Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, • Joel 2:15

The sound of a trumpet herald is recognized by all as the sound of announcement or alarm. The trumpet is actually used as an instrument of war. From ancient times to the present day, armies have used a horn or trumpet to send messages above the sound of battle. The sounding of reveille (in America it is pronounced ‘revelee’) or “taps” is the beginning and ending of a day. Taps is also sounded to memorialize those  who have fallen and passed away. The sound of a charge is a special fanfare as is the sound of retreat. An air raid siren or a civil defense alarm is really the sound of a trumpet or horn. Trucks and cars use horns to warn or complain of a traffic situation. Ships use horns for warning and when sailing in the fog. Old trains used to sound a shrill whistle but now they only sound a horn at a crossing.

The tonality of a trumpet or a horn is able to pierce its surroundings, to be heard above all other sounds. Something about its tone is recognized and distinguished from all others. It is no surprise then to discover that the Lord has used the sounds of the trumpet and the horn to communicate many aspects of our faith.

In fact, the Lord has instructed us to observe the Feast of Trumpets, a day of sounding trumpets (Yom Teruah). On the first day of Tishrei in the late summer, the Lord calls us to join Him in a Holy Convocation (an assembly) to hear the sound of the shofar (ram’s horn).

Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.” • Leviticus 23:24

Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets. • Numbers 29:1

The sounding of shofars and trumpets begins the ten days of awe leading to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). It is said that the last trumpet is sounded on the Day of Atonement concluding what was begun on the Feast of Trumpets.

The Feast of Trumpets is also referred to as Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). It seems paradoxical since the first day of Nisan in the springtime is called the head of months, but the first day of Tishrei is called the turn of the year. Trumpets are sounded to begin not only the new year, but a time of repentance (beginning anew again).

The Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets is a time to sound all of the blasts of the horn, which include the tekiah, teruah, shevarim, and the tekiah hagadol (also known as tekiah gedolah). The tekiah is a short two-note blast; it designates a call to attention or the sound to gather the people. The teruah is a wavering tone similar to three tekiahs together. The word "teruah" is sounding out phonetically the wavering tone. The teruah is a reminder of the cry of a widow or an orphan. We are reminded of those who need our help as we hear this trumpet blast. The shevarim is a series of short staccato blasts (usually nine in number) that is a call to battle. It is like the General Quarters alarm for a battle. The final blast of the trumpet is the tekiah hagadol (the great blast). It is like a tekiah but it is held in a long blow as long as the trumpeter can give. It does not drift off at the end but instead hits an even higher note at the conclusion. This blast is considered to be the trumpet of the Lord. This is the blast that was heard at Mount Sinai when the Lord gave the Ten Commandments and the Torah. It is also expected that this blast will be at the end of the ages when the Lord returns with the resurrection/rapture of the saints.

There is a distinction with the Lord between trumpets and horns. Trumpets are made of metal to be instruments. A horn is the actual horn of an animal hollowed out to form a horn for sounding. Moses was instructed to make two silver trumpets along with the furnishings for the tabernacle. These were the trumpets of the temple. The ram’s horn dates back much earlier. The ram that was caught in the thicket by his horns was the actual sacrifice offered by Abraham and Isaac. Thus, the sounding of a ram’s horn is an echo of that offering.

Today, the sound of a ram’s horn is well known among messianic brethren.

Trumpets in the Temple

Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out. • Numbers 10:2

In the wilderness, beginning with the tabernacle, sounding the silver trumpets is the most ancient evidence available explaining how trumpets summoned and directed the people. While both trumpets would summon all the people to the tent of meeting, a single trumpet was used to summon the leaders of the tribes. Depending on which flank was involved, a different trumpet call would alarm the camp. The job of sounding these trumpets was given to the priests.

The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations. • Numbers 10:8

The very earliest festivals also began with trumpet calls as part of the festival.

Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the Lord your God. • Numbers 10:10

By the time the permanent temple location in Jerusalem was determined, King David assembled the materials as well as the musicians and their instruments for worship in the temple in preparation of building the temple.

