This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 12: Rosh Hashanah and the Book of Life.

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Rosh Hashanah is one of the seven major feasts of Israel, occurring on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish lunar calendar – September or October by Western reckoning. While the biblical and modern-day observances of Rosh Hashanah differ, the holiday plays a significant role for the book of life. 

Let’s begin with some background. In Scripture, Rosh Hashanah is referred to as Zikhron Teruah (“Memorial of Blowing [of trumpets],” Lev. 23:24) and Yom Teruah (“Day of Blowing [of trumpets],” Num. 29:1). Because of these biblical descriptions, Rosh Hashanah often is called the “Feast of Trumpets.” It’s a day of sounding trumpets in the Temple and throughout Israel. Rosh Hashanah literally means “head of the year.” 

This holiday marks the first day of the Jewish civil New Year. However, this designation only came to be after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Since there was no longer a central place of worship and an altar of sacrifice – that is, at the Temple in Jerusalem – the observance necessarily had to change. Today, the emphasis is on the Jewish New Year rather than the blowing of trumpets. 

The biblical observance 

Scriptural references to the Feast of Trumpets are simple and straightforward: Israel is commanded to memorialize the day by blowing trumpets and keeping the day as a Sabbath (Lev. 23:23-25; Num. 29:1). 

Israelites carry out a special burnt offering, consisting of a young bull, a ram, and seven lambs. They also sacrifice a kid goat as a sin offering. These offerings are in addition to the required daily sacrifices (Num. 28:1-8), as well as those for the new moon, which also are offered on that day (Num. 28:11-15). 

Rosh Hashanah is the only Jewish holiday occurring on the first day of the month, when the moon appears as a thin crescent. Just as the seventh day and seventh year are holy according to Mosaic law, so is the seventh month, considered the Sabbath of months (Exod. 20:8-10; Lev. 25:4). Jews in ancient Israel announced the new moon with short blasts of a trumpet, but the new moon of Tishri was announced with long blasts, setting it apart. 

The type of horn used for the Feast of Trumpets is the shofar, a curved trumpet made from a ram’s horn. This is different from the hatzotzerah, the silver trumpets priests blew to announce the beginning and ending of the Sabbath, and with sacrifices. 

During the Feast of Trumpets, a priest is chosen to sound the shofar. He stands in a row of priests with silver trumpets facing the altar. The shofar sounds long blasts while the silver trumpets sound short blasts over the sacrifices of the day. 

Besides the sacrificial ceremony, the trumpet had many uses for Israel: 

• To gather an assembly before the Lord (Num. 10:2-4) 

• To sound a battle alarm (Num. 10:9) 

• And to announce the coronation of a new king in the cases of Solomon (1 Kings 1:34, 39), Jehu (2 Kings 9:13), Joash (2 Kings 11:12-14), and Absalom (2 Sam. 15:10) 

The modern observance 

The observance of Rosh Hashanah today bears little resemblance to the biblical Feast of Trumpets. Since there’s no temple in Jerusalem in which to gather for the blowing of the shofar and to offer sacrifices, the feast has taken on other features more in line with a new year’s celebration.

Days of Awe

Jewish tradition holds that the ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur – sixth of the seven major feasts – are the “Days of Awe.” It’s believed that God reviews the books of judgment on Rosh Hashanah and delivers final judgment on Yom Kippur. These ten days are considered the last chance for a person to repent before God’s judgment falls, possibly resulting in the death of the disobedient in the coming year. 

According to the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, God inscribes everyone’s name in one of three books on Rosh Hashanah: 

(1) The book of life for the righteous. Those whose names are entered here are granted another year of life and prosperity. 

(2) The book of death for the wicked. If a person’s name is entered here, judgment is final and that person’s life is cut short in the coming year. 

(3) The book of the in-between. Those whose names are written here have their lives hanging in the balance. If they sincerely repent during the Days of Awe, tradition holds that God grants them life until the following Yom Kippur. 

There’s a biblical origin of this tradition (Exod. 32:32-33; Ps. 69:28), but Jewish tradition has greatly embellished it. The Days of Awe are so solemn, weddings and other festive occasions are postponed until after Yom Kippur. 

The Days of Awe are crucial for observant Jews. On Rosh Hashanah, their names are written in the books, and on Yom Kippur, their names are sealed. 

