“The Golden Plates and the Feast of Trumpets,” Ensign, Jan. 2000, 25

Holy days have long been part of the Lord’s marvelous works, beginning with His blessing and sanctifying the seventh day (see Gen. 2:3). The Lord commanded all Israel to observe a series of holy days (see Lev. 23). Part of His purpose concerning this series of holy days was to teach of the Lord’s mortal and latter-day ministries.

The Early Harvest Certain holy days were to coincide with Israel’s early, or spring, harvest. These holy days were given in part to teach of the Lord’s first coming, including the Crucifixion and Resurrection and the early gathering of Saints into the fold. For example, Passover and its sacrificed lambs taught of the Lamb of God, who would come to be sacrificed. As the lambs’ blood saved Israel from death in Egypt during the original Passover, Jesus Christ’s blood would overcome death for all mankind. Indeed, the New Testament testifies that the Crucifixion occurred upon the day Israel observed Passover centuries later.1 Further, Christ’s Resurrection harmonized with another observance connected to Passover week (see Lev. 23:9–11). As the Lord had commanded, the first sheaf of barley was cut down on the same day Christ was crucified on Passover, to be lifted up as an offering on the third day. Christ was lifted up from the grave on that third day, thus offering Himself as the firstfruits of the Resurrection (see 1 Cor. 15:20).2 Similarly, the day of Pentecost occurred on another holy day, the Feast of Firstfruits, which celebrated the larger wheat harvest (see Lev. 23:15–17). Because of the coming of the Holy Ghost, 3,000 souls were baptized on that day (see Acts 2). Thus, this feast celebrated a spiritual as well as an agricultural harvest.3

The Later Harvest The Lord set forth another series of holy days for the seventh month, coinciding with the later, or autumn, harvest. They are (1) the Feast of Trumpets, (2) the Day of Atonement, and (3) the Feast of Tabernacles. These holy days also held prophetic significance, for they have an important relationship to the Lord’s spiritual gleaning in the latter days.4 This article will focus on the Feast of Trumpets. It is important to note that on 22 September 1827, the very day Israel celebrated the Feast of Trumpets,5 Moroni gave the golden plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Since this feast was ripe with meaning for the theme of the regathering of Israel, it is unlikely this timing was accidental. Indeed, young Joseph was asked to meet Moroni for four years in preparation for that significant day in 1827. 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.

The Beginning of the Final Harvest The Lord commanded Israel, “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets” (Lev. 23:24). Because this festival was set for the first day of the seventh month of the Judaic calendar (usually falling in our September), the day was timed for the gathering of the vital oil and wine. Thus this festival initiated the fall season and the great and final time of “ingathering.”6 Many Jewish scholars have taught that the final spiritual gathering of Israel would begin with the Feast of Trumpets.7 As Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated, “The completion of the full harvest … will not be completed until that millennial day when ‘the Lord shall be king over all the earth’ [Zech. 14:9].”8 It is noteworthy that the word of the Lord to Latter-day Saints is full of harvest imagery: “For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not” (D&C 4:4). As modern prophets have said, the Book of Mormon is the major instrument the Lord prepared to initiate His final harvest.9 Therefore, it is significant that the golden plates were received on 22 September 1827, coinciding with the beginning of Israel’s fall garnering and symbolizing the onset of its final harvest of souls.

The Day God Remembers His Promises The Hebrew name used today for the Feast of Trumpets is Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. But this was not its original name, though the day does signify a new beginning. One of its original names was the Day of Remembrance. This name arose because the Lord commanded Israel to blow trumpets on this day for remembrance. According to tradition, it was on this day that the Israelites were remembered and freed from slavery in Egypt, prior to the completed Exodus.10 Also, it was on this day that the Lord remembered Israel and granted them spiritual renewal after their return from captivity in Babylon. For it was on the first day of the seventh month that Ezra read from the book of the law, and the people rejoiced because he “gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (see Neh. 8:1–12). As a result of their banishment, the Jews had lost many of the Lord’s truths, which they were now hearing again in clarity. Their spiritual remembering and renewal led to the making of new covenants (see Neh. 9:38; Neh. 10). Their escape from Babylonian bondage was a foreshadowing of our modern-day escape from worldly Babylon.11 In our time, the Book of Mormon has been a major factor in leading millions of people away from worldly falsehoods and back to spiritual truths. Many Judaic writers teach that the major theme of the Feast of Trumpets is remembrance: God’s remembrance of His covenants with Israel and the need for Israel to remember their God.12 The prayers of the day plead for this remembrance. They ask God to remember His covenants with the ancient patriarchs that He would regather His people. The Jewish scriptures that are read on this day promise such remembrance and speak of the trumpet as signaling it. For example, Isaiah 27:13 [Isa. 27:13] says: “And it shall come to pass in that day [the time of regathering], that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt.” Another example is Zechariah 9:14 [Zech. 9:14]: “And the Lord God shall blow the trumpet,” which accompanies pronouncements that Ephraim would help raise up God’s covenant people (see Zech. 9:13) and that those of Israel’s blood would again become His flock (see Zech. 9:16). 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.13 Also read during this feast are scriptures telling of biblical women becoming fruitful after barrenness. In fact, Jewish tradition is that God fulfilled His promises to Rachel, Hannah, and Sarah on this special day.14 The overtones of these events are impressive. For after Rachel was remembered, she was blessed with Joseph, from whom came Ephraim and Manasseh. From Hannah’s barrenness came the boy prophet Samuel and a return to righteous priesthood. For these and other reasons, this day has been seen by some Jewish writers as the day when God would eventually move from His seat of judgment concerning Israel and sit instead upon the seat of mercy.15 Thus, layer upon layer this holy day symbolizes the new beginning Israel would experience as God has mercy upon them in their exile, remembers His covenants with their fathers, and begins to restore them as His people. As a result, their barrenness would be removed, and they would become again a fruitful tree (see 1 Ne. 10:14). This anticipated new beginning was to be initiated with the sounding of the trumpet (a shofar, or ram’s horn, is still used in modern practice). One Jewish commentator has said, “Expectantly, we await the sounding of the [Trumpet] of Liberation, when Zion will be free to receive its exiled children from all parts of the earth.”16 On 22 September 1827, Israel’s trumpets sounded throughout the world; it was the day the Prophet Joseph Smith received the golden plates, which would help fulfill God’s promise to remember Israel in the latter days.

A Time for New Revelation Leading to a New Covenant The blowing of the trumpet is the major ritual of the Feast of Trumpets. Because the first mention of the trumpet is at Mount Sinai, these instruments are seen by Jewish writers as a symbol of revelation (see Ex. 19:16, 19). The trumpet sound is therefore understood by them as a memorial of the revelation and covenant given on Mount Sinai. Yet 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.17 The day’s ritual includes a prayer regarding revelation named “Trumpets.” The day’s services also include petitions to God to rebuild His temple﻿—the place where covenants are made﻿—as He promised.18 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.