The person who has made the fourth circuit around Jericho is walking in the discipline of Torah-obedience. From the relatively young, carefree days of the first three days learing up to spiritual rebirth, suddenly, he was old enough to accept responsibily for the conduct of his own life. At the fourth march there is sufficient maturity - though it is far from perfect yet and only in its beginnings - for a soul to accept the rôle as a steward of Yahweh's Teaching and as an apppointee to preserve the mitzvot (commandments): he is a guard or guardian of Emet (Truth), its exponent and defender, as well as being held accountable to live it as an instructor by example. That is what he agrees to when he receives his New Covenant Bar Mitzvah.

There is a considerable distance between the fourth day of Shavu'ot (Pentecost) - which is the singular summer festival - and Yom Teruah (Trumpets/Shouting) which is the first of thee three autumn (fall) festivals. The reason for the span of time is both because learning to walk in self-discipline is a habit acquired over time as well as the fact that of all the divine principles the flesh - which is lawless by nature - it resists this kind of discipling the most vehemently. Though we must struggle to overcome the fleshy disposition to overwhelm us at every stage of spiritual growth, from Pesach to Sukkot, there is little doubt in my mind that the hinge festival of Shavu'ot requires the greatest struggle of all to maintain within after the crossing is made. For if the soul falls at the fourth day, it must fall back to the spring festivals once more and relearn the first principles from scratch (Heb.6:1-3). Those who reject Torah (Law) in any point break every point of Torah, as the Master said:

"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these mitzvot (commandments) and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt.:19, NKJV).

"For whoever shall keep the whole Torah (Law), and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10, NKJV).

I emphasise the precepts of the fourth day on this the fifth day of the siege of Jericho to underline the fact that the foundation of the fifth day rests squarely upon the fourth. One who is struggling to be obedient to the mitzvot (commandments) in emunah (faith), in such a way as to be evidently losing the battle, is plainly nowhere near the spiritual endowment represented by Yom Teruah. For the fifth day is the blast of those shofars itself, the proclamation of victory. And whilst this victory was proclaimed every day in the Jericho March, the spiritual realisation of emunah (faith) in this victory does not come until the fifth day when there is a strong foundation of trusting behind the talmid (disciple).

I expect that you, like me, are fond of singing victory hymns and songs as evangelicals. On the one had in doing so we are proclaiming the victory of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) over death, hell and Satan in our lives, and on the other the hope that we will remain in that victory by emunah (faith) so that we will arise with the Triumphant Messiah in the resurrection:

"But thanks be to Elohim (God), who gives us the victory through our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ)" (1 Cor.15:57, NKJV).

"Now thanks be to Elohim (God) who always leads us in triumph in Messiah, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to Elohim (God) the fragrance of Messiah among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of chayim (life) leading to chayim (life)" (2 Cor.2:14-16, NKJV).

The fifth festival of Yom Teruah baffles a lot of messianics. Many, like their unsaved Jewish counterparts, don't even observe it, and even some of the festival-observing Church of God groups drop it altogether and make Shemini Atseret (the Last Great Day, following Sukkot) their seventh festival. To do that is to however lose a vital spiritual lynchpin and break tavnith.

Today I want to introduce you to the 'Principle of Five', the number of grace, and what this means in the fifth stage of our spiritual growth and maturing, how this ties in to mysterious Yom Teruah (about which so little is said in Scripture), the silver trumpets revelation, the marriage of Rosh Chodesh and Shabbat, the Second Coming of Messiah, and much more, as time permits. If we don't get through it all today, we may take up later at Yom Teruah itself.

