References:
Dear John & Fellow
Watchers:
Leviticus 23: Verses 33 - 36
And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days
unto the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy
convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein. Seven
days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
Lord: on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation
unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto
the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do
no servile work therein.
Numbers 10: Verse 10
Also, in the day of your
gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings
of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your
burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace
offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before
your God: I am the Lord your God.
Nisan 1 begins the
ecclesiastical year and Tishri 1 begins the civil. But the
correspondence doesn't end there. On Nisan 10 The
Lamb was inspected and on Tishri 10 the second set of
tablets was given to the children of Israel (Yom Kippur).
Nisan 15 - 21 Passover is celebrated and Tishri 15 -
21 Sukkot is celebrated, both commencing on the full moon.
The spring feasts are a time
of expansion and growth culminating seven weeks later on
Shavuot, Sivan 6. It was on Shavuot that the first
set of tablets was given to the children of Israel.
These were smashed by Moses though on Tammuz 17
because of worshipping the golden calf.
But the fall feasts herald a
period of contraction known as the rainy season. So
instead of a feast 7 weeks and a day after Sukkot
the feast is 7
days and a day after Sukkot. Read what the Rabbis
have to say about this day:
The name "Atzeret" is
actually used most in the Talmud to refer to the holiday
of Shavuot. Shavuot can be seen as the "completion"
of Pesach - for Pesach, commemorating the Exodus,
represents our "physical" birth as a nation, while
Shavuot, commemorating our receiving of the Torah,
represents our "spiritual" birth...
Shmini Atzeret should really
have been placed seven weeks after Sukkot as Shavuot, the
"closure" of Pesach, follows it by seven weeks, but,
according to the Midrash, Hashem had mercy on the Jewish
People. For Pesach is in the Spring and Shavuot is
in the Summer, both pleasant times for travel (these
holidays are all "Regalim," Pilgrim Festivals, on which
Jewish males are obligated to travel to the Temple in
Yerushalayim), but seven weeks after Sukkot would already
be into the rainy season in Israel, and travel would not
be pleasant then. Therefore, Hashem allowed the closure of
Sukkot, Shmini Atzeret, to be celebrated right after
Sukkot.
Shmini Atzeret is to
Tabernacles as Pentecost is to Passover. Sivan 6 is
neither a full moon nor a new moon and so the same
for Tishri 22.
The Leviticus verses quoted above indicate that
Shmini Atzeret is a holy day in its own right and the
quote from Numbers indicates that trumps are blown on
all the holy days. So, since Shmini Atzeret is the
last holy day till spring the last trump is blown on that day.
"Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed."
1 Corinthians 15:51-52, KJV
A Shmini Atzeret Rapture
would be October 17, 2022.
All the Best,
Mike P