Uses of the Trumpet

Referenced from Feast of Trumpets — the Feast gathers all of these into one blast, but its own note is the announcement of the King.

The trumpet (the ram's horn shofar, and the silver chatzotzerah of Numbers 10) is put to several distinct uses across Scripture. All verses KJV.

1. War — the alarm and the charge

Numbers 10:9

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Joshua 6:5 (Jericho)

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

Joshua 6:20

So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

Judges 7:20 (Gideon's three hundred)

And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

Judges 7:22

And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Nehemiah 4:20

In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

2. The watchman's warning — signal and alarm

Ezekiel 33:3–6

³ If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
⁴ Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
⁶ But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

Amos 3:6

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Hosea 8:1

Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

Jeremiah 6:1

O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

3. Coronation of the king

(Often the war-alarm's cousin — a king raised up in conflict.)

1 Kings 1:34 (Solomon)

And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

1 Kings 1:39

And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

2 Kings 9:13 (Jehu)

Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.

2 Kings 11:14 (Joash)

And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.

4. Announcing the coming of the LORD — theophany and the day of the LORD

Exodus 19:16 (Sinai — God descends)

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Exodus 19:19

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

Zechariah 9:14

And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

Joel 2:1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.

Zephaniah 1:16

A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

5. Calling the assembly — gathering the congregation

Numbers 10:2–3

² Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
³ And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Numbers 10:7

But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm.

Joel 2:15–16

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
¹⁶ Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

6. Breaking camp — the journey onward

Numbers 10:5–6

⁵ When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward.
⁶ When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

7. Bringing up the ark — "God is gone up"

2 Samuel 6:15

So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

Psalm 47:5

God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

8. Worship and praise before the LORD

Psalm 150:3

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

2 Chronicles 5:12–13

¹² Also the Levites which were the singers... being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:
¹³ It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD... that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD.

9. New moons and appointed feasts — the memorial

Numbers 10:10

Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 23:24

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

Psalm 81:3

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

10. Jubilee and the Day of Atonement — proclaiming liberty

Leviticus 25:9–10

⁹ Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
¹⁰ And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

11. The last trump — resurrection and the gathering of the elect

1 Corinthians 15:52

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Matthew 24:31

And he shall send 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.

12. Judgment — the seven trumpets

Revelation 8:2

And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

Revelation 8:6

And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Revelation 11:15 (the seventh trumpet)

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

When the Feast of Trumpets sounds, every one of these meanings gathers at once: the alarm, the watchman's cry, the king crowned, the LORD coming, the people assembled, liberty proclaimed, the dead raised. See Feast of Trumpets.