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Lev_23:23-25
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord."
By a very natural association of thought, in Lev_23:22 the direction to leave the gleaning of the harvest for the poor and the stranger is repeated verbally from Lev_19:9-10. Thereupon we pass from the feast of the seventh week to the solemnities of the seventh month, in which the series of annual sabbatic seasons ended. It was thus, by eminence the sabbatic season of the year. Of the "set times" of this chapter, three fell in this month, and of these, two-the day of atonement and tabernacles-were of supreme significance: the former being distinguished by the most august religious solemnity of the year, the entrance of the high priest into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the nation; the latter marking the completion of the ingathering of the products of the year, with the fruit, the oil, and the wine. Of this sabbatic month, it is directed (Lev_23:25) that the first day be kept as a shabbathon, " a solemn rest," marked by abstinence from all the ordinary business of life, and a holy convocation. The special ceremony of the day, which gave it its name, is described as a "memorial of blowing of trumpets." This "blowing of trumpets" was a reminder, not from Israel to God, as some have fancied, but from God to Israel. It was an announcement from the King of Israel to His people that the glad sabbatic month had begun, and that the great day of atonement, and the supreme festivity of the feast of tabernacles; was now at hand.
That the first day of this sabbatic month should be thus sanctified was but according to the Mosaic principle that the consecration of anything signifies the consecration unto God of the whole. "If the first fruit is holy, so also the lump"; in like manner, if the first day, so is the month. Trumpets - though not the same probably as used on this occasion-were also blown on other occasions, and, in particular, at the time of each new moon; but, according to tradition, these only by the priests and at the central sanctuary; while in this feast of trumpets everyone blew who would, and throughout the whole land.