A few weeks ago I came across a Sabbath-keeper and an Evangelical Christian quarrelling over what the Sabbath day was. The Evangelical was saying that the 7th day sabbath was done away with along with all the Law and Torah, that Jesus was our 'sabbath', and that now believers should observe the 'Lord's Day' as a time to congregate. When the Sabbath-keeper correctly pointed out that our physical body still needed a day of rest, she argued that it didn't matter which day of the week one rested on, and that it could be Sunday, Monday, or any other day.
Of course, we all know, that no Evangelical Christian anywhere (that I know of) actually lives this 'free sabbath' doctrine and in truth those who bother about a day of rest at all always treat Sunday as that day of rest because it's the easiest and most convenient thing to do because of the way the world is set up. The rest do what they like on it - going to church and then working, not going to church and working, or just having a day off.
Without realising it, the Evangelical Christian was conceeding that even with Yah'shua's (Jesus') spiritual rest within that we still needed a day to rest on and ended up in a state of confusion. She did have one important point to share, though. When the Sabbath-keeper reminded her that Sunday was the 'Day of the Sun' and that she was therefore a sun-worshipper for worshipping on Sunday, she pointed out that as Saturday was the 'Day of Saturn', the Sabbath-keeper was, by the same logic, therefore a Saturn-worshipper.
The two got nowhere and departed agreeing to disagree but still very frustrated with each other. Neither of them thought to ask the question that might have resolved their differences: How do we know that the Roman Saturday is the biblical seventh day of the week, and how do we know that the Roman Sunday is the biblical sixth day of the week? Or to put it another way: Who said that Saturday is the Hebrew 7th day and Sunday the Hebrew 1st day of the week? Do we actually know that this is true? And what is actually meant by the 'seventh' day or the 'first' day? Did the Hebrews even count the days of the calendar in the same way as the Romans did and as we do? For if they didn't, then it could well be that most messianics and sabbath-keepers are keeping the sabbath on the wrong day just like the evangelicals. If you are puzzled, bear with me.
For the ancient Hebrews, their calendar revolved around the New Moon which was the first day of the month. Twin silver trumpets were blown (Num.10:2,8.10) to mark the beginning of every month. By contrast, sabbaths and the beginning of all the festivals except Yom Teruah, were marked by the blowing of the ram's horn or shofar. This is because neither the weekly sabbath not the annual festivals could be calculated without knowing when the New Moon was. This is why they were announced with two different instruments. In other words, you couldn't know what the sabbath day was without knowing when the New Moon was.
Calculating the Sabbath Day depended on knowing the New Moon. That is one of the reasons why there were two silver trumpets and not one trumpet made of some other material, mineral or natural. Why silver? Because in Scripture silver is a symbol of emet or truth. The moon establishes the emet or truthful calendaric positioning of the sabbaths and festivals. Without the New Moon there can be no emet for the other moedim by which we can have a solid emunah or faith (emet and emunah come from the same root word in Hebrew). The reason there are two trumpets is because they establish the two categories of observances, viz. the weekly sabbaths and yearly festivals.
Let me explain further. Silver trumpets establish the principle of 1 and 7 and the spiritual purification of the soul as represented by Sabbath and sevenfold Festival observances:
"The words of Yahweh are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Ps.12:6, NKJV).
These seven annual festivals are recapitulated in the seven day week which reach their climax in the seventh day, the Sabbath. One silver trumpet representes the 7 festivals and their sevenfold purification process and one silver trumpet represents their unity as a weekly sabbath consummation, for the Sabbath day is Sukkot on another level. Rosh Chodesh or the New Moon is the unifying principle, joining Sabbath and Seven Festivals into echad or oneness - hence the twin trumpets are blown at the same time.
The weekly Sabbath and six of the seven annual festivals are announced by the blowing of a horn. What does a horn symbolise in Scripture? Strength, power and authority (toqef). Our strength, power and authority are derived by our submission to what the weekly Sabbath and the Annual Festivals represent, but this can only be attained by first submitting to what Rosh Chodesh represents, namely, the "words of Yahweh". Thus on another level the twin silver-trumpets represent the Torah (Moses) and the Nevi'im (Prophets) by whom Yahweh's Word was given to us. They represent His Law and Testimonies.
However, of themselves, they are dead without breath or ruach which is why they must be blown. Once blown they give direction to our spirits, being rallying points to emet or truth. A trumpet is silent without breath, and the Word of Yahweh is silent to humans without the animating Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). We cannot hear His words to us unless they are made alive by His breath. Since emunch or faith comes by "hearing", physical apprehension of, and obedience to, the Word is never enough because there has to be a chayim or life -principle in all that is holy or set-apart. We must above all hear in our lev (heart) and ruach (spirit) for the words to become alive in us. Then our obedience to Torah becomes a pure joy, because it is Yahweh's ahavah (love) in correct tavnith (pattern). It is only when those spirits thus animated hear the trumpet from heaven that the dead can be raised and resurrected to eternal chayyim or life!
Only the Creation Calendar, wherein the New Moon sets both the weekly sabbaths and the annual moedim and ties everything neatly together. This is the set-apart rhythm. May you be blessed by it!