Numbers 10:9: “And when you go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.”
So what do we learn from this verse? If all Scripture has some meaning and value to us there must be some lesson we can learn from this. Sounds like you should take a trumpet to work and when the boss or a co-worker starts to oppress you, pull out your trumpet and blow it in their face.
What do you think of when you see the word trumpet? You think of the shofar. For some reason Christians get all excited about over purchasing a shofar and going around blowing it in worship services and prayer meetings. I remember attending an early morning prayer meeting where someone brought a shofar and started to blow it whatever reason. It usually picked the moment when I found myself in deep meditative prayer, quiet before God, relaxed, at peace, and then suddenly this blasted horn goes off sending me three feet in the air. I mean that’s hard on your heart. In studying Jewish literature I found that there is one reason and one reason only for sounding the shofar.
But let’s back up. Note Numbers 10 is not referring to a shofar. Verse 2: “Make you two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shall you make them and they shall be unto you for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to set forward.” Well that sounds like the reason for the shofar doesn’t it? Yet, the construction is not like a shofar. The word for trumpet here is chasoseroth not shofar. This is not a rams horn. This is an instrument made of beaten silver. It comes from the root word chasar which means a reed or grass. It is a reed instrument. As you read this chapter you find it is used to call the congregation together to the door of the tent of the meeting, or to call the leaders of the tribes together, or to move forward. The KJV translates teru’ah as sounding an alarm. Actually the root word is ru’ah which means to make a loud noise or send a signal. In fact as this word takes on a slightly different form it differentiates between a short sound and a long sound. It really has nothing to do with sounding an alarm. The call from the silver, reed instruments was meant to arouse joy. It was to make a sound that was the opposite of the shofar. Thus, when the shofar sounds, it is meant to have the opposite effect.
The shofar is sounded for only one primary reason – to arouse the fear of the Lord, to call one to reverence before God. Not to scare the living daylights out of someone who is attempted to be reverent before God. To you shofar blowers, at least give some warning before you start blasting away.
Anyway, back to our mystery in Numbers 10:9: As the sages make it clear that the reed instruments are meant to arouse joy, why sound is khgfoiuyit when your adversary starts to oppress you? Why sound it before going to war where you face possible injury or death. You would think that would be the time to sound the shofar, yet God commands Israel to sound the reed instruments. One rabbi called it “Sweetening the harsh judgments at their source.” In other words the harsh judgments are mitigated at its source with the lovingkindness of God. Remember the battle cry of Jehosaphat and David? “God is good (tov – in harmony with us) and His lovingkindness endures forever.” You get more harmony with a reed instrument than with a shofar.
Next time your boss or co-worker begins to oppress you, no don’t blow a trumpet in his face, but just imagine the soothing sounds and harmony of reed instruments, smile and know that your are tov, in harmony with God and the harsh judgment coming against you is being mitigated by the lovingkindness of God which endures forever. The trial is for the moment, but the lovingkindness of God is forever.
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