Numbers 10:1

This chapter reports the conclusion of preparations made for the departure of Israel from Sinai, the final thing mentioned being that of procuring the silver trumpets and the explanation of their function (Numbers 10:1-10). The rest of the chapter recounts the actual departure from Sinai (Numbers 10:11-36). Numbers 10:11, therefore, is the beginning of a second major division of Numbers. Whereas, all the previous portion of the book has been devoted to "knitting up the loose ends," as we might say, right here in Numbers 10:11, God gives the command, and Israel begins her march to the Promised Land. It should have been a rather short journey, but it was not. The excursion that began somewhat over a year after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage was to be frustrated by many sad experiences, but at last, a remnant of them would indeed enter Canaan. That space of time covered in these middle chapters (Numbers 10:11 to Numbers 20:13) was about thirty-eight years, counting the year before they started and the year while they were poised for entry into Canaan. This whole period of forty years is that of "The Wanderings," typical of the wilderness of the Church's probation in the current dispensation of the grace of God.

Some have marveled that so little record of those thirty-eight intervening years is given, but there is actually no mystery about this. In the long bitter years after Israel rebelled and were condemned to wait upon the arrival of another generation who would more nearly obey the Lord, what they did during that period of living out of their sentence had little importance. All of the incidents recorded in Numbers were not oriented to the project of telling what that generation did, but to the provision of examples from their sins and mistakes that would have value for Christians in ages to come, as cited in the N.T.:

Now these things happened unto them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. - 1 Corinthians 10:11.

A realization of this fundamental truth is important in any effort to understand the Book of Numbers. The whole history of Israel in the wilderness is not given here, nor are the things mentioned always clear as to times and details of their happening. The minute identification of the places mentioned is in many cases impossible. Persons mentioned are not always fully identified, simply because such identification would have been totally irrelevant to the purpose of God who is the author of this fourth book of Moses. In this very chapter, such details as the exact sound of the various alarms and signals of the trumpets is largely conjectural. Just who was Hobab? Why did the ark go before the people instead of going "in the midst of the column" as indicated earlier? Etc., etc. Our curiosity might have been somewhat satisfied if the Lord had gone into more detail, but the whole purpose of these writings was that of using the mistakes of that generation of Israel who failed, in order that Christians of future ages might avoid their mistakes and avert the penalties that fell upon them:

"Neither be idolaters, as were some of them ... Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed ... Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents ... Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer." - 1 Corinthians 10:7-10.

It is evident that Paul had the Book of Numbers specifically in view when he penned these lines. Therefore, knowing the purpose of these writings, we shall not vex ourselves and our readers with the repetition of endless opinions about where this or that place was actually located, or about exactly how this or that was done. What good could it possibly do us, even if we certainly knew?

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them: and thou shalt use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves unto thee at the door of the tent of meeting. And if they blow but one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall take their journey. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and they shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresseth you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow the trumpets over your burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am Jehovah your God."

"Make thee two trumpets ..." (Numbers 10:2). It may not be supposed that God waited until the day before Israel was to march and then instructed Moses to make these silver trumpets. "It does not follow necessarily that the command was given at this time."[1] The trumpets were already procured, but their production, and the explanation of their use, was explained here.

"Sons of Aaron shall blow ..." (Numbers 10:8). Only the priests were commissioned to blow these trumpets, a prerogative that was to extend throughout their generations forever. Such a connection with the priesthood of Israel could not fail to be used as an excuse to find evidence of a late date. "The word here for trumpet is distinctly a late term and usually a priestly word."[2] The trumpets may not in any manner be supposed as a late invention in Israel. "Elegant specimens of this very kind of trumpet were found interred with the body of Tutankhamen, Egyptian Pharaoh (circa 1350 B.C.)."[3] Josephus says that Moses invented them. He described them thus:

"Each was a little less than a cubit in length, and was made of silver, and was composed of a narrow tube somewhat thicker that a flute; it ended in the form of a bell."[4]

One may also see depictions of these instruments on the Arch of Titus in Rome, as the silver trumpets were part of the loot carried off by the Romans when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70. The priests of our Lord's era still utilized these instruments in their ceremonies, with some remarkable perversions of God's will, as was pointed out by Jesus.

"When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men." - Matthew 6:2.

One finds a tremendous amount of writing with regard to the exact types of signals that meant one thing or another; but, as Gray pointed out: "Whether the verbs (Numbers 10:6,7) mean to blow a series of short staccato notes, or a single long blast, there is no evidence to decide."[5] Keil thought the alarm was given by the short staccato blasts,[6] but Adam Clarke thought that a very long blast was also associated with the alarm.[7] There has been no new breakthrough with regard to the verbs (blow, sound). "These are [~teqia`] (traditionally, long blasts), and [~terua`] (traditionally, short staccato blasts)."[8] Orlinsky says that, "nothing certain has been achieved in the interpretation of these words."[9]

Of far more importance than the exact nature of the signals is the typical import of these silver trumpets with regard to the kingdom of God. Those ancient priests supplied with the silver trumpets and commissioned to warn God's people of their daily duties and of dangers to be encountered are most certainly types of the ministers of Jesus Christ in these present times.

What a need exists today for such a priestly ministry to call the Lord's people and their leaders BACK TO THE BIBLE out of error, priestism, cultism, and apostasy to apprehend the full and free salvation (through the obedience of faith) in Jesus Christ our Lord.[10]

These silver trumpets are to be distinguished from the [~showpar], or ram's horn frequently used in Israel's earlier history. "These were `an entirely new kind of trumpet'."[11] That God himself was the Author of this new device is inherently proved by the words of Jesus Christ himself who used this trumpet to typify something associated with the final Judgment itself:

"Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send forth his angels WITH A GREAT SOUND OF A TRUMPET, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." - Matthew 24:30-31.

In this connection, "The Apostle Paul doubtless had the use of these instruments in mind when he made metaphorical reference to `the trumpet' in 1 Corinthians 14:8; 15:52."[12] Both from the words of Jesus and from those of Paul, we thus learn that some tremendous noise of cosmic and universal dimensions will come at the termination of our age, this fact alone reveals the hand of God Himself in these instructions to Moses, and eliminates any possibility whatever of these trumpets having been in any manner of late improvisation of Jewish priesthood. "The ordinance of the silver trumpets must be perpetuated forever in the preaching of the gospel."[13]

As for the question of why only two trumpets were commanded, Cook supposed that, "It was because, at that time, Aaron had only two sons; and when the number of priest greatly increased at a later date, the number of trumpets was increased; there were seven in the times of Joshua and 120 in the times of Solomon (2 Chronicles 5:12)."[14]