Understanding the Seventh Hebrew month

This month marks the Seventh Hebrew Month of the Israelite Hebrew year kept by the Israelites under the Old Covenant law of YHWH.

On the first day of the seventh month there was a holy convocation, or gathering, marked by the blowing of the trumpets.

Leviticus 23: 23-25
¶ And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying, 24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. 25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH.

Numbers 29:1
¶ And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.

Ten days later marked the holiest day of the Day of Atonement, where God made atonement for sins of the children of Israel, once a year on this holy day.

Leviticus 23:26-32
And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying, 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH. 28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before YHWH your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

Numbers 29:7-11
And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein: 8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto YHWH for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish: 9 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram, 10 A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs: 11 One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings.

Five days later, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, marked the beginning of the feast of tabernacles where Israel gathered together to celebrate and worship seven days before YHWH. The last day of the Feast, or the eighth day, was the great day of YHWH and a holy day which closed the feast.

Numbers 29:12
¶ And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto YHWH seven days:

These holy days and feast days were only one of three major feasts of YHWH. The first feast was the Passover or feast of unleavened bread, the second was named the feast of weeks, and the last feast in the seventh month was the feast of tabernacles.

Deuteronomy 16:16-17
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before YHWH thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before YHWH empty: 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of YHWH thy God which he hath given thee.

Let’s now look closely at the most holy Day of Atonement.

Leviticus 16:1-34
¶ And YHWH spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before YHWH, and died; 2 And YHWH said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 5 ¶ And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before YHWH at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for YHWH, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which YHWH’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before YHWH, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before YHWH, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before YHWH, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 ¶ Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before YHWH, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 20 ¶ And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.
25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. 27 And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. 28 And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 29 ¶ And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 30 For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before YHWH. 31 It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as YHWH commanded Moses.

We see that Aaron, the high priest, or anyone was not allowed to enter into the holy place behind the vail. This vail was a heavy cloth partition which divided the holiest room from the rest of the main tabernacle where the priests of Levites ministered before YHWH.

The holy place or sanctuary separated by the vail was a completely dark chamber where the ark of the covenant containing the holy law of God was kept. Above the ark of the covenant on the lid, or mercy seat, YHWH would meet, appearing in a cloud covering the golden ark.

It’s in this holy place that only once a year on the tenth day of the seventh month, only the high Levite priest was permitted to enter into this holy chamber to make atonement first for himself and then for all of the children of Israel; bringing in the blood of first a sacrificed bullock, and then a sacrificed goat, sprinkling the blood seven times upon the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant of YHWH.

Now there were two goats chosen for this ceremony of the Day of Atonement. One goat would be chosen for ritual sacrifice offering of YHWH. The other goat was the scapegoat, upon which all the sins of the children of Israel were placed. This goat was allowed alive to go loose into the wilderness carrying the sins of Israel away.

This ritual took place only once a year for the sins of the children of Israel on this tenth day of the seventh Hebrew month.

Let’s now look at the holy feast of tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:34-44
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto YHWH. 35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHWH: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37 These are the feasts of YHWH, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the sabbaths of YHWH, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto YHWH. 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto YHWH seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before YHWH your God seven days. 41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto YHWH seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am YHWH your God.

The fifteenth day of the seventh month began a holy day of the feast of tabernacles and the last day or eighth day closed the feast of tabernacles or feast of booths.

It was called the feast of tabernacles or booths as it was named so after the commandment by YHWH to the children of Israel to create booths made from branches of various trees to rejoice in before YHWH. It was a time of joy, rejoicing and feasting among all the tribes of Israel before YHWH.

Clearly these high holy days were for the children of Israel, so what does all this mean to you and me today?

These holy days and feasts were all not only time markers on the Hebrew yearly calendar, but were examples of what was to come in the future New Covenant YHWH will make with Israel.

The first day of seventh month of the day of the blowing trumpets was an alarm to Israel, a call, an announcement of the good news. Perhaps symbolically the heralding of the good news of the Gospel of Jesus, Israel’s messiah and Christ.

The Day of Atonement represents the holy sacrifice of Jesus the Christ on the cross, on the Passover, to make atonement for the sins of the people of Israel, the strangers, or all other men and women of mankind.

The scapegoat who carried away the sins of Israel represents Christ’s taking on of the sin of the world when Jesus died on the cross to make atonement for Israel and all others who would join themselves to the New Covenant YHWH made with the children of Israel and Jesus proclaimed to his disciples before his death on the cross.

What does the feast of tabernacles represent?

Perhaps it represents the time of worship, a time of celebration, joy and praise over the victory of Jesus the Christ by his believers, all those through their faith in Jesus Christ who have overcame the world and received the promise of the righteousness of God, and YHWH’s salvation and eternal life through Jesus our Lord made only by the life, death sacrifice, and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

The seventh month marked the holy close of the yearly holy ceremonies for Israel and it was meant for us to learn as a shadowing of what was to come in the New Covenant or New Testament Age.

The sounding of the good news or Gospel, the death of our savior for the atonement of the sins of the world, and the celebration of the saints over the salvation made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Christ.

With all this in mind, let us finish with a reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews.

In Hebrews Paul speaks of the Old Covenant law and priestly rituals such as the Day of Atonement as shadows or examples of things to come in the New Covenant or New Testament in Christ by a more excellent ministry.

Hebrews 8:1-9:28
¶ Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. 6 ¶ But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. 1 ¶ Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 ¶ The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 ¶ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 ¶ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 10:1-17
1 ¶ For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 ¶ Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

So knowing all this, won’t you join me this holy month to celebrate the Lord Jesus and the salvation of YHWH for all He has done for you and me and all of God’s saints!

Psalm 32:11
Be glad in YHWH, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Psalm 40:16
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, YHWH be magnified.

Psalm 68:3
But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.

Psalm 97:12
Rejoice in YHWH, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalm 118:28-29
Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. 29 O give thanks unto YHWH; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

1st Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Use this time to get closer to God and rejoice in the Lord, give thanks to God for your salvation.

If you don’t know the salvation of Jesus, then I invite to you take some time to learn about Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?

May God bless you this holy month and bring you closer to Him.