The Shofar or Ram's Horn

 

The shofar is one of the most ancient of musical instruments that has survived to our day. We first read about it in the book of Exodus when God Himself blew the shofar to call the people to His presence at Mount Sinai. Throughout the centuries, the shofar has been very important to the Jewish people. By the blowing of the trumpet, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could signal His people, prepare them for war and call them to worship. The shofar is mentioned 69 times in the Hebrew Bible.

The word "shofar" means to cut through, to incise. It was made from the horn of a ram, although the horn from other kosher animals could also be used. The ram’s horn is primarily used because it was a ram that the Lord provided for Abraham as a sacrifice instead of his son Isaac in Genesis 22. "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son." Gen. 22:13 When the priests blew the shofar, the people were to remember the mercy of the Lord in providing the ram in Isaac’s place. One interesting tradition holds that the Lord preserved the two horns from the sacrificial ram on Mt. Moriah. He sounded one horn at Sinai and will sound the other horn when the Messiah comes at the end of the age to redeem His people. It is noteworthy that even in the New Testament, a book also written by Jews, the coming of the Messiah is said to be accompanied by the blowing of the heavenly shofar. Take a moment to read I Thessalonians 4:16 and Revelation 11:15.

The blowing of the shofar is designed to call sinners to repent, awaken thoughts of God’s sovereignty, power and redeeming grace and to express the hope in the heart of every Jew that God will before long sound the great shofar that will usher in the reign of Messiah.

Once having read all the scriptural references to the shofar, we learn that they were used to:

1. Call the people to worship

‘Also in the days of your gladness, in your appointed feasts and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the shofars over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; they shall be a memorial for you before your God; I am the Lord your God." Numbers 10:10

"So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the shofar." II Samuel 6:15

"Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. Blow the shofar in Zion..." Joel 1:14, 2:15-16

2. Sound the alarm for battle

‘When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the shofar, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and you will be saved from your enemies." Numbers 10:9

‘it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the shofar, that all of the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before hint" Joshua 6:5

3. Signal the people to break camp and move out

"...they shall sound the call of the shofar for them to begin their journeys..." Numbers 10:6

It is in this context that we see the New Testament scriptures reference the shofar as the signal for God’s people in the last days to "break camp" - depart from this earthly life - to follow Messiah into His Kingdom.

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the shofar of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." I Thess. 4:16-18

"Behold I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar. For the shofar will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." I Cor. 15:52

The 9th century scholar, Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, gave 10 reasons to the Jews for blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets or the Jewish "Civil" New Year. He instructed them that it was most appropriate and indeed required that as the shofar was blown to announce a New Year of God’s grace, favor and mercy, the people should remember the following.

  • 1. Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of creation. The Jewish Talmud teaches that the Lord created the universe on Rosh Hashanah. Really, Adam!

  • 2. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the annual observance of the "Awesome Days of Repentance" during which Jewish people everywhere take time to meditate on their relationship with God, and to repent of the sins of the past year.

  • 3. The shofar is a reminder of the giving of the Torah at Sinai; that body of teaching and instruction which God delivered to the children of Israel that they might walk holy and upright before Him.

  • 4. The shofar is to serve as a prophetic call to declare the word of the Lord and obey that which is spoken through the mouths of His prophets. The prophet is described in scripture as a watchman; one who must listen to the Lord, hear His word and declare it to the nation that they might obey it and enjoy the protection of God. So we read in the book of Ezekiel: "- - - - and the watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the shofar and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the shofar and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the shofar but he did not take warning..." Ezekiel 33:2-3

  • 5. At the blowing of the shofar, the people are to remember the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and mourn for the loss of the heart of biblical Judaism; crying out to God for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem in their lifetime. Thus the famous expression, "Next year in Jerusalem

  • 6. The sound of the shofar must remind us of the binding of Isaac as the sacrifice to prove Abraham’s devotion and the fact that Isaac, already a young teen, willingly laid down his life in obedience. Hearing the shofar blown ought to remind us that like Isaac we, too, must willingly lay down our lives for the purposes of God. Romans 12

  • 7. It is also a reminder to walk in the reverential fear of God. "If a Shofar is blown in the city, will not the people be afraid (in awe and reverence before the Lord)?" Amos 3:6

  • 8. It is a reminder of the great day of Judgment. God is merciful but also just. In His own time, He will judge the wicked and reward the righteous. "The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly...a day of the shofar and alarm against the fortified cities and the high towers..." Zephaniah 1:14, 16 Romans 2:1-16

  • 9. The sound of the shofar also indicates the ingathering of the Israelites to Israel in the last days. Before the coming of Messiah, the Lord will gather His people from all the nations where they have been scattered and bring them back to the land He promised to their forefathers. When the shofar blows on Rosh Hashanah, we are to be reminded of this final ingathering and that Jerusalem is the ultimate destiny of the Hebrew people and all true believers. For it is from there that the Messiah ben David, (Messiah, the son of David), will rule and reign.

  • 10. Finally, the shofar sound is a reminder of the resurrection of the dead on the last day. Psalm 47 reads:

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     "0 clap your hands all you peoples! Shout to God with the  voice of triumph! For the Lord most high is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the shofar. Sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth, sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have gathered together. The people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted."

    In recent years the sound of the shofar has begun to be restored to the church.

    Congregations around the world are opening their worship services with the blowing of the shofar as the truths outlined in this chapter are made real to today's Christians.

    Understanding that the power of God is released through this biblical instrument, believers have begun to appreciate its importance. True to its meaning, the blowing of the shofar has in reported and documented cases "cut through" disease, depression and doubt to bring release and healing to many. It is finally being appreciated in the church as another expression of worship and intercession, as well as a call to repentance, holiness of life and a reminder to live ready for the coming of Messiah.

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