The Meaning of Yom Teruah

Ever wondered about Yom Teruah? It is the set apart time of YHWH that lands on the first day of Scripture's seventh month. It translates something like Day of Sounding or Day of Awakening Blasts. You've probably heard it called the Feast of Trumpets, which is a pretty good name but it doesn't quite describe the full meaning of the word. Let's delve a little more into the meaning of 'teruah' to get a better idea of what this set apart time of YHWH is.

If we read Scripture in Hebrew, 'teruah' would be a common word to us. It is used something like 36 times just in the Tanakh. Strongs defines it as: alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy.

Where do we see teruah in Scripture?

Teruah is what Israel did that brought down the walls of Jericho. (Joshua 6:20) 

There was a great teruah when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Israelite camp when they were battling the Philistines. (1 Samuel 4:5)

Moses sent Pinchas the priest to war with an instrument to teruah with. (Numbers 31:6)

When King David moved the Ark of the Covenant, it was with great teruah from himself and all Israel. (2 Samuel 6:15)

There was a teruah for joy when the Temple foundation was relaid. (Ezra 3:12)

Job described the face of someone accepted by YHWH as teruah. (Job 33:26)

Music and singing to worship YHWH is teruah. (Psalm 150:5, Psalm 33:3)

Offerings were restarted to YHWH on Yom Teruah. (Ezra 3:6)

The great day of YHWH is a day of teruah. (Zephaniah 1:16)

YHWH himself shall go up in teruah to the sound of a shofar. (Psalm 47:5)

Does this help set the stage a little bit better? We can see that teruah is a word that goes with big things: the presence of YHWH, conquering enemies, rebuilding the Temple, and the joy that comes from worship and obedience to YHWH. (Also the significant consequences of not worshiping or being obedient to YHWH.)

While the Leviticus 23 description of Yom Teruah is brief, we are told that this day is, "a remembrance of teruah." A day to remember the amazing things that YHWH did for Israel throughout Scripture, and what he has done in your personal life! Times we have faced warnings or gone to war, seen walls torn down, remembered covenants, and seen giants conquered. Yom Teruah is a time we are to remember all of that.

It is cool that all of these things were done with teruah - that music, joyful shout, alarm cry - because that really shows how powerful what you listen to is. For years I worked at a Christian radio station and we would hear from listeners all the time about what a difference listening to our station made to their spiritual, mental, and emotional health. That's how powerful truth is - it can totally transform every aspect of your life.

And see how this fits with the prophetic significance of the return of Yahusha at Yom Teruah? While teruah covers some different meanings (alarm and joy don't usually go together), they all fit so well with what I imagine it will be like when the Messiah returns. What could be more joyful or alarming, depending on your relationship with him?

Blessed are the people who know that joyful teruah. -Psalm 89:15

Smoothie Bowls for Yom Teruah

Look no further for a festive start to your Yom Teruah day! Smoothie bowls are healthy and easy to make, and the ice cream cones make it perfect for the Day of Shofar Blasts. I love being able to celebrate a Biblical holiday in such a fun way!

You can use any smoothie or smoothie bowl recipe. I wanted mine to look blue since there is such an emphasis on looking for the new moon in the night sky for the Feast of Trumpets. I used blueberries and yogurt, but blackberries or elderberries or acai or blue majik spirulina could also make a blue smoothie. You can easily use whatever you like or have handy, and it's simple to adjust these for any dietary preferences or allergies. 



Night Sky Smoothie:
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups yogurt
1 tablespoon spirulina powder
1 tablespoon honey (or to taste for sweetness)

Put your blueberries in the blender and run the ice crushing setting for 30 seconds or so to break up the berries. This makes it easier to smoothly blend everything. (If you don't have this setting on your blender let them thaw for a few minutes before blending everything together.) Once your berries are mostly in small pieces, add the yogurt, spirulina powder, and honey and blend until smooth.

The spirulina is optional but it gives you a nutritional boost and also is responsible for the dark shade of blue. Without it the combination was more of a light purple. 

Once your smoothie is blended, pour it into bowls and decorate.

