"24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a sabbatical memorial of the thruah, a holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no manner of servile work; and ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto YHWH."
Leviticus 23
Next week, we celebrate the High Holy day A Sabbatical Memorial of the Thruah. What was the "thruah", and why was it so important that a memorial was set-aside for it to be remembered throughout all our generations?
In the book of Joshua, the 6th chapter, we find the first mention of the thruah.
"5 And it shall be, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the horn, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.'
10 And Joshua commanded the people, saying: 'Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.'
16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the horns, that Joshua said unto the people: 'Shout; for YHWH hath given you the city."
In the 5th verse, the words shall shout are יריעו and a great shout are תרועה גדולה in Ivrit. In the 10th verse, the words not shout are לא תריעו in Ivrit. And, in the 16th verse, the word shout is הריעו in Ivrit. The Ivrit תרועה is the noun form of the root רוע, which means to shout. It is connected to the root רע, where the ע, in ancient Ivrit, was what was known as a ghah. This root, רע, means bad or evil, which would connect the shout with something harmful to the people. This shout is to acknowledge the help of YHWH on behalf of His people against their enemies.
In the book of 1 Samuel, the 4th chapter, we find the following.
"3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said: 'Wherefore hath YHWH smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of YHWH out of Shiloh unto us, that He may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.'
4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of YHWH of hosts, who sitteth upon the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 And when the ark of the covenant of YHWH came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang.
6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said: 'What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?' And they knew that the ark of YHWH was come into the camp.
7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said: 'God is come into the camp.' And they said: 'Woe unto us! for there was not such a thing yesterday and the day before."
In the 5th verse, the words shouted with a great shout are ויריעו תרועה גדולה in Ivrit, and the 6th verse this great shout is הַתְּרוּעָה הַגְּדוֹלָה הַזֹּאת. The sound of this shouting/תרועה terrified the Philistines, who saw it as a sure sign of their imminent defeat, for now God had come into the camp of the Ivrim! But what actually happened?
"10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain."
Why was Israel smitten at the hands of the Philistines? They had gone at the advice of the Elders and brought the ark of YHWH along with two Priests so that YHWH might fight on their behalf. They had sounded the thruah, the victory cry that struck fear in the hearts of their enemies…and still they loss! Why?
The third chapter of 1 Samuel closes with the following:
"19 And Samuel grew, and YHWH was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of YHWH.
21 And YHWH appeared again in Shiloh; for YHWH revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of YHWH.
The people had gone to Shiloh and taken the Ark without consulting the Word of YHWH at the mouth of Samuel. The Elders had approved it and the Priests had sanctioned the taking of the Ark from Shiloh; but they failed to counsel with the acknowledged prophet of YHWH to affirm the direction they wanted to pursue. Because of this, they failed in their undertaking and lost the battled, the Ark and the two Priests died. The thruah, without the presence of YHWH, is just a vain, egotistical utterance! The bad or evil that should have befallen the enemies of Israel fell on him instead.
Then we come to the book of Joel, the 2nd chapter.
"1 Blow ye the horn in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of YHWH cometh, for it is near;"
The words, sound an alarm, are והריעו in Ivrit. This is clearly saying that something bad is about to happen; the chapter goes on to give Israel instructions to avoid the evil that is coming to all those who oppose the will of YHWH.
" 5 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of YHWH shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as YHWH hath said, and among the remnant those whom YHWH shall call."
Joel 3
A remnant will/has escape/d, and among them those whom He shall call. This is why we must remember the thruah; if we do not hear the instructions from those whom He shall call, we will not know when to sound the thruah and not receive the help of Yah YAHWAH.
We must hear the true voice of Yah YAHWAH and follow His instructions so that the sound of the thruah brings its just rewards upon our enemies and not on ourselves. Every man and woman must hear Truth and accept it over all others. Our offering must be words of commitment from our hearts to hear, speak and uphold Truth, even to our own hurt. This sacrifice will draw us nearer to Yah YAHWAH and insure that He is with us when we sound the thruah! This helps to prepare us for the Day of Atonement just 9 days away and tells us that this memory must become a part of our everyday lives.
Remember the Thruah!