Make thee two trumpets of silver.
The law of the silver trumpets
Revelation is to man as a trumpet-call from heaven; hence the prophets are often told to lift up their voices like a trumpet. The human race is a grand army of immortals. The journey of life is a series of marches intended by the Captain of our salvation to terminate in heaven. But whether this journey will be successfully accomplished or not depends upon our faithfulness to the directions of our Divine Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. The law of the silver trumpets is the law of the nature, uses, and objects of Divine revelation, when it is seen and felt as the utterance of divine love, and the authorised guide and director of our journey to heaven.
1. And here we may remark how appropriate silver is as a correspondence to spiritual wisdom. It is white, brilliant, and precious. So is the spiritual meaning of the Word. Oh, may its sweet and silvery lessons be to us as dearest treasure! To teach us, then, that it is the spiritual sense of Divine revelation which is intended to guide us, guard us, and call us to heaven, the trumpets were made of silver.
2. They were two in number, but formed of one piece. The whole spirit of the Word is expressive of love to the Lord, and charity to man (Matthew 22:37-40). To represent this twofold character of the spirit of the Word, then, there were two silver trumpets, not one only. Yet they were both formed out of one piece. For, indeed, the truth that we should love our neighbour comes out from the grander truth, that we should supremely love the Lord. The Apostle John states this very clearly (1 John 4:21; 2 John 1:1). Another idea is intimated by this command to make them of one piece; that, namely, of the entire harmony of the spiritual sense of the Word with itself. It is bright and coherent everywhere. It is silver, all of one piece.
II. But let us turn now from the composition of the trumpets to their use.
1. They were to be used to call the people to the assemblies (verse 3).
2. They were to excite to, and direct the journey of the people (verses 5, 6).
3. They were to be sounded when an enemy appeared in their land to oppress them (verse 9).
4. They were to be blown on the days of rejoicing (verse 10). The first use of the trumpets, then, was to call the assemblies to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, there to hear the will and decisions of the Most High. In like manner we are called by the silver trumpets of the Word to assemble together in the name and in the presence of that glorified Divine Man who said (John 10:9). The whole spirit of the Word calls us to worship Him, and to learn of Him (Revelation 19:10). When we have been to the Lord Jesus Christ in worship, and to learn His will, we shall find the second use of the silver trumpets will be unfolded to us. We must march on. Regeneration is a journey in which we advance from state to state, as from stage to stage in outward travel. We begin in Egypt, we must reach Canaan. The silvery music will call us forward. The import of its sound is this, Arise, for this is not your rest, for the whole land is polluted (Isaiah 60:1). Arise, child of heaven, from the selfishness and darkness in which thou hast been enshrouded. Arise from the slavery and pollution of sin to the glorious liberty of the children of light. Move on. Next we are carried forward to the contemplation of the third use of the trumpets; to sound an alarm when the enemies within the land seek to oppress. We begin our regeneration by forsaking the grosser sins to which we have been accustomed, and we think we have left all that is offensive in the sight of heaven. We think we are wholly given up to God and goodness, and so we shall continue. Alas! we have in this but little conception of the wonderful nature with which we are endowed, or of the extent of the ramifications of evil. Each mind is a world in ruins. The soul is organised more astonishingly even than the body, and each organ or principle is more or less perverted. Were we left to ourselves, we might well turn back in despair, and die. But happily, what is impossible to man is possible with God. He can give us a new nature: He can give us the victory again and again: He can and will protect us. When, then, our internal enemies, the plagues of our own hearts, appear to us, and dispositions which we supposed were for ever done with are met again and again, let us not quail nor be dispirited. With Divine help we shall overcome them, and triumph until the last enemy is overthrown. But the Lord saves us by His Word. This is the lesson intended by the use of the silver trumpets which we are now considering. When, then, selfishness rises up in