To decorate I used:

Ice cream cones for shofars
Blueberries
Calendula flowers
Peaches
Sliced apples
Watermelon
Chia seeds
Sesame seeds
Coconut flakes
Menorah cupcake toppers (from here)

You could use any fruit or berry, seeds, nuts, or edible flower. Granola works here, and so do sprinkles or chocolate. You can use cookie cutters to make fun shapes out of apple slices. A ten commandment gummie would be a great touch too. It's easy to make these exactly to your liking and everyone can decorate their own bowl. If you don't mind a thinner smoothie base, you can even make the smoothie the day before and keep it in the fridge, along with sliced fruit for topping.

Are you new to celebrating the Biblical Feast of Trumpets? Learn more about Yom Teruah here.

Feast of Trumpets Scripture Reading List (Yom Teruah)

Here are verses to be read during the Feast of Trumpets, or studied in this time leading up to this day that YHWH asked us to set apart. Also known as Yom Teruah, or the Day of Sounding, Trumpets is a multifaceted day and there a ton of different Scriptures and topics that would be fitting to study.

As the main themes of the Feast of Trumpets are remembrance, and the sounding of the shofar it would be very appropriate to study each on this day. You could do a word study of all of the things YHWH or Yahusha say to remember. I did this as I was gathering this reading list and I would definitely recommend that. You could totally do some art journaling or another activity based on these verses too. Taking a look at where we see shofars and what they stand for throughout Scripture is also time well spent. Of course, a special emphasis on repentance is fitting for all the feast days and we would do well to brush up on a few verses about that.

Prophetically it is believed that the Messiah will return on Trumpets, which would be another great study topic! The return of the Messiah and the start of his reign here on earth. Many verses mention his return and the sounding of shofars together so we can easily see the connection to the Feast of Trumpets.

Here are a few of my favorites to read during this time.

Scriptures to Read During the Feast of Trumpets:

Leviticus 23:23-25 - instruction for this holiday.

Numbers 29:1-6 - instructions for offerings on this day.

Genesis 21:1-13 - a traditional passage to read. 

Genesis 22 - the sounding of the shofar is connected with the ram being sacrificed instead of Isaac.

1 Samuel 1-2:10 - it is traditionally believed that Hannah conceived during Yom Teruah.

Jeremiah 31  - Trumpets is described as a day of remembering and this passage is about YHWH remembering his people.

Psalm 98:6 - with shofars shout joyfully before YHWH.

John 15-16:4 - the Messiah instructs us to remember these words.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - this significant event could be happening during a future Feast of Trumpets.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 - The Messiah will return during a blast of the shofar.

Revelation 8-11 - the seven shofar blasts.

More on the Feast of Trumpets:
The Beginner's Guide to the Feast of Trumpets
The Meaning of Yom Teruah
The Significance of the Shofar During Trumpets

An Invitation to the Fall Feasts

If the Messiah invited you to a party what would your response be?

Seriously, imagine what that would be like. What kind of special evening would the King of the Universe have in mind? What kind of food would be served? How would the tables be set? What would you wear? How would he feel if you refused to go?

He sent his servants to invite them to the wedding party. But they didn't want to come. -Matthew 22:3

Do you know this parable? In this story Yahusha told there is a king who was hosting a wedding party. A five-star banquet had been prepared by a top chef, special clothing had been designed and tailored with skill, tables were set, candles were lit, attention had been given to each lovely detail, and finally all of it was ready. But they didn't want to come.

YHWH holds seven special feasts a year. And his people decline the invitation. Like in Yahusha's parable we have had better things to do. "This is a busy time of year for me." "Work has been crazy." "We are set free from that." It's not that we didn't get the invitation. It's not that something is physically keeping us away. We just have refused to come. How does this make the host feel? Verse seven, The King was furious and invited someone else.

Don't miss out on this invitation from YHWH. Change which box you have been checking on these kingdom RSVPs. Three of his feasts are coming up soon! We aren't far away from the celebrations of Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot but there is still time to make it to these parties. Did you know that our Messiah honored and celebrated these times? And not only that but the nature of each feast speaks a different truth about who YHWH is and his redemptive plan for us.

The kingdom of Heaven is like a party no one wants to go to.

Now is the time to plan to celebrate as YHWH instructed us (see Leviticus 23). Make plans to keep these feasts with your family or check here or here to search for a group or get together in your area.

