The Feast of Trumpets

Yesterday our gospel doctrine teacher pointed us to an article in the Ensign which discusses the significance of the date upon which Joseph Smith received the plates of the Book of Mormon. Joseph arrived to retrieve them shortly after midnight on September 22, 1827, a date that had been determined by Moroni. The article points out how the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah, was celebrated on this very day that year: “It is important to note that on 22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith.” This feast was one of three corresponding to the later (autumn) harvest and “was ripe with meaning for the theme of the regathering of Israel…. Latter-day Saints can find it especially instructive to study some of the meanings Jewish scholars have attributed to the Feast of Trumpets. It signifies (1) the beginning of Israel’s final harvest, (2) the day God had set to remember His ancient promises to regather Israel, (3) a time for new revelation that would lead to a new covenant with Israel, and (4) a time to prepare for the Millennium.” Surely that was no coincidence that the Book of Mormon was delivered up to Joseph to be translated on that very day as it ushered in the gathering of Israel and the preparations of the Lord for His Second Coming.

                Rosh Hashanah was prescribed to the Israelites by Jehovah in Leviticus 23:23-32 in which He said, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” It is placed at the time of the final harvest, and one of the major parts of the festival “is the blowing of the shofar, a musical instrument made from an animal horn. The shofar is blown at various instances during the Rosh Hashanah prayers, with a total of 100 blasts over the day.” Some of the scriptures commonly read on this holy day are Isaiah 27:13 which refers to how “that the great trumpet shall be blown” and Zechariah 9:13 which says that “the Lord God shall blow the trumpet.” The article comments, “These and other scriptural connections are sufficiently strong that throughout the centuries various Jewish writers, in explaining the purpose of the trumpets’ sound on the Feast of Trumpets, have taught that this day would eventually signal Israel’s return from worldwide scattering.” The sounds of the trumpets, which were made all over the world by Jews on the day Joseph was given the plates of the Book of Mormon, testify that God will gather Israel together again. And that is exactly the message of the Book of Mormon as the Savior taught: “When these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.” In other words, when the Book of Mormon shall come forth, it will be a sign that the Father’s work of fulfilling His covenant to Israel has begun: “Then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 21:7,26). As President Nelson declared, “The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.”

                The celebration of Rosh Hashanah looks not only to the past revelation and covenants of the Lord, but it also is meant to point Jews to the future: “Rosh Hashanah’s trumpet blasts have been accepted by many Jews not just as a memorial of the ancient covenant revealed at Sinai but as a prelude to a new and future covenant to be revealed, one that would result in Israel’s ultimate redemption…. The day’s services also include petitions to God to rebuild His temple—the place where covenants are made—as He promised. The sound of the trumpets, which occurred in this religious service in 1827, did indeed precede new revelation that has led to the making of new covenants in new temples with an Israel now being regathered.” I love the symbolism that today we not only put the Angel Moroni on top of most of our temples—a recognition that the Book of Mormon he brought to the young Joseph Smith was the beginning of the work that would lead the Saints to build temples and perform ordinances there—but that he holds a trumpet! He came on the Feast of Trumpets and now forever holds a trumpet, announcing to the world in general and to Jews in particular that Israel’s temples are indeed being rebuilt and that her people are being gathered there from all over the world. The final harvest, the latter-day gathering, commenced with the coming of the Book of Mormon: “For the time of harvest is come, and my word must needs be fulfilled. Therefore, I must gather together my people” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:64-65).