Commentaries:
No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Numbers 10:5.
Numbers 10:1-10
Excerpted from: Purpose-Driven Churches (Part 8)The first thing I want you to note is found in the very last verse we just read. This passage ends with a solemn declaration of where this series of instructions is coming from. The placing of that statement means that this instruction is coming right from the top, and it is important. The way God did this is a way of saying, "Pay attention!" "Pay special attention to this!"
The making of the trumpets was among the last things done before the children of Israel left on their journey through the wilderness. There is an indication in verse 2 that the actual order to make them had been given earlier, but in terms of the story flow of Numbers, the charge to make them was inserted at this point in order to make the story flow smoother.
The making of the trumpets and the giving of instruction for their use takes place just before the journey begins; thus we learn from the context that the blowing of these trumpets indicated an event of more than normal significance.
Trumpets, as we see in this context, are not merely a warning. They are organizational tools to make sure that everybody is headed in the right direction—toward the kingdom.
In verse 10, at the end, is a statement that the blowing of the trumpets is "a memorial before your God." I will read that to you again. "...that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God."
The English word "memorial" is derived from the English word "memory." I want you to notice though in verse 9 it states that when the trumpets are blown, the Israelites shall be remembered before the LORD their God. I will read that again.
Memorials are usually established for the purpose of remembering something of significance, something important, and that they usually recall some event from the past. But the word used in the Hebrew is much more vivid, more stronger. It carries a great deal more meaning than our normal English conception of a memorial.
In the English usage the event memorialized is usually not a reality at the time that it is observed. Memorial Day is just a mark on a calendar. It is a day we take off. We do not do any work, but it memorializes something from the past. It is over and done with. The Hebrew word "memorial" does not let go the way the English word does. The Hebrew word strongly suggests a reality of the event is present, as if the memorial was a real-time occurrence that is happening at the time the event is celebrated, like it is happening right now! It comes very close to making the event occur again.
Now back to Numbers 10:10 again. It is very clear in this passage that some of the day-to-day uses of trumpets by the Israelites are much the same fashion as in the way we use sirens. We use sirens to get people's attention so that an announcement informing the people about what they must do is given.
We generally associate the blowing of these two special trumpets primarily for the calling of assemblies, but notice, in verse 10, God stipulates other times when they were to be blown. We see here "in the day of your gladness." This means festal occasions. Not festival occasions, but festal occasions. They are simply happy times of celebration, such as national holidays. These are national celebrations apart from the God-appointed times.
The only ones permitted to blow the trumpets were priests, and the priests blew them in the performance of their duty. It was something some of the priests had to be trained to blow the trumpet. In David's day they got to the place where he had a whole orchestra or marching band, or whatever it was, of 120 trumpeters built out from the original two. But there were two that were especially assigned to the Temple and to the Tabernacle.
When you put all of this together, priests, every day of the year, blew them at least twice, because the burnt offering and the peace offering were part of the morning and evening sacrifices that were made every day. We saw that listed in verse … . . .
Numbers 10:1-10
Excerpted from: Psalms: Book Four: He Is Coming!We could also go to Numbers 10:1-10. This is where Moses sets down God’s instruction on how the trumpets are to be used in Israel, when they are to be blown, how many toots mean this and how many toots mean that. All those things are listed there. So when you call assembly, there is a certain way to blow the trumpet; when you want the people to move, there is a certain way to blow the trumpet; but when you want the people to stop, there is a certain way to blow the trumpet. You blow the trumpet in the New Moon, at the beginning of months. You blow it for war. You blow it for a coronation. You blow it for this, that, and the other thing. And there we find other themes of the Day of Trumpets pop up, like the one I just mentioned—coronation, the day when the King is crowned. So the idea of kingship, rulership, and authority is also in the Day of Trumpets.
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Numbers 10:5:
Leviticus 23:23-25
Isaiah 27:13
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