Trumpet

The trumpet is Israel's signal-instrument: a ram's horn or a beaten silver tube, sounded by the priests, that gathers a congregation, marshals an army, sanctifies a feast, crowns a king, and — in prophecy and apocalypse — announces the day of Yahweh and the resurrection of the dead. Its blast is meant to be public and unmistakable; an uncertain note defeats its purpose (1 Cor 14:8).

Materials

Two forms appear. The first is the ram's horn, carried by seven priests around Jericho: "And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark... when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you⁺ hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat" (Josh 6:4-5). The second is the silver pair commanded at Sinai: "Make two trumpets of silver; of beaten work you will make them: and you will use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps" (Num 10:2).

The Mosaic Statute

Numbers 10 prescribes the full range of uses in one passage. One blast summons the princes; a long blast gathers the whole congregation; an "alarm" breaks the camp and signals war. "And the sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets; and they will be to you⁺ for a statute forever throughout your⁺ generations. And when you⁺ go to war in your⁺ land against the adversary that oppresses you⁺, then you⁺ will sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you⁺ will be remembered before Yahweh your⁺ God" (Num 10:8-9). The same verse-block adds feasts and new moons: "Also in the day of your⁺ gladness, and in your⁺ set feasts, and in the beginnings of your⁺ months, you⁺ will blow the trumpets over your⁺ burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifices of your⁺ peace-offerings" (Num 10:10).

At Sinai

The trumpet that introduced the silver pair at Numbers 10 had already sounded — exceedingly loud, and not by human breath — at the giving of the law. "When the trumpet sounds long, they will come up to the mount" (Exod 19:13). On the third day "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceedingly loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled... And when the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice" (Exod 19:16, 19). The recapitulation in Exodus 20:18 lists this trumpet alongside the thunderings, the lightnings, and the smoking mountain among the things the people perceived. Hebrews 12:19 looks back to "the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] those who heard entreated that no word more should be spoken to them."

Mustering Soldiers

A leader who blew a trumpet was raising an army. Phinehas carried "the trumpets for the alarm in his hand" to Midian (Num 31:6). Ehud "blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him" (Jdg 3:27). When the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Gideon, "he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him" (Jdg 6:34). Saul "blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear" (1 Sam 13:3). Joab uses the trumpet three times in Samuel — to halt pursuit (2 Sam 2:28; 18:16) and to dismiss the army from Abel (2 Sam 20:22). The same instrument that summons can also rebel: Absalom posts spies through the tribes saying, "As soon as you⁺ hear the sound of the trumpet, then you⁺ will say, Absalom is king in Hebron" (2 Sam 15:10), and Sheba son of Bichri "blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David" (2 Sam 20:1). Centuries later Nehemiah keeps a trumpeter at his side on the wall: "in whatever place you⁺ hear the sound of the trumpet, resort⁺ there to us; our God will fight for us" (Neh 4:20).

Gideon's Three Hundred

Gideon's campaign turns the trumpet from muster-call into battle itself. He divides his three hundred into three companies "and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers" (Jdg 7:16). His order is staged: "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you⁺ blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, For Yahweh and for Gideon" (Jdg 7:18). At the changing of the watch, "the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they cried, A sword of Yahweh and of Gideon" (Jdg 7:20). The blast itself is the weapon: "And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man's sword against his fellow soldier" (Jdg 7:22).

At Jericho

The same logic — trumpet as weapon — frames the fall of Jericho. After six days of silent procession the wall falls on the long ram's-horn blast: "So the people shouted, and [the priests] blew the trumpets... and the wall fell down flat" (Josh 6:20). The seven priests with seven trumpets of rams' horns precede the ark all seven days (Josh 6:8, 13).