your lands to oppress you, go to the Divine Word, and hear its holy sound. Let its voice of love and mercy be heard in your spirit like the silvery tones of heavenly trumpets, and by its truth and power you will be saved. The last use of the trumpets was, that they should be blown on the days of solemn rejoicing. On our days of gladness we should see that all our feelings are such as are under the influence of the Holy Word. Were it not for sin, all our days, like those of heaven, would be days of gladness. The purification of our joys, then, is one of the great works of our regeneration. Let us blow with the silver trumpets on our days of gladness, and on our solemn days. There are states, which recur from time to time, of peculiar solemnity, when conscience is more than usually earnest with us: states of self-examination, states of solemn thought, states of recollection of mercies and blessings formerly received, states of self-dedication to high and holy objects; these are our solemn days. The period when we resolved to quit a period of evil, and entered upon our passover, or feast of unleavened bread; when we commenced the reception of the bread of heaven, though as yet to us tasteless, like unleavened bread; then comes the period when faith enables us, under its influence, to bring forth the first-fruits of a harvest of virtues and graces to be repeated for ever; and lastly, the feast of spiritual ingathering comes on, that matured state of the soul when charity rules in the heart, and perfect love casteth out fear. Blow with the silver trumpets over the solemn days. There are minor solemnities connected with the varied events of life which induce in thoughtful minds solemn states: the births, the marriages, and the deaths of those we love, the serious circumstances of our families and our country, all these make solemn days; let the spirit which rules over them be the spirit of love to the Lord, and charity to man. Blow the silver trumpets over the solemn days. There is mention made also of the beginning of the months, and as there is a perfect correspondence between outward nature and man’s spiritual and interior existence, there is a correspondence in this respect also. The months are the times which depend upon the moon; and the moon is the symbol of faith in the soul. As faith has its variations in the soul, sometimes being bright and luminous, at others dim and obscure, its changes are represented by those of the moon. The beginning of a month is therefore the commencement of a new state of faith in the soul, when, after being in obscurity, we enter into clear and holy light on things Divine. The tree of life is said to bear twelve manner of fruits--one for every month; implying that in every state of mind, and in every change of circumstances in our Christian life, we may receive from the Lord within the power of bringing forth the appropriate works of piety and justice. At the beginning of our mental changes, in the attainment of new views on subjects of faith, we should observe that they are in harmony with the essential principles of the spirit of the Word, of love to the Lord, and charity to man. Blow the silver trumpets in the beginning of the months. And, lastly, over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. Our offerings at this day are all spiritual. Yet are we as truly called upon to make them as were the Jews. Life consists of fixed duties, and free will efforts. Let both be performed in the spirit of devoted self-dedication, under the Divine spirit of the Holy Word. The silver trumpet must sound over our burnt offerings and our sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to us a memorial before the Lord our God. In conclusion, let us be grateful for the provision by our adorable Lord of the interior truths of His Word, the silver trumpets of heaven. Let us seek to find them by reading, by thought and meditation, until we have individually realised the promise of our heavenly Father and Saviour, “For iron I will bring silver.” When we have acquired the clear perception that all truth hangs upon the two grand laws of love to God and love to man, then let their silvery voice be heard over all the circumstances of our lives. Let them be heard calling us from Sabbath to Sabbath to the public worship of the Lord Jesus Christ--the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let them be heard directing our attention to Him in our morning and evening devotions. When we have attained light and strength in prayer, they ever call us to march on to progress. Let us go forward with a glowing, firm, and fervent will, and then strengthen and confirm our progress by the light of a full and active intellect. (J. Bayley, Ph. D.)
