Ver. 4. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns— Some have observed, that rams' horns cannot be bored, and made so as to give any thing of a strong sound; and therefore by rams' horns here, they would understand trumpets made in the shape of rams' horns. But this supposed difficulty, of making such an instrument of a ram's horn as may give a pretty strong sound, is not well founded; it being certain, that the inside of these horns is no way hard, and may easily be taken out, excepting a space at the point, of about four or five inches, part of which is sawed off, in order to proportion the aperture to the mouth; after which, the rest is easily pierced. We can assure our readers, say the authors of the Universal History, that we have seen some of these trumpets, thus made, used by shepherds in the southern parts of Germany.
And the seventh day you shall compass the city, &c.— Grotius very properly observes, that the number seven is suited or appropriated to things sacred: it is evidently so in this place. We shall not, however, insist upon it. The reader may consult a variety of authors respecting the facts; particularly Drusius on the passage, and on Leviticus 4:6.