is very dangerous to use terms that do not appear in Scripture. Because when you talk both astronomically and also astrologically, spring is declared when the vernal (the spring) equinox, (also called the equilux) begins.
The equinox (equilux) is when you have the rotations of the earth around the sun. You have summer when the days are the longest and the nights are the shortest, and then it comes to winter when the nights are the longest and the days are the shortest. And then there are two times a year, called spring and fall, when the day and the night are of equal length. And that is what the term equilux (or equinox) means. Equinox means equal night (equal parts night, equal parts day), or you could call it the equilux, which is the same thing, equal parts lux (light) versus equal parts night.
In other words, you have got 24 hours in a day. At the equinoxes or equiluxes you have got 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night, or you have got 12 hours of night and 12 hours of day, take your pick. There are certain Messianic teachers out there who are teaching that: “No, no, no, no! There is a big difference between the equinox and the equilux. And we should not keep the equinox because that is of Satan, but we should keep the equilux because that is not of Satan.”
Even though it is just another word for the same thing! There are some really bad, terrible teachings out there. And it is really sad to watch the vast majority of the Messianic movement follow behind this teacher who is teaching these completely wrong, illogical things.
Well, we talk about this in our studies. But the big problem with using the equinox (or the equilux) is that we end up watching the movements of the earth around the sun. And that is precisely what Yahweh commands us not to do. Yahweh says not to pay attention to the movements of the sun, the moon and the stars. But that is what the term spring refers to, is when you have the equinox or the equilux.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 17:2-3
2 If there be found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim gives you, man or woman, that has wrought wickedness in the sight of Yahweh your Elohim, in transgressing His covenant,
3 And has gone and served other Elohim, and worshipped them, either the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
We explain this in the study “Where is Spring Commanded?” (Because it is not!). Also, in “Where Is the Equinox Commanded?”, we basically cover the same topic from a different angle. We point out that spring begins at the vernal (spring) equinox. Once again, how do you determine it? It is when the day and the night are of equal length. And Yahweh never mentions the equinox or the equilux anywhere in Scripture. He does not have anything that even resembles how to determine when the day and the night are of equal length. He does not tell us to do that, that was first discovered by the Greeks. So why would anyone incorporate Greek concepts into a Hebrew or Hebraic calendar? It makes no sense. But this is what the rabbis do, this is what the Karaites are doing, and it is also (sadly) what the majority of Messianic are doing in 2021. Because they are simply parroting whatever the Karaites say at this particular point in time. And the problem is that the concepts of a spring equinox and a fall equinox do not appear in Scripture, these concepts have been added to Scripture, which qualifies as false worship.
Why do we say it qualifies as false worship? Because in Scripture, the term worship is derived from worth-ship. If you worship Yahweh, you consider Him and Him alone to be worthy of telling you how to keep your calendar. But if you look at the movements of the sun, the moon, and the stars to determine your calendar, then you are considering the sun, the moon, and the stars to be worthy of telling you when and how to keep your calendar. And mixing the two really does not work. Because Yahweh tells us that He will not share His glory with any other. So we need to be really careful. If we are going to say that we worship Yahweh, that we consider Him worthy to be the one to set our calendar, then we need to go by what He says and not add Greco-Roman Babylonian concepts into the mix.
Okay, so then, how do we determine the Head of the Year? Again, in “Aviv Barley Simplified” we showed how the feasts of the first month (Rosh HaShanah) are correctly established by finding the first complete sheaf of aviv (medium dough) barley in the land of Israel (finding the firstfruits of barley), and then by sighting the first crescent sliver of the New Moon from the land of Israel. And if you do that, that is what Nazarene Israel is doing this year. And that is why we are holding the feast at this particular point in time. There are a lot of people worshiping a month too late this year, and one of the reasons for that is because they are not obeying the face value of Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 9. We talk about this in the study “Let’s Not Break Deuteronomy 16:9.”
