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Rosh Hashanah or _ Feast of Trumpets _ NEW YEAR'S DAY for the Jews is not a holiday, it is a
holy day, often called, together with the Day of Atonement, the "days of
awe." It is celebrated on
the first and second days of Tishri.
It is not a time of frivolity but of introspection and prayer. It is a solemn day when Jews believe that
all people stand before the Creator. The Orthodox Jew does not come to this
season unprepared. He knows the
New Year is approaching. During
the preceding month, the month of Elul, which to the modern Jew is the last
month of the year according to the civil calendar, the approach of Rosh
Hashanah is heralded by the sounding of the shofar in the synagogue. All year long the shofar, which is
usually a ram's horn, lies hidden, probably in the holy ark in the
synagogue. It is not sounded on
the Sabbath. However, on the
first day of Elul, it is taken from its hiding place to play a prominent role
as Israel's days of awe approach.
The sounding of the shofar reaches its crescendo on Rosh
Hashanah, when it is sounded after the reading of
the Law. The Sacrifice of Isaac The reading of the Law on the second
day's service is the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. The rabbis believe that the sacrifice of
Isaac, when a ram was offered in his stead, took place on
New Year's Day.
Because of this belief, this story, together with that
of Isaac's birth, is the basis of the
liturgy of the second day's service in the synagogue. Because of this, there
is no Bible story more familiar to the Orthodox Jew than the story of Abraham offering up Isaac. It abounds in spiritual truth. This story is found
in Genesis, chapter 22. It is helpful to
study it together with Psalm 22 and Luke 22:42·44. It is the story of Abraham's faithfulness: Some time later God tested Abraham (Genesis
22:1). We should realize that God did not tempt Abraham, as the
Authorized Version states; God tested Abraham. When Satan tempts, he
tries to defeat us. When God tests, He provides
victory. Nor However, it is well to see that God confers a signal
honor upon us when He thus tests our hearts. We never read that the
Lord did tempt Lot. No, Sodom tempted Lot. He never reached a
sufficiently high elevation to
warrant his being tried by the hand
of Jehovah.
It was too plainly manifested that there was plenty between his
heart and the Lord, and it did not, therefore, require
the furnace to bring that out. Sodom would have held
out no temptation whatever to
Abraham. This was
made manifest in his interview with Sodom's king,
in chapter 14. God knew well that Abraham
loved Him far better than Sodom; but He
would make it manifest that he loved Him
better than anyone or anything, by laying His hand upon the nearest and
dearest object, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac."! 'Mackintosh, C. H., Notes on
Genesis, pp. 225·226; Genesis to Deuteronomy,
pp. For many long years Abraham waited for
his promised seed. Finally, the Lord gave him a son by Sarah and then commanded him
to cast out Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman. That in
itself was enough to test any man. It was
a test of faith. But Abraham believed God and
obeyed Him. Isaac's birth
was in a very real sense miraculous. He was the seed of Abraham, born after his
mother was past
the age of childbearing (Genesis 18:11). Perhaps Abraham even thought that Isaac
was the Messiah. (This is one of the reasons why Jewish couples earnestly
desire their firstborn to be a son.
They hope he may be the Messiah.)
But the promised Messiah was not only to be the seed of Abraham, but also the
seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15).
Thus we see Jesus, born of a virgin, Mary, who was herself of the seed
of Abraham. Isaac grew into young manhood. Josephus
says that Isaac was twenty-seven years old when his father was told
to sacrifice him. The
Scriptures don't give his exact age, however, but he had grown strong enough
to carry the wood that covered the altar that was large enough to bear his
body. Thus, he was not a young weakling. Abraham Believed God It was when Abraham's only son, the
heir to the Abrahamic covenant, the son of promise whom he greatly loved,
blossomed into manhood that God ordered Abraham to offer him up as a
sacrifice on Mount Moriah. This
command did not come from within Abraham, it was not suggested by the human sacrifices
of the Canaanites, nor did it come from Satan. It came from the one true God, who was
proving Abraham's faith! The
final issue dearly showed that God wasn't interested in the death of Isaac. Rather, He wanted Abraham's complete
surrender. You and I know the outcome of Abraham's
deep trial. At the time, Abraham
did not. He drank the dregs of the bitterness of his sorrow. Imagine the pain these words must have
brought to Abraham: Take
your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love
(Genesis 22:2). He laid
the wood on his son (verse
6). He told Isaac, God Himself will provide the lamb (verse
8). Then he "bound his son
Isaac" and "took the knife to slay his son" (verses 9-10). Luther remarked that it must have seemed
as if God's promise would fail, or that this command came from Satan, not
from God. How beautifully Paul
describes Abraham's faith in Romans 4:20-21. Yet he did not waver through unbelief, [he] was strengthened in his
faith, [he was] fully persuaded.
But the letter to the Hebrews shows the basic reasoning
of Abraham, that
God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac
back from death. (Hebrews 11:19) Abraham's answer to his great trial was
he believed God. Four centuries before any of the
written Word came into existence, God spoke to him, and
Abraham implicitly put his trust in God's Word. God commanded Abraham to leave his kindred, Abraham
obeyed; God promised him a seed, Abraham believed. For long years Abraham waited for God
to fulfill His promise. Finally,
Isaac was born. God had fulfilled His promise. The same God who fulfilled His promise
now demanded that Abraham offer Isaac, his beloved son, as a sacrifice. Abraham
believed God and showed his faith by his works. He knew that God honored His
Word. As previously mentioned, it
is very possible that he even thought that Isaac was the promised Seed of the
woman of Genesis 3:15, the Messiah. In any event, Abraham knew that Isaac
was his own promised seed. God had said that in his seed all peoples on earth will be blessed
(Genesis 12:3). Abraham believed and obeyed God. The key to Abraham's obedience was that
he actually believed in the resurrection. If Isaac was the Messiah and the
Messiah had to die, then it was necessary for God to raise Him from the dead! By faith Abraham, when God tested him,
offered Isaac as a sacrifice, He who had received the promises was about to
sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is
through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise
the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from
death" (Hebrews
11: 1 7-19). Abraham actually expected God to raise up
Isaac from the dead! Enemies of the
gospel complain that the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone is
amoral. Even
some well· meaning friends of the gospel frequently
teach a "faith-plus works" salvation. They complain that if righteousness is by
faith alone, apart from works of the Law, then a man who is saved by faith
could still commit heinous crimes.
