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“Musical Instruments in the bible” Part 5 – Wind [Shofar=Cornet/Trumpet – Part 1]

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“Musical Instruments in the Bible” Part 5 – Wind [Shofar=Cornet/Trumpet – Part 1]

[Study Aired October 12, 2023]

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Excerpt from https://www.biblestudy.org/bible-study-by-topic/musical-instruments.html:

Hebrew: Shofar
KJV Name: Cornet / Trumpet
Strong’s: #H7782

References: Exo 19:16, Exo 19:19, Exo 20:18, Lev 25:9, Jos 6:4-20, Jdg 3:27, etc.

The Hebrew word shofar is recorded 72 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, all of which are mistranslated in the KJV. It is erroneously called a trumpet 68 times and a cornet 4 times (Psa 98:6, 1Ch 15:28, 2Ch 15:14, Hos 5:8). The shofar and trumpet, according to the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, are two distinct instruments as delineated in Psalm 98:6 and 1 Chronicles 15:28.

The shofar is mentioned more than any other musical instrument in the Bible. It is the only instrument that survives in its original form that is still used in modern Jewish liturgy. It was usually made from the curved horn of a ram or goat. Shofars announced the New Moons and Sabbaths (Psa 81:3), warned of approaching danger, and signaled the death of nobility.

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This week we will look at Part One on the Shofar, H7782 the [cornet or trumpet], and then conclude the wind instruments section of our study with the Ugab [the organ] in the following weeks, Lord willing. [Shofar (Cornet or Trumpet) and the Ugab (Organ)].

The first mention of the Shofar (of its 72 times being mentioned in the KJV) is in Exodus 19:16. This chapter is very revealing as to what the spiritual significance of the Shofar is for God’s people today. I’d like to start the study of the Shofar by looking at Exodus chapter 19, which will give us a good idea of what it symbolizes for the body of Christ, before looking at other instances where this Strong’s number is used, which we will do next week.

The different stages in our life, where we are progressing in our walk out of Babylon, are paralleled with the journeys of Israel out of the wilderness, and give us hope that we can endure to the end through Christ if we are blessed to hear His voice (Mar 12:29) and obey His commandments in this life (Psa 18:44, Deu 30:1-2). 

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Psa 18:44 At the hearing of the ear they listen to me; the sons of foreigners shall bow down to me. (LITV)

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 

It is one thing to be delivered from a place of bondage and another to then have the Lord begin to work within you to perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you (1Pe 5:10-11). This section of Exodus 19 starts a journey for Israel out of Egypt typifying overcoming the wood, hay and stubble of this life (1Co 3:12-13), but it is only in verse sixteen where we first hear of the Shofar being used, which symbolizes not just hearing the word of God but the start of a deeper and more profound judgment which all the journeys of Israel typify for our sakes (1Pe 1:11-12). 

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 

This 19th chapter reveals how God’s Hand was working in the lives of the nation of Israel, typifying for us today how He is working within the body of Christ as we are dragged to Him by the power of God’s holy spirit (Joh 6:44).  For an in-depth study on this chapter in Exodus, please see Ato’s excellent study on Chapter 19 here: Exodus 19:1-25 I Bore you on Eagles’ Wings and Brought you unto Myself.

For today, we will use this chapter to expound upon the significance of the Shofar, and although the first mention of the word Shofar is in verse 16, we will read the whole chapter to lay the groundwork for the message about this instrument, starting with verse 1:

Exo 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

Arriving at Sinai from Egypt in the third month symbolizes the early stages of the process of judgment [#3] required in our sojourn to start to ‘come out of her my people’ so that we may be accepted by God (2Co 6:17). Then we are worked with through a lifetime of deeper, more purifying, foundation-laying judgment by His hand that will make up the purified “gold, silver, [and] precious stones” within the body of Christ (Mat 21:44, 1Co 3:12, Mal 3:17).

Exo 19:2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

Moses is a type of Christ, Who comes into our life as we come out of Egypt, bringing the message of salvation typified by what Moses says to the children of Israel by God’s command (Joh 12:49, Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17-18, Oba 1:21).

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed [typifying a disciple indeed who continues in the word (Joh 8:31-32, 1Jn 5:2-3)], and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: [typifying the peculiar and treasured people God’s people become today with the hope of glory within us (1Pe 2:9) as a treasure in earthen vessels (2Co 4:7)]

This thought of deliverance from Egypt via eagles’ wings, where Israel endured many a great fight of affliction and then was given deliverance through the wilderness as a nation through belief in God, is the typical experience given to Israel for the elect’s sake and is explained in these verses (Rom 5:10, Heb 3:7-19).