The trumpets of Providence
The sacred trumpets are still sounded; they still call men to worship, to festival, to battle. If we have lost the literal instrument, we are still, if right-minded, within sound of the trumpets of Providence. We do not now go out at our own bidding; we are, if wise, responding to a Voice, wherever we may be found. Look at the men who are pouring forth in all directions every morning; stand, in imagination, at a point from which you can see all the stations at which men alight; so present the scene to the fancy that you can see every little procession hastening to its given point of departure; then bring on all the processions to the various points of arrival; read the faces of the men; take in the whole scene. What action; what colour; what expression of countenance! And if we had ears acute enough to hear, what various voices are being sounded by every life; what tumult; what desire; what intersection of paths; what imminent collisions!--and yet the whole scene moves on with a kind of rough order all its own. What has called these men together--and yet not together?--the trumpet! Some have heard the trumpet calling to controversy. Many of these men carry bloodless swords; they are well equipped with argument; they are about to state the ease, to defend the position, to repel, to assert, to vindicate righteousness, and to claim compensation for virtue outraged; they are soldiers; they have mapped out the battlefield in private; all their forces have been disposed within the sanctuary of the night, and presently the voice of genius and of eloquence will be heard in high wrangling, in noble contention, that so the wicked may claim nothing that is not his own, and the righteous have the full reward of his purity. They are going to the political arena to adjust the competing claims of nations, or causes; war is in their eyes; should they speak, they would speak stridently, with clear, cutting tone, with military precision and emphasis; they would hold no long parley with men, for they mean the issue to end in victory. Others have heard no such trumpet: they have heard another call--to peaceful business, to daily routine, to duty, made heavy alien by monotony, but duty still, which must be done according to the paces and beatings of the daily clock. They cannot resist that voice without resisting themselves. And other men, in smaller bands--more aged men--men who have seen service in the market field, in the political field, in the field of literature--how go they? Away towards sunny scenes, quiet meadows, lakes of silver, gardens trimmed with the patience and skill of love. They are men of leisure, men in life’s afternoon. The sunbeam has been a trumpet to them; hearing it, they said, Who would remain at home to-day? All heaven calls us out, the great blue arch invites us to hospitality in the fields and woods, and by the riverside. All men are obeying a trumpet; the call is addressed from heaven to earth every morning. We may have outlived the little, straight, silver trumpet, turned up at the ends; but the trumpet invisible, the trumpet of Providence, the call of Heaven, the awakening strain of the skies--this we cannot outlive: for the Lord is a Man of war, and must have the battle continued: the Lord is a Father, and must have the family constituted in order; the Lord is a Shepherd, and must have the flocks led forth that they may lie down in the shadow of noonday. The trumpets were to be sounded by the priests. The pulpit should be a tower of strength to every weak cause. Were every Sabbath day devoted to the tearing down of some monster evil--were the sanctuary dedicated to the denunciation, not of the vulgar crimes which everybody condemns, but the subtle and unnamed crimes which everybody practises, the blast of the trumpet would tear the temple walls in twain! There are trumpets which call us in spiritual directions. They are heard by the heart. They are full of the tone of persuasion--that highest of all the commandments. The heart hears the trumpet on the Sabbath day. The trumpet that could sound an alarm is softened in its tone into a tender entreaty, or a cheerful persuasion, or a promise of enlarged liberty. Everything depends upon the tone. The trumpet may be the same, but the tone is different. We cannot take up the trumpet of the great player and make it sound as he made it. What is it, then, that plays the trumpet? It is the soul. If we knew things as we ought to know them, we should know that it is the soul that plays every instrument, that sings every hymn, that preaches every discourse that has in it the meaning of God and the behest of Heaven. The same trumpet called to festival and to war; so the gospel has two tones: it calls lovingly, sweetly, tenderly; and it sounds an alarm, making the night tremble through all its temple of darkness, and sending into men’s hearts pangs of apprehension and unutterable fear. There is another trumpet yet to sound (1 Corinthians 15:52). The trumpet is not lost, then; it is in heaven, where the Ark of the Testimony is, where the Shekinah is, where the Tabernacle of God is. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The institution of the silver trumpets