Since YHWH did not give us Gregorian calendar dates for his feasts there is some confusion as to exactly when they fall. If you are involved with a group I would personally go with their dates so you can celebrate as a community. If not, study and pray about what you should do.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles and begin to plan. How should you accept the King's invitation? Put in for vacation from your job and plan to have the no-work days free. Will you be going camping or building a sukkah for Sukkot? Can you gather friends for a party or would you like to give gifts? You don't have to know how to do everything perfectly to accept this invitation, and really it is a learning and growing process that becomes more joyous and special with each year. The kingdom of Heaven is like a king preparing a feast for his son. Invite to the party as many as you can find. Say yes this year!

More about the fall Bible holidays:
The Beginner's Guide to the Feast of Trumpets

Honoring Yom Kippur as a Believer in Messiah

The Feast of Tabernacles: What it Means and Why You Should Celebrate It

Yom Teruah Printable Card

The first of the Fall Feasts will be here in just a few days! Either this Sunday or Monday evening as we wait to see the new moon. I hope you are going to celebrate this Festival of YHWH. A couple of you sent me projects you're working on inspired by Music & Moonlight party from a few posts back, and I can't wait to see more pictures!

I put together a printable card you can download to wish someone in your life a joyful Yom Teruah! Just print off, fold in half width wise, and then fold width-wise again. This printed best for me when the 'fit picture to frame' option was selected in the normal printing preferences box in Windows. I used a thin type of card stock paper to make this card a little more sturdy, but regular paper will do the job as well.

Download my printable Yom Teruah card here. It is free for your personal use.

Have a very happy Feast of Trumpets! Make a joyful noise!

Music & Moonlight Yom Teruah Celebration

There are some passages in Scripture that you can just tell were written by a man. I don't mean that as an insult or a bad thing, but you know how guys sometimes don't include a lot of specifics when they tell a story? There are definitely parts of Scripture like that. I would like more details, please.

Yom Teruah is one of those 'left out the details' parts. We know more about YHWH's other festivals; instructions that lend easily to activities and menus. For Yom Teruah we aren't even told why to celebrate, though we can see the significance of its prophetic meaning. We know the Day of Sounding involves not working, lots of shofar music, and that it happens under the light of the seventh month's new moon.

Music and moonlight. Take what Scripture says and go with it.

Since it is the only festival that happens under a new moon, why not make it an evening under the stars? We need to be looking to confirm that it is the new moon anyway, since we don't know the day or hour. :) Lovely music is a happy addition to any occasion but never more appropriate than for a day known as Sounding.

The decor was super simple to put together. A 30 cent piano songbook got it's pages cut out and hot glued together for a table runner. Other pages had a single letter printed onto them (in a regular printer), were cut into triangles and glued to string to make a pretty bunting.

The goldenrod is a wildflower that is plentiful in our yard and area this time of year.

A candlelit alfresco dinner with string music. What could be lovelier? If your family or congregation has musicians you could ask them to take turns playing. A group hymn sing would also be beautiful.

Many of us have missed the beauty of Yom Teruah for a long time. Knowing so little about this set apart day means that YHWH has more to reveal to us about it. But we need to embrace the truth of what Yom Teruah is in the Scripture. A Day of Sounding, music, and moonlight.

To be honest, it is sad that most of the traditions of this feast day get wrapped into the not Biblically based Rosh Hashanah. We aren't going to get into it, but there is no festival of YHWH in Scripture that is called Rosh Hashanah. I know it is celebrated as the Jewish new year but Scripture tells us Aviv is the first month of the year. Moving on.

That's not to say it is bad to have apples and honey. If they are in season in your part of the world, apples are a logical choice to serve as they are healthy and loved by all. Using honey to symbolize the sweetness of YHWH's forgiveness after a time of repentance or to look forward to the sweetness of the Messiah's return seem reasonable to me. Just be aware that this is simply a man made tradition, not instruction from the Torah.

In addition to shofar sounding and any live music, create a playlist of background music to play during dinner. Good violin or piano is very elegant and I like to play string versions of my favorite songs. 

How are you planning to celebrate Yom Teruah this year?