Deuteronomy 16: 9
9 You shall count seven weeks for yourself: begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.
The face-value (p’shat) of Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 9 tells us that when we cut the aviv barley firstfruits, that is when we need to begin our 50-day Omer count up to Shavuot (Pentecost). In other words, when we begin to cut, that is when we begin our count, or you could say we begin to count when we begin to cut. But, to say this as nicely as possible, this year (2021 CE) we had certain Karaite and some other certain Messianic barley search teams claiming: “No, no, no, no! You do not need to obey the face-value of Deuteronomy 16, verse 9. No, no. You do not need to begin your 50-day Omer count when you begin cutting, but rather you can cut your firstfruits of barley and just lay them to one side, and then you bring in the main harvest a month or two later. And that is when you begin your count, when you bring in the main body of the harvest.”
They are saying it has nothing to do with the firstfruits. Now, we can understand why the Karaites could believe this way because the Karaites do not believe on Yeshua as the Messiah. Therefore, they do not understand the role of Yeshua as the firstfruits. But why the Messianic groups do not understand the role of Yeshua as the firstfruits, that we do not quite understand. To find out more information, please see “Let’s Not Break Deuteronomy 16:9.”
Now we were trying to communicate with the Karaites (modern-day Sadducees). We sent them letters, and we tried corresponding with them. We tried communicating with them in various ways. We did not get the answers we were hoping for. So, with the answers that we did get, we did a little bit more investigation and research. We looked at their studies and we did a study on “Josephus the Talmud and the Omer”. It is very interesting, because the Karaites will tell you that they do not follow the Talmud, but secretly they do, (and they may not even be aware that they are). But they look at the Talmud as a reliable historical resource. What we find when we study the Talmud is that the Talmud tells us precisely that it is okay to cut the firstfruits of your barley, and to lay them to one side, and then to wait for the main body of the harvest. And then that is when you begin your Omer count, when you bring in the main harvest.
So the Karaites are literally following what is written in the Talmud, thinking that what is written in the Talmud is what is written in Scripture. But we of course, as followers of Yeshua, understand that what is written in the Talmud are the traditions and teachings of the rabbis, and the traditions and teachings of the rabbis very often contradict the teachings of Yeshua’s Father Yahweh. And then, what is really sad, is to see how many Messianic groups are following after the Karaites. Just because whatever the Karaites say, they assume that that must be correct. When in fact, it directly violates Scripture. So if you would like to see how the Karaites are violating Scripture and why, I encourage you to check out the study of “Josephus the Talmud and the Omer.”
Well, another Karaite doctrine is the teaching that “Harvestable fields are required for the Day of the Wave Sheaf Offering”. This is again related to the earlier study. The Karaites have a belief that you must be able to bring in the main body of the harvest before you can declare the Wave Sheaf Offering and begin your 50-day count up to Shavuot (Pentecost). That is why they teach that if you have any barley that needs to get harvested early and laid aside, you just harvest it and lay it aside. And therefore you can violate the face value of Deuteronomy 16, verse 9. Because it is not really violating the face value of Deuteronomy 16, verse 9 (even though that is exactly what they are doing!). They cannot see that they are contradicting Scripture because they are following the Talmud rather than find the commandments of our Father, Yahweh. We talk about that in the study “The Error of Harvestable Fields.”
One of the big problems that they get into with this is with the term aviv. The term aviv refers to barley that is tender, young, and green. And when they are talking about bringing in the main body of the harvest, they are talking about barley that is mature, brown, and hard. There is nothing about harvest-ready barley that is tender, young, and green. Harvest-ready barley is hard, dry, and brown. And that is what they are not taking into account.
So, in the Karaite model (which a lot of the Messianic groups are following), they literally let the true firstfruits of barley fall to the ground. If you are a farmer with a field of barley that comes ripe early, you are going to lose your crop. Because the Karaites are waiting for the main harvest to come ripe, which is usually about a month or so later, maybe even longer. So, anyway, if you want to know more on what is wrong with the Karaite theory of harvestable fields, please check out our study “The Error of Harvestable Fields.”