The number 5 is presented in creation and in scripture as the sum of 1 + 4. It is revealed in the temple candlearbre or menorah in the central stem as 4+1 too where it represents the Five Wise Virgins:

The number 5 respresents the fullness of the principles of emet (truth), tsadkah (righteousness, justice), tovah (goodness), ahavah (love) and hochmah (wisdom), the menorah - their connectiveness and echadness (oneness). Emet (truth) is the rosh or head with the other four principles the arms and legs of the body. If the rosh (head) is removed then obviously the other four will die whereas the body can survive if one of the four principles of tsadkah (righteousness, justice), tovah (goodness), ahavah (love) and hochmah (wisdom) is lost. If a branch is lost from a tree, there may be considerable damage, but the tree can still live on. But remove the stem (represented as chayim or life - pale blue in the diagram above) and the branches naturally die. Emet (truth) defines the other four principles, which is why the number 5 is 1+4. How, for example, can you know what true ahavah (love) is if you don't know emet (truth)? If you don't know what emet (truth) is, how can you love someone? How can you know what ahavah (love) actually consists of? How will you differentiate and distinguish between the different kinds of love scripture speaks of like brotherly love (philadelphia), erotic love (eros), spiritual love (ahavah/agapé), and so on? How can we know what loving someone in the eyes of Yahweh actually consists of if we don't, for example, adhere to the 10 commandments and treat people right?

Adultery, then, is shown to be hate, not love, no matter how much eros is involved in the affair. Therefore the four lesser principles are defined by the greater one of emet (truth). Yom Teruah's place in 5th position in the festivals therefore is defined by the positioning withinin our lives of these five principles. In a word, it is impossible to love if you believe and practice lies - being 'in love' in an adulterous relationship (for example) and justifying it on the basis of the strong feelings and passions involved is therefore to be living a lie nonetheless - the adulterous relation is clearly revealed not to be in the best interests of any of the parties concerned. Indeed, adultery is so heinous in Yahweh's eyes that the death penalty is mandated for it. Therefore in the name of justice, righteousness, goodness and wisdom the adulterous relationship must be ended. If you try to justify adultery on the basis of lies, then you overturn justice and create lawlessness and death. There is no justice or goodness without emet (truth), and emet (truth) is defined by the Creator.

The number 5, with its primary and secondary elements, is therefore the very mark of grace itself - the undeserved loving kindness of Yahweh, His unmerited favour. It is also the basis of the Creation Calendar consisting of the ordering male principle of Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) that defines and sets the four weeks and their four sabbaths that follow it in female principle each month, as represented by Jacob and his four wives (1+4) - see The Four Sabbaths: Sacred Tavnith in the Creation Month for further orientation.

Following this sacred tavnith (pattern) we find that the oil used to anoint cohenim (priests) and the Cohen Gadol (High Priest), the mishkan (tabernacle), the articles of the miskan (tabernacle) (Ex.30:26) - and later kinds and nevi'im (prophets) too - consisted of 5 components - 1 primary one (an oil) + 4 secondary ones (spices). These were:

The Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) is received by grace because of what Yah'shua (Jesus) did at the Cross by submitting to His Father's toqef (authority) in yielding His chayim (life) to Yahweh on our behalf. Indeed, it is by grace and the power of the Ruach (Spirit) that we are enabled to confess that Yah'shua (Jesus) is Messiah! Thus the Ruach (Spirit) that is received by the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) on the sabbath and festivals, and of the silver trumpets on the New Moons and at Yom Teruah. We cannot hear His Davar (Word) without the Ruach (Spirit) and we cannot have emunah (faith) without first hearing that Davar (Word). We are saved - and therefore marked with what the number 5 represents - by this grace.

The Principle of 5 as 1+4 is also found in the ingredients of incense to be used in the mishkan (tabernacle) which are as follows:

Here salt symbolises b'rit or covenant and is the 'male' principle, the remaining four ingredients being 'female'.