This could not be if he has the faith of Abraham. Abraham's faith
resulted in acts of obedience. Romans 4:20·24 says: Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding
the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave
glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.
This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to
him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit
righteousness-for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Abraham's trial stands out in history
like a mountain peak whose height only one other Climber has been called upon
to scale: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all"
(Romans 8:32). Abraham is a beautiful type of God the Father. Just as
Abraham had an only son, whom he loved, so did God and He
gave His only begotten Son to be slain for us. God stayed the hand of Abraham before
Isaac could be sacrificed. When the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross upon
which He was to be sacrificed, God did not stay His hand! Isaiah 53:10-11
says: Yet it
was the LORD'S will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and
though the LORD makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the
LORD will prosper in His hand. After the suffering
of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge
My
righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Two thousand years
after Abraham, One stood in the Temple that crowned Mount Moriah and said, Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing
My day; he saw it and was glad. (John 8:56). We believe that it was when
Abraham received his son figuratively speaking ... back from death
(Hebrews 11:19) that this prophetic rejoicing took
place. It is no wonder that Abraham called
this place Jehovah-jireh, which
means the LORD will provide
(Genesis 22:14). Some erroneously
interpret this name to mean that God will provide for all our needs. This is a comforting truth, but it is
not the one taught in the name Jehovah-jireh. The reason for this name
is given in Genesis 22:14: On the
mountain of the LORD it will be provided." What was it that Abraham
saw after he had received Isaac as if from the dead? Abraham looked up and there in a thicket
he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and
sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son
(Genesis 22:13).
Years later, John the Baptist exclaimed in joy
when he saw Jesus, the Messiah, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world! (John 1:29). Thus, we see another truth in the offering up
of Isaac.
It is a type of God's provision of a sacrifice. But our Lord Jesus Christ did what Isaac
could not do-He became our Sacrifice for sin. Abraham was not the only one whose
faith was tested on Mount Moriah.
Isaac was a grown man and could easily have
resisted his aged father, but he was obedient. We have mentioned that he was not an
infant. It takes strength to
climb mountains; it takes greater strength to climb mountains carrying
wood. How much wood Isaac carried,
we do not know, but it was sufficient to bear his body. Think for a moment of the important effect
of this event upon Isaac.
From the account in Genesis 22, it seems as if Isaac was
ignorant of the fact that he was to be offered up as a sacrifice. Imagine then how he felt when he was
actually tied to the altar and watched as his father reached for his
knife! Two thousand years later,
One also bore the wood of sacrifice, but He knew what He was doing. He had
been born for this very purpose. The
Scriptures do not tell us how Isaac acted when he was bound to the
altar. We have seen him as a
robust youth who, as previously mentioned, could have resisted Abraham if he
so desired. But he
didn't resist. When he allowed
himself to be bound and laid upon the altar, he
fully entered into the spirit of Abraham; he joined in Abraham's faith. In so doing, he showed himself to be
the heir to the promises. How
much was the behavior of Isaac like our Lord, who was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did
not open
His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is
silent, so He did not open His mouth (Isaiah 53:7). In both Psalm 22
and Luke 22:42-44 we see parallels between the story of Isaac in Genesis 22
and the sacrifice of our Lord. As
Isaac lay on the altar and saw the hand of Abraham upraised, certainly he
could have wondered, "Father, why have you forsaken me?" But the record is silent. The whole picture given of Isaac shows him
in the same attitude as our Lord in Gethsemane, Not as I will, but as You will. (Matthew 26:39). The timing of Isaac's sacrifice is also
symbolic. When
God commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac, he obeyed; and in Abraham's heart, Isaac
was dead from that moment on. We
should realize that Abraham did not know for sure that God would also provide a way out (1
Corinthians 10:13), although he had faith in God's
goodness. It was three days later
that Isaac was offered, and it was on this third day that Isaac was returned
to his father. To some this may
seem to be an unimportant detail, but as we saw in Hebrews, chapter 11,
Abraham, "figuratively speaking, did receive Isaac back from
death." Isaac is clearly a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who rose on the third day, having yielded up
His spirit to the Father. Thus
the Father also received His Son on the third day. God not only "provided a way
out" for Abraham; He also provided the lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket
he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering
instead of his son. (Genesis 22:13). And thus God the Father
has provided us a way of escape from the penalty of sin: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23). This is why the shofar is sounded on
Rosh Hashanah. How about you? Have you received your Redeemer, the
Stone whom the builders rejected? In Him is life, light and joy and in
His sacrifice is forgiveness of sin. He, the Messiah is the way to
Eternal Shabbath, Yom Shekulo Shabbat!
Eternal Paradise/Heaven, of the world
to come. Is that of one long extended,
unending eternal Sabbath Day. Reprinted
for educational purposes from: ISRAEL’S
Holy Days, In type and Prophecy, Daniel Fuchs, chapter 7 Chosen
People Ministries
www.chosenpeople.com
. And
other publication sources. For More Information:
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