Why do Jews read Genesis 21 and 22 during the Feast of Trumpets?
(A ChatGPT translation from Chinese, modified by Mijiale, 中文版在后面)
The usual progression of reading from the Torah, the first five books of Moses, temporarily stops this week as the Sabbath leads into the biblical Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24: “Say to the children of Israel, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, let there be a special day of rest for you, a day of memory, marked by the blowing of horns, a meeting for worship.“) During this festival, Jews also read from the Torah, but not in the usual order. Instead, they read Genesis chapters 21 and 22. The reason for this is that these chapters mention the ram’s horns, which are blown during the Feast of Trumpets.
In these chapters, God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, but then provides a ram as a substitute sacrifice. It’s said that one of the ram’s horns was used at Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:19: “The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.”) The other horn is reserved for a future time at the coming of the Messiah，http://hearingshofar.blogspot.com/2010/03/rams-horn-midrash-for-elul.html.
From this Jewish tradition, it can be inferred that while Jews do not recognize Christ (the Greek term for Messiah) as having already come, the future coming of the Messiah that they anticipate, likely corresponds to the Christian belief in the second coming of Christ. Christians believe that at the time of the resurrection in the future, there will also be the sounding of trumpets accompanying the returning of the Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first”).
为什么吹角节读创世纪21，22章？
本周通常顺序的摩西五经读经进度暂时停止了，因为周末安息日要开始圣经里的吹角节（利23:24 “你 晓 谕 以 色 列 人 说 ， 七 月 初 一 ， 你 们 要 守 为 圣 安 息 日 ， 要 吹 角 作 纪 念 ， 当 有 圣 会 ” ）。吹角节犹太人也读摩西五经，不过不是按通常的顺序，而是读创世纪21，22两章。其原因是因为里面讲到了吹角节所吹的公羊的角。造物主让亚伯拉罕献上老年所得的儿子以撒，但是又叫他不要杀以撒。这时， 正好有一只公羊的羊角卡在树丛里，亚伯拉罕就把公羊杀了献上，代替了以撒。犹太人传说,
这只公羊的两只羊角中，有一只在西奈山造物主与以撒的后代以色列人颁布十诫时曾经做号角吹向过（出19:19 “角 声 渐 渐 地 高 而 又 高 ， 摩 西 就 说 话 ， 神 有 声 音 答 应 他 ”）；而另一只羊角，要等到弥赛亚来的时候再吹向，http://hearingshofar.blogspot.com/2010/03/rams-horn-midrash-for-elul.html
。由这个犹太传说我们可以推论，虽然犹太人还不承认基督（希腊文的弥赛亚）已经来过，但他们所等待的将来的弥赛亚的来临，是对应于基督徒所说的基督的第二次再来，因为基督徒也认为，将来死人复活时， 会有号角声伴随基督的再来（贴前4:16）：“因 为 主 必 亲 自 从 天 降 临 ， 有 呼 叫 的 声 音 ， 和 天 使 长 的 声 音 ， 又 有 神 的 号 吹 响 。 那 在 基 督 里 死 了 的 人 必 先 复 活 。”