The rabbis say there are three ways for those in the book of the in-between to change their destiny. First, there is teshuva, which literally means to “respond” or “return.” People may atone for their sins by returning to what is right and good. This involves deep and transformative introspection. Second, there’s tefillah, or prayer. These are penitent prayers called selihot (forgiveness). Third, there’s tzedakah, or charity. As one rabbi puts it, “Here is the idea: by carrying out a holy deed or act of life-sustaining charity, you redeem a spark from the evil forces and thus increase your own holiness.”

By engaging in any of these three practices – repentance, prayer, or charity – people may be forgiven of sins and perhaps have their names inscribed in the book of life.

Other activities mark the modern-day observance of Rosh Hashanah.

Prayers of repentance

Faithful Jews recite penitent prayers throughout the week leading up to Rosh Hashanah. 

The casting ceremony 

On the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, observant Jews gather near a body of water to recite the Tashlikh (“cast off”) prayer. In Israel, this may take place on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea or at the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. Several Hebrew Scriptures make up the prayer (Mic. 7:18-20; Pss. 118:5-9; 33; 130; and often Isa. 11:9). After the prayer, worshipers may shake their pockets, or throw breadcrumbs or stones into the water, symbolically ridding themselves of sins. 

The sounding of the shofar

Jewish tradition holds that on Rosh Hashanah, Satan appears before God to accuse Israel as God opens the books for judgment. The Jews blast the shofar on this day to confuse Satan, so he might believe Messiah has come and ended Satan’s reign on earth. It’s customary to sound one hundred shofar blasts on each day of the Rosh Hashanah synagogue services. 

These services are lengthy, lasting five or more hours, and are focused on God’s kingship. The prayers and readings emphasize God’s majesty, the remembrance of his everlasting covenant with Israel, and the key role of the shofar in the history of the nation. The benediction speaks of the end of days, in which God reveals himself, sounding the shofar and sending the promised Messiah (Zech. 9:14). 

The Jewish New Year

Rosh Hashanah has its festive moments as well. Since it’s identified as the start of the civil New Year, Jews often send festive cards to family and friends, wishing them Shanah tovah, “a good year.” They also dress in new clothing and eat special foods, like apples dipped in honey and oval-shaped loaves of hallah bread, which remind them of crowns and God’s kingship. 

The Talmud suggests the world was created in the month of Tishri. Other rabbinic authorities say Rosh Hashanah was the day on which man was created. This ties the feast to the Garden of Eden, where Yahweh and humans made in his image enjoyed intimate fellowship.

Because sin ruined that intimacy and resulted in banishment from Eden, Rosh Hashanah is “a signpost for Israel,” according to Aaron Shaw. “It’s like an invitation to turn away from the voices of the world that shame and threaten and, instead, to turn our attention toward God to remember who we already are – beloved, beautiful, and very good (Gen. 1:31).” 

Because the Messiah has come, we know Jesus invites all people to trust in him and thus return to the intimacy of Eden. He calls us to embrace our true identities as citizens of his kingdom, and to join him in his future reign over a restored earth. 

Fulfillment

Israel’s four springtime feasts – Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost – were fulfilled in the first coming of Messiah, most notably, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The three fall festivals – Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles – are fulfilled at Messiah’s second coming. 

For Israel, fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets will be a dark day. Just as Rosh Hashanah occurs at the new moon, when the sky is darkest, Israel’s prophets warn of a coming day of judgment for the nation. For example, Amos 5:18-20, Zephaniah 1:14-16, and Joel 2:31 all speak of a future day when the Lord turns off the heavenly lights, pours out his wrath on the wicked, and brings Israel to repentance and into the new covenant. 

Ancient Jewish tradition held that the resurrection of the dead would occur on Rosh Hashanah. As a result, many Jewish grave markers feature a shofar. 

In at least two New Testament passages, Paul ties God’s last trumpet to the resurrection of the dead. And he sees Jesus’s kingship most clearly realized in his victory over death:

• 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – “Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

The reasons for trumpet blasts in the Old Testament are the same as those in the days to come: to gather an assembly before the Lord (the resurrection of the church); to sound a battle alarm (God’s final engagement with Satan and his rebellious followers); and to announce the coronation of a new king (Jesus the Messiah, who sits on the throne of David as King of kings and Lord of lords). 

While the Talmud and Jewish traditions have led to the belief in a book of death and a book of the in-between, in addition to a book of life, Scripture makes no mention of the first two. Nor does the Bible suggest that people’s acts of penitence or charity contribute to their standing before God. Salvation always has been the gracious work of God. The entrance of one’s name in the book of life comes through faith in the Lamb of God – foreshadowed in the Old Testament sacrificial system and fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. 

Next: The Book of Life in the New Testament