SNAPSHOT OF TISHREI

The High Holy Days

Civil versus Ecclesiastical Calendar

Tishrei is the first month of the Hebrew year, even though it is known as the 7th month of the Jewish Civil Calendar. That is because there are two types of calendars used. One is the civil calendar, and the other is the ecclesiastical (religious) calendar. The Hebrew religious calendar makes Nissan the first month, and the Hebrew civil calendar makes Tishrei the first month. In ancient Israel, the civil year began in the autumn, on Tishri 1. It is comparable to the fiscal year in the United States. It is the legal year, which was used to reckon the reign of kings and other chronological events. The ecclesiastical year marks the dates of the feasts, or God’s appointed times, which begin in the spring with Passover.

Ecclesiastical Calendar- The Feasts

As stated earlier, Tishrei is the month of the “fall feasts,” when we are to return to God and experience His glory. There are a total of seven feasts found in the Bible, three in the spring and four in the fall. The feasts were a prophetic window for Israel to recognize their coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled each feast, and He is also coming back to fulfill the rest of the feasts. The spring feasts coincide with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (the Passover) and with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the celebration of SHAVUOT (Pentecost). The Passover also points to a future time of redemption for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.

The Fall High Holy Days and Feasts that come during the Hebrew month of Tishrei are comprised of three holy convocations (sacred ASSEMBLY)—the Feast of Trumpets (YOM TERUAH), the Day of Atonement (YOM KIPPUR), and the Feast of Tabernacles (SUKKOT). On the Feast of Trumpets, the Shofar (ram’s horn) is traditionally sounded one-hundred times, and on the Day of Atonement, the Shofar is blown one last time.

Civil Calendar- Kings

Since the civil year has to do with the reign of Kings, it seems appropriate that the first day of the new civil year is known as ROSH HASHANAH (Yom Teru’ah), or the FEAST OF TRUMPETS. In Biblical times, shofars were used to coronate kings, and this would happen on the first day of Tishrei. During Rosh Hashanah today, we remember that Jesus is the King of the Universe. According to Jewish Scholars, the DAY OF TRUMPETS is believed to not only be the day that creation began, but also the day when Jesus was born. In the gospel of John, he shows the relationship between God creating light on the first day of creation, and Jesus coming to the earth as “the light of the world.” Our world became dark when sin entered with the help of the ANGEL OF LIGHT (Satan). This false light was dethroned when Jesus rose from the dead, praise the Lord! All these details were designed by God to show His people that Jesus is the promised Messiah, and the greater light!

The Fall Feasts

Rosh Hashanah

Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation, you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets.

Numbers 29:1

The more common biblical name for Rosh Hashanah is “The Feast of Trumpets.” This celebrates the start of a new spiritual year. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Birthday of our World. The Hebrew calendar predates our Gregorian one, and it is believed that the counting of years originated with creation. This year will be 5783, and as I’ve shared earlier, the numbers have prophetic meaning. There are two ways to count the months in the Hebrew Calendar. One system begins counting in the spring. Each month opens with the appearance of a new moon. Every time there is a new moon, a new month begins. Hebrew festivals are calculated on this lunar calendar. In keeping with tradition, it is fitting that the seventh month is holy, just as the seventh day has always been honored as holy. Therefore, the calendar begins with the seventh month.

The month of Elul is spent in special preparation for the important seventh month, called Tishrei, or Tishri. If you count the days from the beginning of Elul until the final day of this festival, they will number forty, and it is called the Forty Days of Preparation. You can use this as an opportunity to show your children God’s pattern in Scripture for forty-day time periods.

Yom Kippur

“This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and not do any work, whether the native-born or the stranger who lives temporarily among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve and minister as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall wear the holy linen garments, and make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar [of burnt offering in the court]. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. This shall be a permanent statute for you, so that atonement may be made for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” So he did just as the LORD had commanded Moses.”