In War

Battle-narrative is saturated with trumpet imagery. The warhorse of Job 39 "swallows the ground with fierceness and rage; Neither does he believe that it is the voice of the trumpet... As often as the trumpet [sounds] he says, Aha! And he smells the battle far off" (Job 39:24-25). At Mount Zemaraim, Abijah's priests sound their war-trumpets against Jeroboam: "his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you⁺... they cried to Yahweh, and the priests sounded with the trumpets" (2 Chr 13:12, 14). The prophets hear the trumpet as the alarm of war: Jeremiah cries, "you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war" (Jer 4:19), and again, "blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north" (Jer 6:1). The watchman's call is refused: "Listen to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not listen" (Jer 6:17). The remnant who flee to Egypt go in search of a place "where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet" (Jer 42:14). Against Babylon the prophet commands, "Set⁺ up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations" (Jer 51:27). Ezekiel describes the futile muster: "They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all their multitude" (Eze 7:14). Amos hears Moab "die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet" (Am 2:2), and asks, "Will the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid?" (Am 3:6). Zephaniah names the day of Yahweh "a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements" (Zep 1:16). Paul takes up the same image to argue for intelligible speech: "if the trumpet gives an uncertain voice, who will prepare himself for war?" (1 Cor 14:8).

Warning the People

Out of the war-trumpet comes the watchman's office. "If, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people; then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head" (Eze 33:3-4). The watchman who fails to blow is liable in the warned man's place: "his blood I will require at the watchman's hand" (Eze 33:6). Joel translates the same trumpet to the eschatological alarm: "Blow⁺ the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Yahweh comes" (Joel 2:1).

The Jubilee

On the Day of Atonement of the fiftieth year, the trumpet inaugurates release. "Then you will send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement you⁺ will send abroad the trumpet throughout all your⁺ land" (Lev 25:9). The blast is itself the proclamation of liberty: "And you⁺ will hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants: it will be a jubilee to you⁺; and you⁺ will return every man to his possession" (Lev 25:10). Land sold reverts in the jubilee (Lev 25:28); the land's price is reckoned by it (Lev 27:17); the daughters of Zelophehad's inheritance turns on it (Num 36:4); even Ezekiel's prince must reckon a slave-gift to the year of liberty (Eze 46:17). Isaiah projects the trumpet forward to a final regathering: "in that day, that a great trumpet will be blown; and they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem" (Isa 27:13).

At the Ark and at the Coronation

When David brought up the ark, trumpets were in the procession: "And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets" (1 Chr 13:8); "all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals" (1 Chr 15:28); "David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet" (2 Sam 6:15). The same instrument that brought up the ark crowned the king. David's order for Solomon: "blow⁺ the trumpet, and say, [Long] live King Solomon" (1 Kgs 1:34); the order is carried out: "they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, [Long] live King Solomon" (1 Kgs 1:39). Jehu's officers spread their garments under him "and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king" (2 Kgs 9:13). At Joash's coronation, "the captains and the trumpets [were] by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets" (2 Kgs 11:14).

At the Temple

Solomon's dedication is a trumpet liturgy. "A hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets... when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, [saying,] For he is good, for his loving-kindness [endures] forever" (2 Chr 5:12-13). After the dedication sacrifices, "the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood" (2 Chr 7:6). Trumpets stand before the ark in the standing temple-roster (1 Chr 15:24; 16:42). The festal command of the Psalter — "Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast-day. For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob" (Ps 81:3-4) — repeats the Mosaic prescription. Jehoshaphat's army returns from Yahweh's victory "with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of Yahweh" (2 Chr 20:28). When the foundation of the second temple is laid, "they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals" (Ezra 3:10). At the dedication of the rebuilt wall the priests' sons go up with trumpets (Neh 12:35, 41).

Yahweh as Trumpet-Blower

The figure can run upward. Yahweh himself sounds the trumpet at his theophany of judgement: "And Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go forth as the lightning; and the Sovereign Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south" (Zech 9:14).

The Apocalyptic Trumpets

The New Testament concentrates the trumpet on resurrection and parousia. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed" (1 Cor 15:52). "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first" (1 Thess 4:16). John on Patmos hears "behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet" (Rev 1:10), and again "the first voice that I heard, [a voice] as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up here" (Rev 4:1). Seven angels then take up the seven trumpets: "And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound" (Rev 8:6); each blast brings a plague (Rev 8:7-12), and the eagle of mid-heaven warns of "the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound" (Rev 8:13). The fifth and sixth trumpets release the locust-army from the abyss and loose the four angels at the Euphrates (Rev 9:1, 13-14). The seventh is announced — "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God" (Rev 10:7) — and then sounded: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he will reign forever and ever" (Rev 11:15). The instrument that toppled Jericho, gathered the camp, crowned Solomon, and called Israel to repentance closes the Bible by announcing the kingdom.