Another reason that so many Messianic are keeping the feasts a month late this year is because they are following a particular barley-search group that talks about the alleged need to “qualify your fields”. There is a particular Messianic barley-search leader who teaches that you cannot grow barley on hills. If it is on a hillside, you cannot harvest (or use) it, or if the field has too many rocks in it, that is also disqualified as a field. This is really quite surprising because, for anyone who has been to the land of Israel, it is basically hills and rocks. And one of the blessings of barley is that it grows quite well in rocky and hilly terrain. That is probably one of the reasons why Yahweh uses it, because it grows so very well in both rocky and hilly terrain.
So, here we have this Messianic brother and he is effectively disqualifying anything with hills and rocks. And in fact, he even disqualifies Jericho, which is extremely ironic because that is where Israel first offered the Wave Sheaf Offering when they entered the land. So this brother is basically adding all sorts of requirements to Scripture that do not exist. In other words, he is adding things. Apparently, for this brother, whatever Yahweh says is not sufficient and he feels the need to add his own requirements. Because apparently according to him, Yahweh could not figure it out. So anyway, read the study Establishing the Head of the Year to see what it is that we are supposed to be doing.
But this is why we are celebrating Yom Teruah now rather than a month later with most of the people, who are celebrating a month too late. Because most people are following the Karaites, who are secretly following the Pharisees and what the Pharisees wrote in the Talmud. And it is not right, it is not correct.
Again, it is important to establish the Head of the Year correctly because it is going to then determine the dates of Yom Teruah, also known as the Day of Trumpets, or the Day of Shouting, or the Day of Shofar Blasts.
Now, as long as we are on the timing, as if that was not enough, there is more. So, see if you can follow this. We know that according to Scripture, the New Moon day (Rosh Chodesh) of the first month is also the Rosh HaShanah or (Head of the Year). Well, the rabbis say that Rosh HaShanah (the Head of the Year) is actually in the “seventh month”. So, the rabbis will call the seventh month Rosh HaShanah in addition to calling it Yom Teruah. This makes no sense. Because, why would Yahweh start a calendar in the seventh month? Yom Teruah is the first day of the seventh month. I mean, how many calendars do you begin at month seven? When we begin counting, do we begin counting seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve? Or do you begin one, two, three, four? Anyway, not only does it make no sense, but it also contradicts the commandment that Yahweh gave in Exodus chapter 12.
Shemote (Exodus) 12:2
2 “This month [barley] shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you”.
Yahweh was giving this commandment about the time that the barley was found to be Aviv, or tender, young, and green. He is talking about when winter is in process of ending, and they are starting into the growing season. He says this month, (when they are starting to come into the summer-growing season), this month shall be the beginning of your months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. And the rabbis say “No, no, no, no, no! The first month of the year comes at the end of the growing season”. (In what most people call the fall). So that is another thing that the rabbis do to be aware of.
The rabbis also call Yom Teruah the first of the so-called Yamim Noraim, or what they call the 10 Days of Awe. And it is important to realize that this term 10 Days of Awe, does not exist in Scripture. We do not use the term because we do not like speaking apart from Scripture, we do not like adding things to Scripture. We figure Yahweh is plenty capable of telling us what He wants done, so we try to teach what He wants done rather than making up our own rules.
And then finally, another thing that the rabbis do wrong is that they have the rabbinic Yom Teruah (or the rabbinic Rosh HaShanah) that lasts for two days, whereas in Scripture it is only supposed to last one day. It is the first day of the seventh month, not the first and second days of the seventh month.
Okay, so there is all that regarding the timing, and this is what Yahweh says in Leviticus chapter 23.
Vayiqra (Leviticus) 23:23-25
23 Then Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying,
24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a set-apart rehearsal [holy convocation].
25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.”
So, you want to call your employer and let them know, this is a set apart day for you not to work. This is a special day we need to set aside so that we can be with our husband and King, Yeshua.
