I have posted this before, but it is such a fantastic study, that I have decided to post it again....
In Psalm (Tehillim) 98:6 it is written, "With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord" (NAS). The blessing we receive from G-d when we understand the meaning of Rosh HaShanah and the blowing of the trumpet (shofar) is found in Psalm (Tehillim) 89:15, as it is written, "How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound [blast of the shofar]..." (NAS). Yom Teruah: The Day of the Awakening Blast
Rosh HaShanah is referred to in the Torah as Yom Teruah, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar (or the Day of the Awakening Blast). On Yom Teruah, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar, it is imperative for every person to hear (shema) the shofar. The mitzvah (or biblical commandment [John (Yochanan) 14:15]), of the shofar is to hear (shema) the shofar being blown, not actually blow it yourself, hence the blessing, "to hear the sound of the shofar."
Teruah means "an awakening blast." A theme associated with Rosh HaShanah is the theme "to awake." Teruah is also translated as "shout." The Book of Isaiah (Yeshayahu), chapter 12, puts the shouting in the context of the thousand-year reign of Messiah, the Athid Lavo. The Messianic era and shout is mentioned in Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 42:11; 44:23; Jeremiah (Yermiyahu) 31:7; and Zephaniah 3:14. The first coming of Yeshua is associated with a shout in Zechariah 9:9. The ultimate shout is the rapture (natzal) in First Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Whether it is by the blast of a shofar or the force of a supernatural shout, G-d's goal is to awaken us! For this reason it is written, "... Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5:14 NAS). The Book of Ephesians has many references to Rosh HaShanah and the High Holy Days. For example, in Ephesians 4:30, being sealed unto the day of redemption refers to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. G-d gave this festival to teach us that we will be judged on Rosh HaShanah and will be sealed unto the closing of the gates (neilah) on Yom Kippur.
Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 26:19 speaks of the resurrection. The word awake is associated with the resurrection, as it is written, "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits" (Isaiah [Yeshayahu] 26:19 NAS).
The theme of awakening from sleep is used throughout the Bible. It is found in John (Yochanan) 11:11; Romans 13:11; Daniel 12:1-2; and Psalm (Tehillim) 78:65. In Isaiah 51:9 it is written, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago..." (NAS). The arm of the L-rd is used as a term for the Messiah in Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 53:1. The word arm is the Hebrew word zeroah. During Passover (Pesach), a shankbone, known as the zeroah, is put on the plate. So, "awake" is a term or idiom for Rosh HaShanah. In Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 51:9 quoted earlier, the awakening is associated with the coming of the Messiah.
The shofar is the physical instrument that G-d instructed us to use to hear (shema) the sound of the shofar teaching us to awake from spiritual slumber (1 Corinthians 15:46).
In the days of old, the shofar was used on very solemn occasions. We first find the shofar mentioned in connection with the revelation on Mount Sinai, when the voice of the shofar was exceedingly strong and all the people who were in the camp trembled (Exodus [Shemot] 19:16b). Thus, the shofar we hear on Rosh HaShanah ought to remind us of our acceptance of the Torah (Bible) and our obligations to it. The shofar also used to be sounded when war was waged upon a dangerous enemy. Thus, the shofar we hear on Rosh HaShanah ought to also serve as a battle cry to wage war against our inner enemy -- our evil inclinations and passions as well as the devil, Ha Satan, himself. The shofar was also sounded on the Jubilee Year, heralding freedom from slavery (Leviticus [Vayikra] 25:9-10).
Spiritually (halacha), this refers to freedom from the slavery of sin, the desires of this world, and serving the devil (Romans 6:12-13; James 4:4).
Another reason for sounding the shofar is that Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the birth of creation G-d began to rule over the world on this day. When a king begins to reign, he is heralded with trumpets. That is why Psalm 47 precedes the blowing of the shofar; it is a call to the nations: "..... Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth..." (Psalm [Tehillim] 47:6-7 NAS). It also precedes because of the reference to the shofar in the previous verse (Psalm 47:5), as it is written "God has ascended with a shout, the Lord, with the sound of a trumpet" (NAS).
In Jewish tradition, many reasons have been offered for the sounding of the shofar: The ram's horn is identified with the ram that became the substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Yitzchak) in Genesis (Bereishit) 22:1-19. The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai was accompanied by the sounding of the shofar (Exodus [Shemot] 19:19). The proclamation of the Jubilee was heralded by the blast of the shofar (Leviticus [Vayikra] 25:9-11); and the commencement of the Messianic age is to be announced by the sound of the great shofar (Isaiah [Yeshayahu] 27:13). The book Gates of Repentance cites Maimonide's call to awaken from spiritual slumber:
Awake, you sleepers, from your sleep! Rouse yourselves, you slumberers, out of your slumber! Examine your deeds, and turn to G-d in repentance. Remember your Creator, you who are caught up in the daily round, losing sight of eternal truth; you are wasting your years in vain pursuits that neither profit nor save. Look closely at yourselves; improve your ways and your deeds. Abandon your evil ways, your unworthy schemes, every one of you! (Yad Hichot Teshuva 3.4).When the rabbis saw the phrase, "Awake, O Israel," they would identify those verses with something concerning Rosh HaShanah. The blowing of the shofar took place at the temple (Beit HaMikdash) on Rosh HaShanah (Nehemiah 8:1-3).The shofar was also blown at the temple to begin the sabbath each week. There are two types of trumpets used in the Bible:
On the sabbath, there was within the temple (Beit HaMikdash) a sign on the wall that said, "To the house of the blowing of the trumpet [shofar]." Each sabbath (shabbat), two men with silver trumpets and a man with a shofar made three trumpet blasts twice during the day. On Rosh HaShanah, it is different. The shofar is the primary trumpet. On Rosh HaShanah, a shofar delivers the first blast, a silver trumpet the second, and then a shofar the third. The silver trumpets and the gathering at the temple are specified in the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar) chapter 10. According to Leviticus (Vayikra) 23:24 and Numbers (Bamidbar) 29:1, Rosh HaShanah is the day of the blowing of the trumpets. According to the Mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 16a; Rosh HaShanah 3:3), the trumpet used for this purpose is the ram's horn, not trumpets made of metal as in Numbers (Bamidbar) Chapter 10.
- The silver trumpet, and
- The shofar, or ram's horn.