And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets. • 1 Chronicles 13:8

Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres. • 1 Chronicles 15:28

We can only imagine what the musical part of the worship was like in the temple. King David was himself a musician and sought to enhance and promote music in the temple. By the time that King David’s son Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, music was a central part of the proceedings with the Lord’s participation.

…in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, "He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting," then the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, • 2 Chronicles 5:13

The Psalms are worship tunes used in the temple. While we do not know the melodies that were played, we do have the inspiring words left to us. One in particular addresses how the trumpet and the shofar were dynamically used in the temple service.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. • Psalms 98:6

There is another reference to trumpets in the temple but from a metaphoric point of view. The giving of money (terumah) was also common in the temple service but it was done in a unique way. They did not pass a plate or hat; there was no special ceremony to make a monetary offering; this type of giving was to be made privately and discretely. This was accomplished by a set of temple trumpets placed in the Court of Women to allow passersby to give their gifts in a discrete way. The containers that received these gifts were made of clay, shaped like the bell of a trumpet. The base was large and round at the bottom rising up to a narrow neck at the top. Sitting on the ground, they looked like large trumpets standing upright from the bell. They were thus called the temple trumpets. The narrow opening at the top would allow a giver to insert his gift, but the narrow neck prevented a hand from reaching further to retrieve anything. However, not everyone offered their terumah in a discrete way. Some made a spectacle of their gifts to draw attention to themselves. The Messiah and His disciples discussed this:

When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. • Matthew 6:2

In the Hebrew, Yeshua was playing on the phonics of the two words terumah (offering) and teruah (trumpet). “When you give a terumah don’t pick up the temple trumpets and try to sound a teruah.” In the actual language, I am sure they had a chuckle to go along with the lesson on haughtiness, but this indicates how significant the subject of trumpets was in the temple service.

There is another metaphor of sorts associated with the “horn” (shofar) in the temple service. Again, a horn is an instrument made from the horn of an animal. It was sounded to proclaim announcements and warnings. Shofars were carried and sounded in front of a procession of the Ark of the Covenant. But God also instructed that the altar was to have horns placed on the corners.

And you shall make its [the fire altar] horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. • Exodus 27:2

Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit long and a cubit wide, square, and two cubits high; its horns were of one piece with it. • Exodus 37:25

These horns were placed both on the fire altar and the golden altar. While the fire altar for sacrifices was outside, the golden altar of incense was inside the sanctuary. These horns did not serve any great function except to make the surface of the altar to be distinct from any point of view. There are minor references to a man clinging to the altar by the horns or binding something to the altar by way of the horns, but none of these truly explain the command from the Lord to have horns on the altar. We are left with this interesting metaphor that the horns of the altar sound the sacrifice offering (terumah) before the Lord.

A horn was also an ideal container for anointing oil in the temple.

Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” • 1 Kings 1:39

Shofars and the horns used by Israel were never bulls’ horns. Most shofars are made from the curved horns of an ibex ram. The reason dates back to the sin of the golden calf in the wilderness. Therefore, Israel does not use the horns of a bull—it is a reminder of their previous mistake. A bull horn was never to be sounded in the temple.

Trumpets as an Instrument of War

And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from your enemies. • Numbers 10:9

In the wilderness, the silver trumpets were the alarm signal for men to assemble at the perimeter of the camp. It was also a request from the people for the Lord to go out to face their enemies. This latter statement speaks to the spiritual aspect of godly courage.

Anytime that men must assemble to go to battle, two very powerful elements face each other—fear and courage. The sounding of a trumpet in battle is supposed to make a soldier’s courage stronger than his fear. It is also used against the enemy to cause fear to be greater than his courage to fight. In ancient times, and still to this day, the sound of a trumpet charge is bone-chilling if you are the target of the charge. We have a profound example of this in the well-known story of Joshua’s battle for Jericho. As you will recall, Israel’s warriors walked around the walls of Jericho seven days, with seven priests blowing shofars until the seventh day when the walls came tumbling down.

Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. • Joshua 6:4

So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and it came about, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. • Joshua 6:20

There is no question that trumpets played a major part in the capture of Jericho. Some have said that the resonance of the trumpets and the vibrations of the walking may have weakened the wall structure for the collapse, but this has never been duplicated. Another battle between the Israelites and Midianites is much more understandable. It, too, involved trumpets.

The Lord instructed Gideon to assemble a very small force (by ancient standards) to fight the Midianites. He used only three hundred men and armed each of them with a trumpet and a lamp. In ancient times, it was common for a group of armed men to have one trumpet and one lamp for every thousand soldiers. Therefore, Gideon’s 300 men in the nighttime appeared to be 300,000 troops.

And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. • Judges 7:16

Gideon then instructed the men to divide themselves into three groups surrounding the camp of the Midianites.

When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp, and say, “For the Lord and for Gideon.” • Judges 7:18

The appropriate time came for Gideon’s plan to be implemented.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” • Judges 7:19-20

In the darkness, the surprised Midianites thought they were surrounded by 300,000 troops. In their panicked attempts to escape, they attacked each other in the darkness, resulting in a great victory for Gideon. The sounding of the trumpets was crucial. Not only did it awaken the enemy but it incited panic and fear in their hearts. The Midianites were destroyed by their own fear. This same fear is referred to by the prophet Amos.

If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it? • Amos 3:6

This is the same “fear” referenced for a future battle to come: the Day of the Lord.

A day of trumpet and battle cry, against the fortified cities and the high corner towers. Zephaniah 1:16

Trumpets for Warning or Announcement

The sounding of a trumpet is not always intended to incite fear. More often, the sounding of the trumpet is to raise awareness of impending danger or to announce an event. This is the nature of the instructions given by the prophet Ezekiel when he explained the duties of the watchman to those who would hear his warning.

…then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand. • Ezekiel 33:4-6

In this instruction, the watchman is told that he must sound the trumpet alarm to warn the people. If he fails to sound the alarm, he will be held accountable. If he does sound the alarm, the accountability falls to those who did not heed the alarm.

Trumpets are also used to make announcements or to draw attention to something happening or being said. This is the case for the Apostle John in his account in the book of The Revelation.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, • Revelation 1:10

Many believe that the revelator in the book of The Revelation was Yeshua the Messiah. When John turned, he saw the Messiah. But on closer examination, it is clear that the angel who showed John those things was not the Messiah Himself, he was an angel who had the voice like a trumpet, meaning that his voice commanded John’s attention, just as a trumpet gets our attention.

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” • Revelation 4:1

This is not the only reference to trumpets in the book of The Revelation. This is only an example of how the meaning of trumpets commanded John’s attention and our resulting attention to what John wrote in the book.

Trumpets in the Book of The Revelation

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. • Revelation 8:2-6

The book of The Revelation lists three major groupings of God’s judgments: seals with four horsemen, trumpet judgments, and bowls of plagues. In this article we are concerned with the trumpet judgments.

The seven trumpet judgments are as follows:

1.              A third of trees and all grass is burned

2.              A mountain is thrown into the sea with a third of the sea destroyed

3.              A star falls destroying a third of fresh waters

4.              A third of the atmosphere is darkened from the sun, moon, and stars

5.              First Woe: A star strikes the earth causing darkness and demons

6.              Second Woe: the death of a third of mankind in a single hour, day, month, and year

7.              Third Woe: Wrath and Reward—the Day of the Lord.

In simple terms, the trumpets of Revelations are called the one-third judgments. But before we leave this list, we should take note of how the sixth angel is sounded.

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. • Revelation 9:13-18

This is a comparable judgement to the fourth seal where one-fourth of mankind dies as result of war and pestilence. This judgment, however, comes upon mankind in one hour. There is only one weapon that can produce such destruction—thermonuclear war. Did you take note of how the judgment is first pronounced?

… from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God

As suggested earlier, the horns of the altar are used to make a sound. They are not just ornamental in appearance.

The last three trumpet judgments are characterized as the “three woes” for added emphasis. They are heralded by an eagle in flight.