Okay, now we want to talk about what Yom Teruah is. And we are going to get into some definitions here, and then from here we are going to go into the concept of the Hebrew wedding feast. So think about the wedding feast when we are looking at these definitions.
Let us take a look at the word teruah.
H8643 (תְּרוּעָה) terû‛âh (ter-oo-aw’); From H7321; clamor, that is, acclamation of joy or a battle cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarum: -alarm, blow (-ing) (of, the) (trumpets), joy, jubilee, loud noise, rejoicing, shout (-ing), (high, joyful) sound (-ing).
So, if we talk about the concept of trumpets, it could refer to an alarm, or a clamor, or a cry of battle. If we think about the concept of a wedding, then we talk about joy, jubilee, loud noise, rejoicing, shouting, or making a joyful sound or making a joyful noise unto Yahweh.
Now let us look up the reference to the root at H7321
H7321 rua (roo-ah’); A primitive root; to mar [NBW—the silence] (especially by breaking); figuratively to split the ears (with sound), that is, shout (for alarm or joy): -blow an alarm, cry (alarm, aloud, out), destroy, make a joyful noise, smart, shout (for joy), sound an alarm, triumph.
We are breaking the silence, we are shouting for joy. Because we are waiting for our Bridegroom to come back, and be triumphal and victorious!
So, now that we understand what Yom Teruah is and especially the timing of Yom Teruah, now let us take a look and see how Yom Teruah fits in the Ancient-Hebrew wedding model. We are going to see even more symbolism and more meaning that is going to help us to understand why the shouts we give on Yom Teruah are not only alarms for battle, but they are also shouts of joy.
In the Ancient-Hebrew wedding model there are three main phases, and these correspond to the three pilgrimage feasts.
The first of the pilgrimage feasts is the Pesach (Passover), and this corresponds to the first phase in the Ancient-Hebrew wedding called shiddukhin (or, the match).
An example of shiddukhin is when Avraham sent his servant Eliezer to take a bride for his son Yitzhak (or Isaac). And according to the story, Eliezer prayed, and Yahweh led him straight to Rivka (or Rebecca). And then, according to the story, Eliezer gave both Rivka and her family all sorts of gifts. There is really no way to know whether Eliezer was giving these gifts as (what today is called) mattan (meaning bridal gifts) or mohar (meaning dowry). And it really does not matter. Because the whole purpose of giving mattan and mohar is to gain favor with the family. That is because, at least in Scripture, the determining factor is not a piece of paper or a signature. It is nothing like that. In Scripture, it is not the amount paid, but rather the agreement made that is the determining factor. Today, they would call it the meeting of the minds. But in ancient times there was an agreement to marry and that is called shiddukhin. And then there can also be a covenantal meal that sort of solidifies the agreement to marry.
Now on the first Pesach in Egypt, Yahweh shared a covenantal meal with Israel, and then Yahweh took Israel out of Egypt as a bride for His Son Yeshua. And Israel received certain objects of silver and gold from the Egyptians. If we are willing to accept it, we could consider that these were a kind of a mohar and also as mattan, meaning dowry and bridal gifts. And Yahweh also gave Israel promises of inheritance in a land of milk and honey. But again, this is still the selection stage. It is a private agreement, the marriage does not become officially binding until later.
In the first century, we see the same basic elements. Yeshua took his disciples to Himself as His bride. It is important to recognize that the marriage is for the disciples. There will be more people at the marriage, more people in the Kingdom, but it is the disciples who are taken as the bride. And again, they shared a covenantal meal together to celebrate the match (shiddukhin). And then the marriage would become official later at Shavuot (Pentecost), when they received Yeshua’s Spirit. And that is officially the oneness between the two of them.
Now we come to the second phase of the Ancient-Hebrew wedding and that is called erusin. And this corresponds to Shavuot (Pentecost). So now, notice at erusin, the wedding is going to become lawfully binding. This is because there is a public announcement. The couple is giving their word publicly that they intend to marry, and in ancient times a man was considered only “as good as his word”. When you gave your word, that was it. It is very different than today’s marriages, where now it only becomes binding when you have a formally signed piece of paper filed with the government, or something like that. Very different to the Ancient-Hebrew model.
