This is the First Fruit Blessing Prayer for the month of Tishrei.
2 October, 2024 – 1 Tishrei, 5785
23 September 2025 – 1 Tishrei 5786
12 September, 2026 – 1 Tishrei 5787
This is a month of joyous celebration because it holds Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.
There are a few things that are important to note about this month.
1 – Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year so it is the beginning of the year and this is marked by the creation story in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. The dates this year 2024 is October 2-4. When you read the Torah the month of Tishrei is known as the 7th month. The reason for this is that God counts the first month as the month when the Israelites left Egypt which is Nissan. Therefore, you may read in some places where Tishrei is called the 1st month and then in other places where it is referred to as the 7th month. They are both correct. This also means that each month on the calendar can be viewed in the same way based on how the writer is looking at it that is from the creation of the earth or from the Exodus story.
2 – Yom Kippur is the day for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. It is October 12, 2024 (10th Tishrei). If you think about it, you can’t really start fresh until you ask the Lord to forgive you and step outside of the sin. But just imagine now that the entire Jewish community chooses a day and they all repent. Can you imagine how powerful that is?
True living begins after we’ve departed that place of disobedience. Hence, as I shared in the good, pleasing, perfect will of God, your entire life is put on hold until you step out of disobedience and sin. Your deliverance is your new beginning.
3 – Five days following Yom Kippur is Sukkot (15th Tishrei) which last for 7 days (October 16 – October 23, 2024). Sukkot is also known as Feast of Booths and also Feast of Tabernacles.
Feast of Booths happens at the end of an agricultural season when grapes and olives are being harvested so it is used as an opportunity to thank God for His provisions and to also ask Him to bless the coming season with abundant rainfall during the rainy season (October – March) so that there would be crops for the coming year. Do you ever thank God for rainfall for the coming year? Perhaps you’ll do it this Sukkot season.
During Sukkot a sukkah, or booth, is built made from leaves, branches, reeds or fabric and meals are enjoyed under the sukkah. This is a temporary structure meant to signify God’s covering, protection and provisions that were made available to them during their wilderness journey. Imagine celebrating your beautiful harvest while living and eating under the sukkah. This is meant to keep them humble. To remember that while they have plenty, they should never forget the one who sustained them through all their years of slavery and hardship. They didn’t get to this place on their own. It was God’s doing.
They eat in the sukkah and some people actually sleep in it too. As a Christian this signifies two things to me, (1) I see the birth of Jesus in it because looking at sukkahs remind me of the stable in which the baby Jesus laid. (2) it also reminds me that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. It is the Feast of Tabernacle. It is that Jesus came to earth. This is the reason some Christians believe that this is the “real Christmas” when Jesus was actually born. I’m going to include some images here so you can see what it looks like. You don’t necessarily have to do this but it’s not that hard to make one if you decide to do it. DIY Sukkah
Leviticus 23:33-43
33 The Lord said to Moses, 34 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. 35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. 36 For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.
37 (“‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. 38 These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord’s Sabbaths and[a] in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.)
39 “‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”
4 – Hoshannah Rabbah is the 7th day of Sukkot and this is known as the Day of Judgment. After celebrating the new year, repenting during Yom Kippur, spending time under the sukkah, thanking God for the abundant harvest of the past year and then praying for the rainfall (water) for the coming year, this day is when your fate is sealed. God then pronounces His judgment on your entire year. This of course doesn’t need to be viewed as a bad thing but more as His judgement of blessing over your year to come, given that you repented during Yom Kippur. It sets you up for His blessing for the entire year. Wouldn’t you like Him to pronounce a judgment in your favor this year since you are expecting a wealth transfer? This means your repentance process, making your requests known to God would be completed by October 23, 2024. If you choose to do this.
The Really good part…
Now that I have explained all of this to you, I want you to see how understanding these festivals gives a deeper meaning to some scriptures. Look at what Jesus said to the Jews on the last day of Sukkot which would be Hoshannah Rabbah (the day when God’s judgment is declared)
John 7:37-39
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
How fantastic is that????
