“‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; it is a day of blowing the shofar for you.” (Numbers 29:1).
Israel was commanded to gather once a year ‘on a day and hour unknown’ and blow the trumpet or shofar. Could it be that they (and we) might have the need to recognize and understand the sounds of the trumpet so we can be prepared for the event represented by the sound?
Medium length blast with low to high pitch transition. Hard, short push on low pitch, slight sustain on high pitch, sometimes ended with a short, pushing higher pitched burst.
At the sound of the Tekiah today, Jews and non-Jews around the world gather together to celebrate Yahweh’s Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah.
This was probably the sound used at the Battle of Jericho in Joshua 6:5.
“Then they are to blow a long blast on the shofar. On hearing the sound of the shofar, all the people are to shout as loudly as they can; and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Then the people are to go up into the city, each one straight from where he stands.”
Three blasts each low-to-high pitch sounded three in a row.
The second blast of the shofar, the Shevarim, is the call to repentance.
This is probably how the shofar was sounded as a call to repentance in Isaiah 58:1 because of the ‘brokenness’ of the blasts signifying the need for ‘brokenness’ in the hearts of the people.
“Shout out loud! Don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a shofar! Proclaim to my people what rebels they are to the house of Jacob their sins.”
From the ‘call to repentance’ has come forth a tradition called Tashlish. It is a hands-on way to express the magnitude of what the Father has done for us through His Son, Yeshua.
Consists of rapid one-second pitch bursts in a staccato fashion. There should be nine or more bursts to make a Teruah.
After repentance, there are two more shofar blasts. The next one is a call to a time of testing or warfare. It is interesting to note that the name of this Appointed Time is called “Day of Teruah”. Understanding that teruah is the shofar sound for warfare, are we prepared to hear its sound?
There are two types of warfare. There is physical warfare. In Matthew 24, Yeshua says that before he returns, kingdom will rise against kingdom and nation will rise against nation. This is what we see in the world today. Kingdoms are what we consider nations like Iraq, Iran, China, Pakistan, the United States and Argentina. Nations could be thought of as smaller nationalities within kingdoms. We watch these events unfold between races – blacks, whites, Asians – and religious factions – Shiites, Christians, Sunis – within kingdoms and we call them civil wars. For most of us, we watch these wars through news media, but Yeshua warns they will be a sign of his return – everywhere.
This is probably the type of sound that was heard when Gideon attacked the Midianites in Judges 7:22.
“When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.”
It is also most likely the sound that will be heard with the ‘Day of the Lord’ begins according to the prophecy in Joel 2:1-2.
“Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!”
Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick fog; a great and mighty horde is spreading like blackness over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, nor will there ever be again, not even after the years of many generations.”
The second type of warfare is spiritual. We, as believers, know that we are always faced with spiritual warfare within our souls. Paul explains this battle in Romans 7 as between the carnal man and the spiritual man. The carnal man can’t (and won’t) obey the spiritual Torah because he has a carnal heart of stone while the born again spiritual man desires to obey the spiritual Torah because he has a new circumcised heart of flesh. The flesh man and spiritual man each fight to have their own way. In this way, spiritual warfare follows repentance as our enemy, Satan, does not want us to have victory over sin so we can live a victorious life through the Spirit to the glory of God.
Similar to the Tekiah, only the high note is sustained for the longest possible breath. It is also ended with a violent, short, pushed-out breath of and even higher-pitched note.
The last and final shofar blast is the Great Shofar. This is the blast that will change mortality into immortality. This is the blast that will bring forth the cornonation of King Messiah Yeshua to rule and reign on earth. This is the blast of hope prophesied in Isaiah 26:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:53-54.
“But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.”
“For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
In the Apostolic Writings, trumpets are mentioned several times in Matthew, Corinthians, Thessalonians and Revelation. The most recognized verse is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. Note how there is a ‘gathering’ ‘moving out’ of in this particular verse.
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
If you are interested in ‘testing’ yourself regarding the sounds of the shofar, take the Shofar Test.
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