So, Israel has a very long history and, depending upon the era, there could be a formal ceremony. There was no formal ceremony in the days of Eliezer and Rivka, but there could be a formal ceremony, and there could be a public announcement of the match. And sometimes the mohar and mattan were also delayed until the formal ceremony. There could also be a signed agreement called a ketubah, and this would specify both the requirements of the bride and the promises made to the bride.
An example is the Torah that was given at Mount Sinai. Now, in today’s agreements, the ketubah has to be signed in order for it to be valid. But this was not originally the case. We look back at ancient times and there was simply an agreement between Avraham’s representative Eliezer and Rivka’s father. And then the bride gave her consent and that is what made for the marriage.
So, after the public announcement (it bears repeating), the marriage is both formal and binding, even though the consummation does not take place right away. And this is why Miriam (Mary) could have technically have been stoned to death when she was found to be pregnant. Because even though the marriage had not been consummated, she had already given her word. Again, the point is that in Hebraic thought, when you give your word and you enter into an agreement, when you enter into a covenant relationship, it is a very big deal! So, we who live in the west need to retrain ourselves to be careful about giving our word. Because in Yahweh’s sight, when we give our word, that is it.
Traditionally, after erusin the bride and the groom are kept apart. And they communicate through the groom’s best friend, which in this case is Yeshua’s Spirit. So with us, in our case, Yeshua’s Spirit (the groom’s best friend) shares with us (His bride) what it is the groom likes, so that we can learn how to please Him.
Now during this time, while she is waiting for the wedding, the bride works on her wedding dress. And of course, her wedding dress should be spotless and without blemish. She is also going to name several virgins to be witnesses at the consummation. When the groom comes for His bride, the virgin bridesmaids are going to go with the bride. And again, they are going to serve both as witnesses and as assistants at the consummation, and perhaps during the wedding week.
For his part, after the wedding is announced, the groom is going to begin adding on a room to his father’s house where he and his bride are going to live. Not in every case, but usually the groom would add on this extra room over the summer and then it would be ready after the harvest season, around the time of the seventh month. In other words, Yom Teruah. So, what would happen is, when the father saw that the room was ready and everything was all prepared, then he would give his son permission to bring his bride back home. And that could be the consummation phase.
What would happen then is, the bridegroom would send a herald to announce his soon coming arrival with shofar blasts. We do not know how many shofar our blasts, but possibly seven. We will take a look in the book of Revelation. Possibly seven shofar blasts, seven trumpet calls. And the purpose of these seven trumpet calls would be to alert the bride and her bridesmaids that the groom was coming. This is Yom Teruah. So the bridesmaids would then trim their lamps and then go out to meet the groom when he came, traditionally at midnight. (And again, this is where we also get the concept that the Bridegroom will come back at Yom Kippur). And then they would all go back to the groom’s father’s house and there would be a wedding feast, which would last for a week. There would also be the consummation of the marriage.
Now we see this, notice in context how we have just finished with Matthew chapter 24, where Yeshua explains about the tribulation that is coming. So, right after the tribulation of Matthew 24, in Matthew 25, Yeshua says the following.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 25:1-5
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.”
We will talk about this more in the next chapter. But traditionally, the bridegroom will return around midnight on Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement. This comes ten days after Yom Teruah. So if we go to the study Revelation and the End Times (or you can watch this on video in Revelation Simplified), we see that in the end-times there are seven seals and then seven trumpets. (Or seven shofars, seven shouts of alarm). And then you have seven cups (or vials) which takes place quickly. And then Yeshua returns at Armageddon, which would be Yom Kippur.
We will talk more about this in the next chapter. But this helps us to understand why in Strong’s Hebrew Concordance, this sound of the trumpets that we hear is not necessarily only an alarm, it is not only necessarily a battle cry. But it is also a cry for joy! Because our Bridegroom is returning for His bride.