When the apostle Paul said that he would "rather speak five devarim (words) with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Cor.14:19, NKJV) it was this Principle of Five that he had in mind, for it is the calling of the teacher of the Besorah (Gospel) to instruct in emet (truth), tsadkah (righteousness, justice), tovah (goodness), ahavah (love) and hochmah (wisdom), not to babble away in a foreign language for its own sake, and certainly not in gibberish

Traditionally, the number 5 is understood to relate in a different though equally valid way in Scripture. These components are known as the 'five great mysteries':

Why did Yahweh say that "five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you" (Lev.26:8, NKJV)? Because a man walking in the Principle of Five will have the blessings of Elohim (God) and be able to do miracles.

The Fifth Day of the Jericho Siege and the fifth festival of Yom Teruah therefore denote a time in the emunah (faith) journey of a talmid (believer) where he is operating in tavnith (pattern) and is governed by the B'rit-Emet or Covenant-Truth Principle that encompasses the four secondary principles of goodness, love, justice and wisdom in their proper order. If one of the secondary principles becomes elevated to the primary one then the believer is walking out of tavnith and is in inner disharmony. Quite commonly ahavah or love is regarded as the #1 Principle by most Evangelicals and hochmah or wisdom by messianics who love the Torah so much. These aberations create distortions of the emet (truth) and lead souls astray. It is not just a question of sumbitting to the principles but of getting them in the right order.

This has been done when a soul is walking in the Ruach haChamashee or the Fifth Spirit. At this point the Five Wise Virgins are assembled with their lamps properly burning whilst the foolish ones - whilst present - have not prepared because they have run out of the essential ingredient, which is oil, symbolising the sevenfold Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) who always puts everything in the right order. It is not enough, then, to be submitted to Messiah and obeying His mitzvot if they are not being obeyed in ahavah (love) in the right way founded on unadulterated emet (truth)!

For the walls of Jericho to crumble - for our emunah (faith) to be justified - we have to do things according to Yahweh's divine tavnith (pattern) - always! There is nothing haphazzard about grace. Just as the oil and salt separated the one being anointed, or the incense being offered, to Yahweh, so the talmid (disciple) who walks in divine tavnith (pattern) is likewise separated. from the world and things profane. As far as the anointing oil is concerned, it was used to separate and consecrate seven different things:

• 1. Aaron and his sons;
• 2. The Mishkan or Tabernacle itself;
• 3. The table and its vessels;
• 4. The menorah and its furnishings;
• 5. The altar of burt offering and its vessels;
• 6. The altar of incense; and
• 7. The laver and its foot.

To be consecrated is to receive in Hebrew mahleh which means, literally, to 'be completed'. The whole man is whole at Sukkot and he has qualified by his emunah (faith) by the 5th - the Judgment of Yom Kippur is an easy and quick passage to the end, whereas for those who have either failed at the Shavu'ot 'hinge' or who have never received Yah'shua (Jesus) at all, there are unpleasantries to follow.

No man can invest himself with the honour that is to sit at the Bridegroom's Sukkot Table - he must be set-apart by the Ruach (Spirit) not by man, for this is a setting-apart to Priesthood. His justification is with Elohim (God) not with fellow believers, not with wives, not with peers of any sort. He is made righteous solely on the basis of Yah'shua's (Jesus') merit because He has chosen to walk the Derech (Way) in all emet (truth).

This adds a whole new dimension to Yom Teruah and the the Fifth Day of the Siege of Jericho! The reason the silver trumpets blast at this festival is because it is the ROSH or HEAD of the Autumn (Festivals), the rosh or head of the children of the first resurrection (it's what defines them), and it is the rosh or head of Divine Marriage which is used allegorically by Yahweh to depict this spiritual process in the Plan of Salvation.

More of this will be said another time, perhaps at the next Yom Teruah. But for now, as we contemplate the strongholds that hinder our march into the fullness of chayim (life), let us soberly consider whether, in fact, we are willing to walk into the divine tavnith (pattern) of 4+1 or not. For if we are not, then we cannot make any sort of claim to the final victory nor presumptuously sport wedding garments ahead of time before being actually given them. May you find the grace in these things and also be filled.