He was basically saying to them, you’re praying for rain/water? I AM the water. Come to Me and you will never be thirsty. In other words, receive Me as your Savior and you will never lack the water. Because by being connected to Christ, you automatically receive the Holy Spirit who is the living water! Hallelujah!
How will you ever lack when you have the Spirit of God and are led by God? He IS the living water. There is no drought in you! And through YOU all the nations will be blessed.
There’s no need for you to fear. None whatsoever!
Isaiah 12:2-3
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Hallelujah! Come to Jesus! Drink of the living water and never thirst again.
Now you understand why the Pharisees were so incensed with Him. He took their festival and inserted Himself into it so that they would have to look at it in a completely different way. He was showing them that He came to fulfill all their prayers. Everything you need and desire is in Him, Jesus.
5 – The traditional foods eaten on Rosh Hashanah are apples, honey, challah (braided bread), pomegranates. All these fruits signify abundance, blessings and fruitfulness.
Tribe for the month is Ephraim
Please read Genesis 48 it is too long to put here.
The story is that Jacob was dying, Ephraim’s grandfather, and he put his hand to pronounce a blessing over his two grandsons – Ephraim and Manasseh. However, there was an issue with the blessing. The firstborn son Manasseh is supposed to be the one with the greater blessing, but Ephraim got the blessing of the firstborn even though he was the younger son.
That means that the lesser will become the greater.
Remember Jacob himself was also the younger son and got the blessing of his older brother Esau. So, there’s some generational stuff being passed here. But unlike his own story, which was done out of trickery, Jacob intentionally blessed the younger son.
To top it all off in verse 5-6 this is Jacob speaking to Joseph, Ephraim’s father.
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.
This is MAJOR! Remember, that Joseph was sold into slavery. That means that his wife after he became prime minister when he got out of prison was Egyptian. That means, Ephraim and Manasseh are technically Egyptians. It is the mother that makes them Jewish and not the father. Unless she converts to Judaism this is how this is viewed. Not like Moses who was born a Jew but raised as an Egyptian, no they were Egyptian. Technically not allowed to inherit any of the promised land. Technically.
What Jacob did was he said to Joseph “you know what? I’m going to adopt them. They are not your sons they are my sons and I have decided since they are my sons that they are going to be treated like my sons therefore they will inherit land like my sons…any other child after these two those are your sons”. That means sons born after these two wouldn’t inherit as head but would have to live in the territory of one of these two sons. Joseph never had any more children after these two.
By doing this one act, Jacob was declaring that these two sons would leave Egypt at some point and journey with their families to the promised land. He made a way for them to be a part of the promised land.
I think about people that feel like they don’t fit in or are not a part of something based on some kind of technicality. This shows that God can in an instant put you in a position to get something and be a part of His family. Just as we are all adopted into the family of God. The gentiles grafted into the Jewish branch. We are a part of the covenant based on these same adoption principles. (John 1:12, 13; Ephesians 1:5-6)
Romans 8:15
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Our Abba Father made a way for us just as He did for Ephraim and Manasseh. Now imagine being Ephraim, all he knows is Egypt. He didn’t even know his father had this whole family in Canaan. He was adopted into this family so not only did he get an inheritance which he technically was not entitled to, but he jumped over the firstborn and got even more! Praise the Lord!
That is a double blessing.
But why did Jacob give Ephraim the blessing of the firstborn? hmmmm What was the purpose of that?
Joseph died in Egypt (Genesis 50:25) and then he made them promise him to carry his bones into the promised land. Did you know they traveled in the wilderness for 40 years with Joseph’s coffin? Just imagine them leaving Egypt in a rush in the middle of the night and someone saying “Hey, Ahmed help me roll back this stone we’re gonna need to grab a sarcophagus from over in the corner” LOL Can you imagine that? Those things were heavy too. This was no pine box. Remember Joseph was a well-respected prime minister when he was buried. The level of diligence, commitment and faithfulness that it would take for someone to follow through with this promise is mind blowing. He was dead for 200 years when they left! And I can’t help but think it had to be men from either Ephraim or Manasseh that carried him around.