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, [Passover – coming out of Egypt with the blood on the doorposts] much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

Heb 3:7  Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice [represented by the Shofar],
Heb 3:8  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 
Heb 3:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 
Heb 3:10  Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11  So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 
Heb 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. [Mat 24:12-13]
Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; [Heb 10:35, Php 3:3, Php 2:12-13, Col 1:27]
Heb 3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice [represented by the Shofar], harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 
Heb 3:16  For some, when they had heard, did provoke: [symbolizing those who are not permitted to continue on to perfection (Heb 6:3-6)] howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 
Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 
Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 
Heb 3:19  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief [Joh 6:28-29].

Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Exo 19:7  And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
Exo 19:8  And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

These verses further demonstrate what God’s intention has always been for the spiritual Israel of God (Gal 6:16). The first man Adam is also typified by the nation of Israel claiming “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do”, but in the end the majority could not truly hear or follow through, and ended up rebelling in the wilderness, as per the counsel of God’s will (Mat 22:14, Eph 1:11). Only Christ in us (Rom 8:9) as our hope of glory (Col 1:27) can truly hear and make that obedience to God’s word possible as we are received by God via His chastening and scourging grace, not despising that process but bringing forth fruit meet for repentance through it (Heb 12:6-7, Mat 3:8).

Exo 19:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

While in these earthen vessels, we see through a glass darkly, a thick cloud, making it possible for us to know God in part through the resurrected Christ (1Co 13:12). Moses typifies Christ bringing that message of hope to and through the body of Christ, a message that says in time all the world will also hear “and believe thee for ever” (1Co 15:22).

Exo 19:10  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exo 19:11  And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.

We have already been told that Israel has left Egypt on the third day. Now Moses, again as a type of Christ, is told by God to go and introduce this need to “sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes.” That washing also symbolizes the early stages of being washed by the word of God, more specifically via these carnal ordinances which should serve to show us that no amount of works (“let them wash their clothes” Isa 4:1, Isa 64:6) can sanctify us in the same way God’s judgments upon us do (Heb 9:10-14). 

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

At the start of our sojourn we need these “divers washings, and carnal ordinances” that act as a schoolmaster making us “ready against the third day.” What happens on the third day with Israel is symbolic of what happens to the body of Christ “at that day” (Joh 14:20) when we begin to believe by being given eyes that see and ears that hear (Mat 13:16-17, 1Co 15:46), with judgment upon the house of God which we are (1Pe 4:17, Rev 8:13). 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Exo 19:12  And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 
Exo 19:13  There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpetH3104 soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. 

This verse typifies the truth that no man can come to the Son unless the Father draws him (Joh 6:44). When we go beyond the bounds God sets for us, it is akin to leaving our first estate (Jud 1:6) or trying to take the kingdom by force (Mat 11:12), despising God’s goodness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4), symbolized by this other wind instrument, the trumpetH3104, used to tell Israel when to “come up to the mount.” We either hear and obey the sound of the trumpet, or we hear it and despise it by not taking heed to the message the messenger of the Lord brings. God is the one who knows our hearts which must continue to be examined as we die daily when we hear the silver trumpet [the trumpetH3104 “Christ’s voice”] that calls us to action, to “come up to the mount” (Rom 8:14-16, Psa 120:1, Jas 4:7). This trumpet sounds long as a shadow of the truth that the message of salvation has sounded long for those who hear that message and take heed, a message that was revealed in the old covenant and is able to make us wise unto salvation, with its “here a little, there a little…precept upon precept…old and new wine…breadth, and length, and depth, and height” message (2Ti 3:15, Eph 3:18).

Exo 19:14  And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
Exo 19:15  And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

Moses now goes down to the people and sanctifies them by giving the message from the Lord that they need to wash their clothes. The men are told to “come not at your wives” with the need to have their attention on the matter at hand, which is God’s judgment in their lives, preparing for this time of spiritual battle (2Sa 11:11) toward spiritual purity (Jas 4:8).

2Sa 11:11  And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. 

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Exo 19:16  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 trumpetH7782 exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

So all the previous verses lead up to this dramatic moment and first mention of the shofar symbolizing the fearful event of falling into the hands of the Lord “on the third day in the morning” when we begin to be crushed under the stone by way of His judgments which are a fearful thing to fall into (Mat 21:44, Heb 10:31). Those judgments are explained with these words “that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpetH7782 exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled” (Rev 8:5-6). The trumpet that soundeth long and is exceeding loud also reminds us that in the day God’s judgments fill the earth during the reign of the saints, this same long and loud message will be given by God’s hand via the body of Christ (Rev 18:6, Eph 3:10).

Rev 8:5  And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 
Rev 8:6  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 

Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Exo 19:17  And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether partH8482 of the mount.