Leviticus 16:29-34

Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement,” is the holiest day of the Jewish year, and it provides a prophetic insight regarding the Second Coming of the Messiah, the restoration of the nation of Israel, and the final judgment of the world. It is also a day that reveals the High-Priestly work of Jesus as our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:10, 6:20). The name of Yom Kippur alludes to the two great atonements given by the Lord- the first for those among the nations who turn to Jesus for cleansing and forgiveness, and the second for the purification of ethnic Israel during the great Day of the Lord at the end of days. Yom Kippur was the only time when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and call upon the name of Yahweh to offer blood sacrifice for the sins of the people.

There were two goats involved in this Holy day. The first goat was to be sacrificed on the altar as an atonement for the sins of Israel. The High Priest would place all of Israel’s sins on the second goat, and they would drive that goat away from the nation. This is known as the scapegoat. As you can see, this was symbolic for what Jesus would do on the cross. Jesus was like the goat sacrificed on the altar for God, restoring the relationship between us and the Father. Jesus was also like the scapegoat; He took on our sins and carried them away.

Sukkot

The seventh (and final) festival given to Israel is called Sukkot or the “feast of Tabernacles.” During this time many Jewish families construct a sukkah, a small hut in which meals are eaten throughout the festival. The sukkah is used to remember the sukkot Israel lived in during their 40-year sojourn in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. Because we are commanded to rejoice during the holiday of Sukkot for the blessing of God’s provision and care for our lives, it is considered especially important to give to charity during this time of year. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others.

The festival of Sukkot is the time when we celebrate all the Lord has done for us. If Jesus was born during Sukkot, then another meaning of the “word became flesh and ‘tabernacled with us’” foretells the coming Millennial kingdom, when King Jesus will again “tabernacle with us” during His reign from Mount Zion.

The Month of Ephraim

The Rift Between Judah and Ephraim

The Tribe of Ephraim was always grouped with the tribe of Manasseh in the wilderness until the time of dividing the Promised Land among the tribes. They were treated as one tribe. They camped together, marched together, and when Moses blessed the tribes prior to his death, he prophesied to them together. When they entered the Promised Land, both tribes received their own inheritance with half of the tribe of Manasseh choosing to stay on the east side of the Jordan with the Tribe of Gad and Reuben.

2 Chronicles chapter 28 describes how the rift between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim began. It relates the account of how Israel attacks Judah, and Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed the son of the king of Judah. Israel then raided Jerusalem and took many captives. On their way back to Samaria, a prophet corrected them and told them not to take these people as prisoners. The leading men of Ephraim clothed and fed the captives and returned them to Judah. God is calling us to make the first move of mercy towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. Where they have hurt us, we need to apply the blood of Jesus for healing and forgive like Christ forgave us. We must remember that people are not our true enemies and allow the Lord to heal those rifts between us.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

Learning from Ephraim’s Mistakes

In Psalm 60 and Psalm 108 the Lord calls Ephraim the helmet of His head, and in another translation is says that Ephraim will produce great warriors. Psalm 78 says that even though the men of Ephraim were trained archers, they turned back in the day of battle. This is a warning for us so that we can avoid the same downfall of Ephraim. We must seek first the Kingdom of God, and not turn away in the day of battle. Ephraim turned away because of fear, even though they had been equipped for battle. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the areas of fear in our heart so that we can then ask the Father to show us the lie behind the fear. Once we have seen the lie that empowers the fear, we can destroy that lie with speaking the truth of God over it. When we get in a habit of doing this, we leave no opening for the enemy to cause fear. God wants us to experience His love because He knows it is the only thing that will drive away fear. Our prayer is for God’s love to be perfected in our hearts, transforming our lives.

Link to the Prophetic

The major prophets in the Old Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) all describe the contention between Ephraim and Judah and prophesy a day when the Lord will restore them and reunite the nation. In the book of Zechariah, God calls Judah as His bow, and Ephraim as His arrow. Together, unite as one, they make a powerful weapon in God’s hand. This is the same for us today. We must unit together under King Jesus, and then we will become a dangerous and effective army to fight against the kingdom of darkness.