In the blessing prayed over the tribes by Moses, he still makes mention of Joseph even though he was already gone.
Deuteronomy 33:13-17
13 About Joseph he said:
“May the Lord bless his land
with the precious dew from heaven above
and with the deep waters that lie below;
14 with the best the sun brings forth
and the finest the moon can yield;
15 with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains
and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills;
16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness
and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among[e] his brothers.
17 In majesty he is like a firstborn bull;
his horns are the horns of a wild ox.
With them he will gore the nations,
even those at the ends of the earth.
Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim;
such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
So we see that the blessing was more spoken to the land that Joseph was given which was now inherited by Ephraim and Manasseh. I’m thinking, not sure, that the reference to the ten thousand of Ephraim was prophetically speaking about the split of the tribes with the ten to the north and the two tribes to the south. The ten tribes that became the northern kingdom were led by Ephraim.
One important point is that Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim had to inherit land so that Moses’ succession plan could be in place to lead the people in battle when they got into the promised land. If Ephraim didn’t inherit anything, there would be no Joshua.
Perhaps Jacob knew prophetically that out of Ephraim was going to come this great leader named Joshua and that’s why he blessed him as if he was the firstborn son? I cannot think of another reason why he would do that. Can you? Write it in the comments.
Joshua is faithful and he surely follows the instruction of the Lord with diligence. And he carried out Joseph’s wishes in the final resting place in the promised land (Joshua 24:32).
First Fruit Blessing Prayer for Tishrei
Abba Father, thank you for adopting me into your family. No longer do I need to feel rejected, unwanted, unloved or like I do not belong because You have embraced me. I have an inheritance in You. Fill me with Your Spirit and give me this Living Water, the Holy Spirit, where I shall never suffer lack, insufficiency or drought. Cause my life to be a well-watered place. May Your abundance flow not only in me but let if freely flow from me to others so that through me all the nations will be blessed. Thank you for this New Year. I reflect on the past year and thank you for every blessing that You have given to me and my family. I praise You with a grateful heart and I look forward to Your pronouncement of a blessing upon my coming year. May I receive all of Your goodness, Your grace, Your abundance and be a part of this great transfer of wealth that is upon us. Lord, I know that in order for me to truly receive from You and start living the fullness of the life you intended for me, I have to leave Egypt. The people, places, mindsets and habits that are not fruitful to me, those around me, but more importantly to You. Help me to step away from the things that do not glorify You so that I can be used as a vessel of honor in Your Kingdom. Forgive me for the sins that I have committed against You, others and myself. Give me a fresh start. A new start for this new year. As I enjoy Your abundance that will flow into my life in this season, let me not be prideful but humble myself to know that it is You that allows me to be blessed. It is You that lead me to the source of these blessings. I would never be anywhere without Your guidance on my life. As such, let me never forget to share and give to those where You want me to give. Do not allow me to be like the Dead Sea where so much flows in but nothing flows out. Allow me to be a conduit of Your blessing upon the earth. I pray that Your favor will be stamped upon my life so that I will receive blessings that I may not even be slated to receive. Grant me a spirit that is diligent in all that You’ve asked me to do. May You call me faithful and committed and may I lead those whom you’ve committed to my care as Joshua did. Grant me the grace to fulfill and walk out the purpose for which You have created me, in Jesus name, Amen.
And of course, we cannot conclude this post without talking about the shofar blasts to ring in the new year
Tekiah – Pronounced tuh-KEE-ah, the tekiah blast is one long note that acts as a kind of summons. Others have suggested that it is the sound of a king’s coronation. On Rosh Hashanah, we are traditionally called to reaffirm God’s sovereignty.