And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” • Revelation 8:13

There are very few things in this world that compare to the sound of a trumpet for its ability to make an announcement. One is the territorial roar of a lion (heard up to five miles away) and the screech of an eagle high in the sky (heard from great distances).

The Trumpet of God

At Mount Sinai, Moses was instructed to prepare the people for the Lord to come down on the mountain and speak to the people. The Lord used the sound of a ram’s horn both to gather and to warn the people at the same time. It was imperative that the people not touch any part of the mountain, but to only assemble at the base.

No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. • Exodus 19:13

When God spoke from the top of Mount Sinai, many rocks split and fell from the mountain, thus the warning against touching or being close to the mountain. The book of Hebrews references this event and gives emphasis to the sounding of the trumpet along with God’s actual spoken words.

…and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them. • Hebrews 12:19

This is the context for the prophet Joel to prepare us for the Lord’s return and His coming down to us.

Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near, • Joel 2:1

When we remember the story of the shofar and the voice of God at Mount Sinai, we tend to under-appreciate what really happened. We tend to imagine an angel blowing the trumpet and then God speaking the ten commandments. However, Scripture elsewhere tries to give us a better understanding. First, it wasn’t an angel who sounded the trumpet; it was the Lord Himself! The account of Exodus does not say that any angel blew the trumpet; instead, the trumpet is sounded with lightning, thunder, and quaking. The Scripture says that the trumpet grew louder and louder.

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. • Exodus 19:16-20

The trumpet sounds kept the people from advancing onto the mountain. Moses went up and came down to ensure that no one was on the mountain. Then God spoke the ten commandments. The sound of the trumpet and God’s voice completely terrified the people. They were full of fear for their lives.

At the end of the ages the Lord will return in similar fashion, with the sound of a trumpet and God’s voice (the seven thunders). The prophet Zechariah is very specific about how the Lord will accomplish His return, just as when He came down to Mount Sinai. Zechariah clearly says that God Himself will be blowing the trumpet at His return.

Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord God will blow the trumpet, and will march in the storm winds of the south. • Zechariah 9:14

The Messiah’s description of this same event states that the angels will be doing something else while the trumpet is blown, thus leaving the question, who is blowing the great trumpet?

And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. • Matthew 24:31

The Apostle Paul repeats this sequence.

…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. • 1 Corinthians 15:52

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. • 1 Thessalonians 4:16

What makes a trumpet to be the Trumpet of God? You could also ask what makes a lamb to be the Lamb of God? It is obvious, the Lamb of God is the offering of God Himself. In the same way, the Trumpet of God is the trumpet blown by God Himself.

The Little Horn of the Anti-messiah

Before we leave this subject completely, we need to address one last point about the subject of trumpets and horns. Our enemy, Satan, likes to imitate and steal the glory of the Lord for himself. The same can be said for the symbolism and use of trumpets and horns. In fact, the prophet Daniel characterizes the work of the anti-messiah as a little horn springing up to make trouble.

While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts. • Daniel 7:8

The foremost prophecy of the anti-messiah deals with how he comes to power. He apparently rises in the midst of ten kings, defeating three while seven relinquish their power to him.

As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. • Daniel 7:24

The book of The Revelation repeats this prophecy but adds a bit more detail. It details a riddle about ten horns (ten kings) with seven heads (seven historical kings) serving as the governmental base for the little horn (interpreted to be the beast) to rise out of to power.

And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. • Revelation 17:12

Trumpets and horns are used as fanfares to announce kings. The anti-messiah has his own fanfare of sorts to announce his arrival (the ten kings). I am certain that when the anti-messiah comes to power, then we will be affected by his trumpets. They may even instill a sense of fear and awe within us. That is when the words of the Psalmist will have their greatest effect.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. • Psalms 18:2

The horn of my salvation is the one He sounds Himself. We sound trumpets and shofars now to prepare people for the trumpet that will be sounded. In that day, the Lord will sound the Trumpet of God.

This year, as you approach the season of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles, I encourage you to participate fully. Give attention to when the shofar is sounded it has much to say to us.