[NOTE: Keep Heather, Josh, and Jackson "Peanut" in your prayers. Heather is on 7 days of strict precautionary bedrest right now. And, our state inspection of the funeral home is happening this Friday!! We sure hope to pass that and start making some money to pay the very expensive funeral directors and the overhead!!!]
Trumpets. Jewish New Year. Rosh ha-shanah.
The new moon at the first of the month signified a very holy
day to the Hebrews. A trumpet was blown to say, This month, ushered in by a
new moon, we now set apart for God.
We find Saul (1 Sam.20) celebrating a special meal at each
new moon and everyone who was anyone in Israel was at this meal. Even the
common people stopped what they were doing and remembered God with each new moon.
The night before was complete darkness. Now, the first
sliver of light was a symbol of light shining in the darkness. Prophets saw it
as symbolic of Messiah bringing light and all men rising to that light.
So on the new moon, a trumpet would sound throughout all of
Israel until every person heard. Even Sabbath (a huge deal) could be broken to announce the
new moon.
The new moon of the 7th month was the Feast of
Trumpets. Trumpets were blown all day long, saying to Israel, Wake up! Pay
attention! Jehovah is God and we celebrate his covenant with us this month!
The blowing of trumpets in Israel symbolized several things:
The kings and leaders of Israel knew they were not the real
authority over Israel. It was a theocracy and God, alone, was sovereign.
Trumpets said, Stop and give attention to your real King!Trumpets were blown on special occasions such as the moving
of the ark of the covenant or whenever the camp of Israel was to be moved. The
trumpet would blast and Moses would say, “Let God arise and His enemies be
scattered.â€Trumpets were blown whenever Israel was attacked or was to
engage in war; not so much to arouse people as to remind them
that Jehovah was their protection! God wanted them to go out in faith, not
fear.
Interestingly, Israel had some rather quaint rules of
engagement (Deut.20). If you’d recently built a house and had not yet dedicated
your house, you were exempt from war. If you had planted a vineyard and not yet
enjoyed the fruit of the harvest, you were exempt. Engaged to be married? No
problem … exempt. Afraid or a coward? Just didn’t feel like fighting this one?
Exempt! Don’t you just hate it when you want to start a war and nobody feels
like fighting? Bummer!
Remember Gideon? He chose 32,000 men for battle and God
reduced it to 300. Or David and Goliath? For six weeks this pagan giant
challenged Israel and not one man of Israel will take the challenge until David
“hears†the trumpet of God and knows God will be his protection and salvation.
Trumpets was a reminder that God needs just one person willing to go out in
faith.
Continued tomorrow . . .
They will be in my prayers !
and thanks for the post today !
have a great day!
It seems that we have examples of “trumpet faith†even today. I’m thinking about guys who go out and start a church with a handful of people who have heard God’s trumpet and then grow them into mega-churches.
For that matter, there are many small to mid-sized churches that are held together by those with “trumpet faith.†Thanks for the post. We’ll certainly keep Heather, Peanut, and all of you (including that “un-named†funeral home somewhere in the western hemisphere) in our prayers.
First of all, I’m praying for Heather, Jackson and Josh about the baby and about the inspection. May God bless them richly.
Second – this post is interesting and it makes me think – what, if anything, do we have in comparison today, do you think, to the blowing of trumpets to remind us of all of those things about God, etc. It just seems like just a neat thing to do and to observe, but I can’t really think of anything in comparison.
We are under such a different “system,” which of course, is not the way to put it, but that’s the only way I can think of at the moment to differentiate it. I suppose I should say we are under a whole new way of living that the blowing of trumpets as a call to God seems to be very antiquated and outdated, somehow. Or no?
What are your thoughts on this subject, or do you have any?!
Dee
P. S. By the way – the Jews today don’t do anything of any kind that is similar to all of this, do they? With the trumpets and all?
P. P. S. Does your praise band have any trumpets? Maybe that’s what you need in it to make it all really “scriptural,” Greg.
[Dee, you're asking a preacher if he has any thoughts on something? We ALWAYS have thoughts, relevant or not, on things! I think today about the only thing that calls us to faith is tragedy, personal or national. For a little while, 9/11 seemed to direct our attention back toward God, but like Israel of old, it was a short-lived attention.
I love trumpets in any kind of band! I'd love to have them in our praise band, but we only have one man in our church who plays horn (quite well), but he needs music to read and the rest of us play by ear, so that hasn't worked out. --Greg]
I like a good trumpet in worship.
praying for your family.
I love John Williams’ big fanfare music for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other movies. There’s a reason that trumpets and horns get us all fired up. I think God hard-wired it into our systems.
Trumpets calling people to faith. Sounds good to me.
Great reminder, Greg.
My prayer is that God be with you and your family!
-bill
I brought up, in my sermon yesterday, that those who believe God doesn’t want instruments around anymore need to explain why He has them in heaven AND why, when Jesus returns, He’s bringing trumpets with Him!
Prayers and thoughts are with you, my friend.
I just wish we could hear the trumpet call of God. It seems that we don’t listen very well. Then we wonder why we don’t feel His presence.
I’m praying for Josh and Heather. Love you guys.