Shevarim – Pronounced shih-vah-REEM, this word literally means “breaks” or “fractures.” The shevarim blast is three medium-length notes that have been compared to the sound of weeping.
T’ruah – Pronounced tih-ROO-ahh, the t’ruah blast is a series of very short, staccato sounds that have been compared to an urgent alarm, calling us to rouse from our spiritual slumber.
Tekiah Gedolah is a really long note to finish off the blasts.
These descriptions and all from myjewishlearning.com
Rosh Hashanah is Yom Teruah which is the day of the shofar (rams horn) blasts. The shofar is blown 100 times during the service.
L’Shana Tova!
Blessings
But why did Jacob give Ephraim the blessing of the firstborn? hmmmm What was the purpose of that?
Sometimes I feel it was also God’s way of showing Jacob what God would have done for him- he didn’t have to cheat his way into a blessing. God would have still given him the first born blessing- without the deceipt. Like God was showing him, this is what I wanted to do for you, if only you had been patient and waited, you didn’t need all that hustle, The perfect will of God being demonstrated
Love your perspective Anne. Beautiful insight!
When reading this, I can’t help but think about Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and King Saul’s grandchild who was crippled but ate at King David’s table his whole life! He didn’t think he was deserving/worthy enough, but God made room for him! Also, there’s a scripture that says God sets the solitary in families..God is all about community and family- no man is an island. We need each other and God knows who to connect us with to help us walk out our destinies!! Blessings!
Greetings MOP Family,
L’Shana Tova!!! There is something very unique about this Rosh Hashanah, 5784! Let me explain. I woke up yesterday with the following lyrics “…and the angels cry ‘Holy’, the angels cry ‘Holy’ and you will be, “Holy”…” I then quickly Googled the time for the official start of Rosh Hashanah in Israel and compared it to my time zone (Mountain), which was around 9:48am. I waited eagerly for that time. Any way, that song kept playing over, over, over, over, and over throughout yesterday, pretty much all day and the tongues would go with it. I started wondering if there was unusual angelic activity yesterday. I felt let to Google the lyrics of the song and it is actually from the song “Holy Forever” by Chris Tomlin! He is my favourite male worship leader!!! I then felt led to read and pray Psalm 24 because I began to realize that there was something unusual/spiritual going on. Perhaps, a special portal was opened up in my home, city, and yesterday, September 15th, 2023. Did anyone else have the same experience? I woke up again today with the same lyrics playing over.
Work- As I reflected yesterday, I had the opportunity to interview the legend of burnout last month and this year marks the 50th anniversary of her work on burnout. This month, I focused on human rights for a particular population for my province and found out that the commission is also celebrating their 50th anniversary! This got me thinking and I was like “What is going on here? I want my jubilee (aka #50)” Hours after I talked about the meaning of 5784 as in the meaning of the individual numbers (5-7-8-4) I got an e-mail from a seemingly unknown source about 5784, stating that this year is one of jubilee and rest. I froze in my tracks!!! There’s that word ‘jubilee.’ So, in the natural, work on burnout and human rights are being celebrated as per 50th anniversary (jubilee) and as I type I got the following revelation. Our Lord is here to take care of people who are ‘burning out,’ have had their rights trampled on, and He is here to give them rest through a triple restitution. The article/e-mail referenced Leviticus 25:21. The same e-mail was sent to me this morning as well. Twice=confirmation.
Post- Thank you for this post. I really enjoyed Moses’s blessing over Joseph. It made me want to weep and gave me tingles. Talk about being highly favoured that his “land” was blessed long before he is gone! It also made me think that God’s favour is still on Joseph’s descendants and property up to today.
Now regarding your question in the following excerpt: “Perhaps Jacob knew prophetically that out of Ephraim was going to come this great leader named Joshua and that’s why he blessed him as if he was the firstborn son? I cannot think of another reason why he would do that. Can you? Write it in the comments.”
