The Sixth month on the Scriptural calendar is the final month before the Fall Moadim start. (The last 4 Appointed times (Moadim) are the Fall Appointments that we have with YHVH ~ 'Fall' as in Yisrael's Fall season). This Sixth Month on the Scriptural calendar is also called Elul since Babylonian exile. The word "Elul" (aleph, lamed, vav, lamed), the after-captivity name of this month, forms the well- known acronym “Ani Ldodi Vdodi Li” which means "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine". (Song of Songs 6:3). Elul normally corresponds on the Gregorian calendar with August/September.
Fall Moadim (Appointed times):
Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets or Day of the Awakening blast),
Yom HaKippurim, (Day of the coverings also known as Day of Atonement)
Sukkot (the 7 day Festival of Booths or Tabernacles)
And Shemeni Atzereth (the Eighth Day assembly that falls on the eighth day at the end of the seven days of Sukkot.) This Eighth Day Assembly (Shemeni Atzereth) is a one- day Appointment/Festival that speaks so beautifully of the "eighth day" (which at the same time is the First day of a new beginning) that will come after the Millennium (Millennium= the seventh thousandth year which gets portrayed beautifully by Sukkot) and will mark the new beginning of eternity.
Yom Teruah falls on the first day of the Seventh Scriptural month. (Normally it corresponds with somewhere during Sept or Oct on the Gregorian calendar) The Sixth Month (Elul) begins thus 29/30 days before Yom Teruah and 40 days before Yom Kippur. Jewish tradition treats this entire 40-day period as a time of spiritual preparation and renewal leading up to Yom Kippur.
Traditional services throughout the 29 or 30 days of this month of ELUL include blowing the shofar every day in the morning (the Jews don't blow it on Shabbat and also not on the last day of this Sixth Hebrew month, in anticipation for the start of Yom Teruah) as also readings from the Tehillim/Psalms. It is a good tradition and something that we can apply too to our personal prayer lives. (Not a commandment, so you don't have to do it.) It can be a blessing to read the entire Book of Tehillim/Psalms during this Sixth month though. If you read 4-5 average psalms a day, or 1-2 of the longer ones, you can make it through the entire book.
Some other interesting points
It was most likely (possibly) during the month of Elul that the ministry of Yochanan (John) the Immerser (Baptist) reached its peak. Possibly Yahshua was baptized on Elul 1 and he ended his 40 day fast on Yom HaKippurim. This is also the time that according to tradition, Moshe fasted 40 days the second time. It was on Yom HaKippurim (also known as Yom Kippur) that the Jubilee Year was announced every fifty years as stated in Vayiqra/Lev 25:8-10,
Traditional services throughout the 29 or 30 days of this month of ELUL include blowing the shofar every day in the morning (the Jews don't blow it on Shabbat and also not on the last day of this Sixth Hebrew month, in anticipation for the start of Yom Teruah) as also readings from the Tehillim/Psalms. It is a good tradition and something that we can apply too to our personal prayer lives. (Not a commandment, so you don't have to do it.) It can be a blessing to read the entire Book of Tehillim/Psalms during this Sixth month though. If you read 4-5 average psalms a day, or 1-2 of the longer ones, you can make it through the entire book.
Some other interesting points
It was most likely (possibly) during the month of Elul that the ministry of Yochanan (John) the Immerser (Baptist) reached its peak. Possibly Yahshua was baptized on Elul 1 and he ended his 40 day fast on Yom HaKippurim. This is also the time that according to tradition, Moshe fasted 40 days the second time. It was on Yom HaKippurim (also known as Yom Kippur) that the Jubilee Year was announced every fifty years as stated in Vayiqra/Lev 25:8-10,
"Count off seven sabbaths of years — seven times
seven years — so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of
forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day
of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) sound the trumpet
throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty
throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee
for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his
own clan."
We read in Luke 4 what happened at the end of Yahshua's
forty day fast (the fast possibly ended at Yom Kippur) :
"When the devil had completed every temptation, he
departed from him until another time. Yahshua returned in the power of the
Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding
area. He taught in their synagogues, being esteemed by all. He came to
Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet
Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the scroll, and found the place where it
was written, 'The Spirit of YHVH is on me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to
proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver
those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of YHVH.' He
closed the scroll, gave it back to the shammash, and sat down. The eyes of all
in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, 'Today, this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'" (Lk 4:13-21)
“The acceptable year of YHVH” speaks of a Jubilee year.
A Season of Repentance and Intimacy
Elul (the Sixtth Hebrew Month) is the
month of preparation to meet the King and the Bridegroom. One of the
interpretations of the after Babilonian exile Hebrew name ELUL like we mentioned above is that it stands for "Ani l'dodi,
v'dodi li" "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is
mine." (SS 6:3 NKJV) and it speaks of a time to seek intimacy with the Bridegroom
to be sheltered in his love. Therefore Tehillim/Psalm 27 is traditionally read each morning.
This is specifically relevant in view of the fact that
prophetically it is during the “last week” (last seven years of great
tribulation) of Elul, before Yom Teruah, that the anti-messiah will be
revealed. He will bring a false peace to the world and great tribulation for the called out ones. It says in Matthew 24:29-31, “And immediately after the distress[1]
of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its
light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken. Footnote:1Or pressure.“And then the sign of the Son of Aḏam
shall appear in the heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Aḏam coming on the clouds of the heaven with
power and much esteem. “And He shall send His messengers with a great sound of
a trumpet, and they shall gather together His chosen ones from the four winds,
from one end of the heavens to the other”. Concerning the "Last shofar"and the "Great shofar" some belief that it will be the last shofar that will sound with Yom Teruah and the "Great shofar"with Yom haKippurim.
It is in preparation for "the distress of those
days" that Tehilllim/Psalm 27 is proclaimed each morning during
the month of Elul. It is most appropriate.
Bringing ourselves before YHVH
We are living in serious times and need to trust our Father YHVH to help us prepare our hearts to draw closer to Him daily and to ask the Ruach (the Spirit) of YHVH to search our hearts and show us if there is anything that is not pleasing to the Father. We need to make ourselves ready ("the bride will make herself ready") for the coming of the Messiah Yahshua who will come on the clouds with a future Yom Teruah (the Day of the great awakening blast, the last shofar) and during this time we are more aware of the fact that Yahshua is coming back and we need to be ready.
Interceding for Yisrael
May we also realize the seriousness of interceding for Yisrael at this time more than ever before.
During the month of Elul we are looking forward to the last Fall -Appointed Times (Fall as in the Fall of Yisrael) with an expectancy in our hearts. We are once again going to rehearse the End time scenario from Yom Teruah leading up to Sukkot. (Sukkot speaks of the Millennium reign when Yahshua will tabernacle with us to rule and reign from Yerushalayim) and then the Eighth day assembly (Shemeni Atzereth) which speaks of the new beginning at the end of the Millennial reign of Yahshua. (So Shemini Atzereth portrays the beginning of the Renewed heaven and earth and the Renewed Yerushalayim that will come down out of heaven, the reign will be handed over to Father YHVH and the booth of YHVH and the Lamb that will be with us for eternity. (See especially Rev 21:1-3 and I Cor 15:23-28).