The Year 5783

Meaning Behind the Numbers

5 – The Hebrew Letter Hey

The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Hey or Hei. The pictograph for Hey looks like a man with his arms raised. The meaning of the name Hey is “look,” or “behold!” It also means “breath, wind, praise.” According to the Jewish mystics, Hey represents the divine breath, revelation, and light. The numerical value of Hey is five, and this number corresponds to the word grace.

7 – The Hebrew Letter Zayin

The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Zayin. The pictograph for Zayin looks like a sword. Zayin is also a picture of Jesus the Messiah, our protector and life. This letter also represents a plow, meaning that we are in the century dedicated to plowing the field for a spiritual harvest. We must keep our hand on the plow.

8 – The Hebrew Letter Chet

The eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Chet. The pictograph for Chet looks like a wall or fence, meaning a separation. God separated the darkness from the light, and He is doing that in His Church. We must decide which side of the fence we are on. We are either with God or with the world. The Bible tells us that friendship with the world causes us to become enemies of God in James 4:4.

Since the numerical value for Chet is the number eight, we can see how it represents grace and the concept of new beginnings. Seven days represent a completion of a cycle, and so the eight day is the beginning of a brand-new cycle. God wants us to join Him as He takes us into something brand new. Which means that we need to stop looking back to move forward with Him.

3 – The Hebrew Letter Gimmel

The third letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Gimmel. The pictograph for Gimmel is a camel. the word Gimmel is similar to the Hebrew word gamal, which means “camel.” There are a few possible prophetic meanings behind a camel. It could mean well-resourced (Matthew 19:24), Bearer of treasures (Isaiah 30:6, Matthew 2:11), a Caravan (Genesis 24:10), Equipped in the wilderness (Genesis 24:10), Prophet (Matthew 3:4), or Provision (Matthew 19:23-24).

The Number 83

The word “expansion” in Hebrew has a numerical value of 83, which is connected to the word for “breakthrough.” God wants us to have supernatural expansion and breakthrough! Where there has been delay, God will cause momentum that led to breakthrough.

“In your womb” also has a numerical value of 83, and so this is a time to go through what we have carried to be birthed. The promises that God implanted within our hearts have gone through a delay and will be birthed this season.

The Power Behind Our Decrees

“We are coworkers with God and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he is building.”

1st Corinthians 3:9

Jesus came to restore God’s will. He got the keys back from Satan and, and Jesus handed them over to you when you accepted salvation and were water baptized. Now we have authority over the enemy. God desires for His disciples to enforce authority in their lives and in the world around them. We are now His coworkers. This is good news! We are His Plan A. This Plan A is for ordinary people like you and me to wholeheartedly believe in the victory of Calvary [to be convinced that it was complete and final], and to rise in our role as sent ones, ambassadors, authorized representative of the Victor.

We are ambassadors of the Anointed One who carry the message of Christ to the world, as though God were tenderly pleading with them directly through our lips. So we tenderly plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Turn back to God and be reconciled to him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Plan B happens when we chose our will over God’s. It happens when we waste the Cross; when we leave those in bonds by the Devil in their bondages and chose to remain in a belief system of hopelessness. That is not for us! No, let us participate as God’s Plan A coworkers. He is looking for laborers. If you are tired of seeing death and destruction in our world today, then I have good news for you! You are God’s solution, the light of the world. You can shine God’s marvelous chain-breaking light to a world that is full of deep darkness. Let us decide today to be His coworkers in our day to day lives.

Prayer:

Thank you, Lord, for the truth of your word that was revealed to me through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I desire to be your coworker today but need your help in turning this desire into personal application. Show me today how I may work with you to enforce authority in my life. I invite you to interrupt my day so that I may do your will and walk in the good plan that you have for me. Show me the decrees that you want me to speak into my life, home, sphere of influence, city, and nation. This year I want to join you in bringing heaven into earth and fulfill the calling that you have for my life. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over the year 5783 and declare that it belongs to Yahweh. Lord, have your way this year. In Jesus mighty name, amen.

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RESOURCES

Pierce, Chuck D., et al. A Time to Advance: Understanding the Significance of the Hebrew Tribes and Months. Glory of Zion International, Inc., 2011.