It is only when we see ourselves as the chief of sinners and guilty of all, in the lowermost area, in the pit, and in need of judgment, that we become blessed to experience God’s judgment upon us, which is what the next two verses begin to discuss (Exo 19:18-19). He takes us out of that pit once He brings us to see our “poor, and blind, and naked” state in these marred vessels of clay (Rev 3:17, Joh 9:41, Luk 15:17). It is only in this position of taking the lower seat, symbolized by “the nether part of the mount” (Luk 14:10), that we can be lifted out of “an horrible pit” (Psa 40:2-3).

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Psa 40:2  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Psa 40:3  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Exo 19:19  And when the voice of the trumpetH7782 sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29), and our Lord Yahweh, who is our Olam Father, comes into our lives and consumes all that can be consumed, as He descends from heaven creating a contrite and broken heart (Isa 66:2). This can only happen when “mount Sinai [is] altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.” The long and waxing louder and louder message of the gospel is the truth that, if we continue in it, will set us free (Joh 8:31-32), otherwise we will wax worse and worse. God has called the elect to see and hear the gospel with spiritual eyes and ears that should be persuaded by Christ’s voice in their leaders, as Israel should have been (but could not, by God’s will) with Moses (Heb 13:17, 1Co 14:37).

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.” [CLV]

1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 

Exo 19:20  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
Exo 19:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
Exo 19:22  And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. 

Moses represents those who are called by the Lord and raised in heavenly places (Eph 2:6) “to the top of the mount” where Moses receives the instruction of the Lord telling him to go down and “charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.” The people represent the yet unconverted world who cannot see the Lord from the perspective Moses has and therefore cannot eat at the Lord’s table at which Moses symbolizes eating in this story (Heb 13:10-12). Breaking through would be like touching the ark, which would bring immediate death to anyone who did (1Ch 13:9). Then we learn that before the priests come near to the LORD, they also must “sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.” This sanctifying of “the priests also, which [do] come near to the LORD” represents the necessary purification process that is akin to being called but not chosen of God. It is however impossible for these priests to come near at this time, as we see in our next couple of verses below (Exo 19:23-24). That closeness to God is reserved for the elect, symbolized by Moses and Aaron who typify those who are purified first in this life, that being Christ and His Christ (Mal 3:3, 1Jn 3:2-3).

Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

[It is Aaron’s sons who typify those who will come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21, 1Co 6:3). Aaron’s sons represent the elect who will be used to “purify the sons of Levi” the priests who were not allowed to go up on the mount at that time, the sons of Levi (Exo 19:24)]

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Exo 19:23  And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
Exo 19:24  And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. 
Exo 19:25  So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them. 

The sanctification process (Joh 17:17) the elect endure in this life through the seven last plagues (Rev 15:8) is what these verses represent (Exo 19:23-25). It is only Moses and Aaron who represent Christ and His body who can come up to the LORD. The rest are warned, including the priests! Then “Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them”, telling the people of this time, in type and shadow, that many are called, but few are chosen (Mat 22:14), the few being represented by Moses and Aaron.

Conclusion

We have only looked at the first two entries of the word ‘Shophar’ [H7782] and learned that this instrument’s sound represents the powerful voice of God (Psa 29:4-9). 

Psa 29:4  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 
Psa 29:5  The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. 
Psa 29:6  He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. 
Psa 29:7  The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. 
Psa 29:8  The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 
Psa 29:9  The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. 

The power God gives the elect to speak the truth in love (1Co 2:5, Eph 4:15) can only be found in those who are having their power taken away by dying daily (Mat 10:39, 1Co 15:31). That power we have in our flesh is represented by the curved horn of the Shofar, which would traditionally be taken from a ram or a goat. Taking away a beast’s horns takes away their power, and this is the principle point in the lives of those who are called to lose their lives, their power and their own righteousnesses, so that the life of Christ can be manifest through these broken and contrite earthen vessels whom He is shaping to house the spirit of God (Col 1:27, Rom 8:29). Just as the shofar has the breath breathed through it, symbolizing the spirit of God, the words of God, so, too, does the life of Christ that comes into our hearts and minds as our earthly wisdom decreases as we die daily and He increases within us (Joh 3:30). The spirit of God [the wind, the breath] blows through the shofar that is held by the priest symbolizing how Christ gives us a far greater power in this life (Jos 6:16, 1Jn 4:4). He makes it possible for us to fight a good fight of faith to obtain eternal life as we overcome the earthly powers and principalities to which we die to daily, powers we see being manifest in the hearts and minds of mankind continually (Luk 6:45, 1Ti 6:12, Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21-23, Heb 7:26).

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 
Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 

Heb 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 

Next week we will continue to look at some more entries of the word ShofarH7782 to further understand what the spiritual significance of this instrument is for God’s people today.

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