How I feel led to answer this question is as follows. Sometimes, we do not know why we feel led to prophesy or do something. The bible says we know in part and prophesy in part. Perhaps, Jacob felt led by the Spirit to do and say what he did without having the full knowledge/understanding of what he was doing by blessing Ephraim the way he did- he simply obeyed the Spirit’s prompting. That’s my opinion at this time. I can reflect in my life when I have had a strong nudge to do or say something with understanding why. It was “after” my obedience that the understanding/manifestation came to light 🙂
Shalom!
*without understanding why.
Blessings MOP, thank you always, this is his great timing. I have subscribe and unsubscribe from you a thousand times due to some attack i have been facing. Finally this week the lord lead me to you again. He knows I need his living water once more and thank you for the prayer and for all that you do. It’s what I need. The LORD has been faithful and leading me to obedience and physical repentance in my house hold and he releases me from my afflictions every time I obey. God bless you for all that you do.
@FE I thank you too for sharing your talk with the Lord and sharing about jubilee and being burned out. I AM BURNED OUT SISTER!!! I need a fresh start and be free from trampling. I am getting a book called tired of being tired and I am for the first time joining a book club and going to church again after four years of wilderness. I praise him And give Jesus the glory. I look forward to worship time together. I missed that and I look forward meeting him. My dears sisters and brothers i pray he help all and give all of him to you all according to your need as he is doing for me and my family. I love you all and God bless you all day and night. Love from Judith
God bless you Sir,
God bless you for this write-up, I am gradually have that feeling of a Jew I am by my adoption by God through Jesus Christ.
Please which congregation or church actually practices the true worship of God like this, refer me to one or direct me on what to do because most times I feel so empty even in the church.
Also can the first fruit be monetized or it must be in fruit or food.
God bless you Sir, please send a copy of my reply to my email.
Sarah
Nigeria
Hi, whenever I read a post from MOP am always happy and feel fulfilled but today as I was reading through and I got to Moses blessings on Joseph I began to weep and shaking I don’t really know what happened. Hmmmm may God’s name be praised forever. Amen
Hello Martha,
Thank you for sharing. I agree that there was something extra special about how Jacob blessed Joseph (and his sons) spiritual and physically. My eyes tear up as I type. The portion that got me close to weeping (not quite) but I definitely teared up while reading this post yesterday was the second sentence in the following excerpt “By doing this one act Jacob then was declaring that these two sons would leave Egypt at some point and journey with their families to the promised land. He made a way for them to be a part of the promised land.” He made a way for them to be a part of the promised land…. That just hit me deep as to his caring nature and felt that it was God also speaking to us and encouraging us that He always makes a way for us. I think of restitution and restoration for individuals who have been mistreated or at risk of being excluded and denied certain privileges. It is true that Joseph was always the favoured child but with the ill-treatment/betrayal by his brothers, libel of Potiphar’s wife, time in prison, and so forth God really blessed him through exaltation by Pharoah and then by his father, Jacob’s blessing! I see parallels in how Our Faithful God, El Emunah treats us as well. Hallelujah!
Shalom!
*slander not libel, lol!
Hi nicole its charlotte , the momemt i was reading your post on the part about Ephraim and Manaseh what came to mind was how in the bible God always is ahead of us since He is The all knowing God and because of His love for us He restores us and wants to bless us., that even when we fail He still wants His good and perfect will His intended purpose why He created us be done .what im trying to say is while i was reading was reminded of Adam and Jesus , Esau and Jacob , Isralites and gentiles
this was how it was reminded to me and their stories . (His like showing us all through out the bible how much He loves us like “hey come and see ive done away with the natural for you dont be afraid ,here’s My Son , He did it all , so you can have all what I have for you” ) Jesus fullfillment of the law, God of second chances ,His mercy new every morning , and many more haleluYAH
Blessed be Your name Jesus
1corinthians 15-45-48 God bless everyone
Amen! That’s exactly what I was thinking too. Perhaps because Joseph was sold by his brothers those 2 children ended up being Egyptian. So the Lord had to use Jacob to put them back into His perfect will. Praise God!