It sets forth, in the most distinct manner possible, that God’s people are to be absolutely dependent upon, and wholly subject to, Divine testimony, in all their movements. A child may read this in the type before us. The congregation in the wilderness dared not assemble for any festive or religious object until they heard the sound of the trumpet; nor could the men of war buckle on their armour, till summoned forth by the signal of alarm to meet the uncircumcised foe. They worshipped and they fought, they journeyed and they halted, in simple obedience to the trumpet call. It was not, by any means, a question of their likings or dislikings, their thoughts, their opinions, or their judgment. It was simply and entirely a question of implicit obedience. Their every movement was dependent upon the testimony of God, as given by the priests from the sanetuary. The song of the worshipper and the shout of the warrior were each the simple fruit of the testimony of God. The silver trumpet settled and ordered every movement for Israel of old. The testimony of God ought to settle and order everything for the Church now. That silver trumpet was blown by the priests of old. That testimony of God is known in priestly communion now. A Christian has no right to move or act apart from Divine testimony. He must wait upon the word of his Lord. Till he gets that, he must stand still. When he has gotten it he must go forward, but is not by aught that strikes the senses that our Father guides us; but by that which acts on the heart, the conscience, and the understanding. It is not by that which is natural, but by that which is spiritual, that He communicates His mind. If the ear is circumcised, you will assuredly hear the silver trumpet. Till that sounds, never stir: when it sounds, never tarry. This will make all so clear, so simple, so safe, so certain. It is the grand cure for doubt, hesitancy, and vacillation. It will save us from the necessity of running for advice to this one and that one, as to how we should act, or where we should go. And, furthermore, it will teach us that it is none of our business to attempt to control the actions or movements of others. Let each one have his ear’ open, and his heart subject, and then, assuredly, he will possess all the certainty that God can give him, as to his every act and movement, from day to day. Our ever gracious God can give clearness and decision as to everything. If He does not give it, no one can. If He does, no one need. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
The silver trumpets
The silver trumpets sent a piercing note. So should the gospel herald utter aloud the gospel news. Away with timid whisper, and a stammering tongue. Note, the trumpets were of one piece. So is the gospel message. It knows no mixture. Christ is all. No diverse metal soiled these trumpets. No intermingling error should soil pulpits. The type, moreover, fixes attention on the Christian as a worshipper--a pilgrim--a warrior--a son of joy. For let the occasions on which these trumpets sounded be now mere closely marked.
1. They call the people to God’s sanctuary, it is a gospel ordinance that worshippers should throng the holy courts--that public prayer and praise should reverence the glorious name.
2. They give command to march. The Bible warns that earth is not our rest. We live a stranger-life. We occupy a moving tent. We hold a pilgrim-staff.
3. They sound for war. The life of faith is one incessant fight. Beneath the cross a sword is drawn, of which the scabbard is cast far away. Until the victor’s crown is won, unflinching combat must go on.
4. In the grand feasts they cheer the worshippers around the bleeding victims. While the altar streams, and happy crowds look on, the heavens resound with these exulting clangs. The precept is obeyed (Psalms 81:1). Believer, thus, too, the gospel teaches you to joy--to joy with heart abounding with melodious praise, when you in faith contemplate, and in worship plead, the meritorious death of Christ. (Dean Law.)
The silver trumpets, or the relation of the gospel ministry to the seasons and services of the Christian life
1. The trumpets and their use were commanded by God. He blesses men, saves men by the use of the means which He has appointed.
2. The trumpets were to be blown by the priests. Every Christian is now a priest, but the ministers of the gospel are especially the heralds of the Divine messages.
3. The trumpets were to be blown in accordance with clear and well-understood instructions. When they were to blow one trumpet only, and when they were to blow both; when the short, sharp, broken notes, and when the long and continuous peal--these things were clearly explained and enjoined. There was to be no uncertainty as to the meaning of the signals. The meaning of the sounds of the gospel trumpet should be equally and unmistakably clear (1 Corinthians 14:7-8.)
4. The trumpets were to be blown at different seasons and for different purposes--for conventions, for journeyings, for battles, for festivals, &c. In this we have an illustration of the relation of the gospel ministry to the seasons and services of the Christian life.
We proceed to offer some hints on the analogy. The silver trumpets were used
I. For the calling of assemblies. The ministry of the gospel should draw men together, even as the silver trumpets convened the assemblies of Israel.
II. For summoning the people to advance. The Christian minister is required to summon the people to arise and “go forward” in their upward pilgrimage. He summons them to advance--
1. In personal holiness. He exhorts them to “follow on to know the Lord,” to “grow in grace,” to “forget those things which are behind,” &c. (Philippians 3:13-14).
2. In personal and collective usefulness. He should incite both individuals and Churches to more diligent and devoted services in the cause of Christ.
III. For encouraging the people in battle. Like the priests with the silver trumpets the minister of the gospel should--
1. Encourage Christians to battle against evil.
2. By inciting them to trust in God. He gives the victory.
IV. For suitably observing seasons of special interest.
1. Seasons of joy. “In the days of your gladness ye shall blow with the trumpets,” &c. The gospel aims at the consecration and promotion of human gladness. “That My joy might remain in you, and your joy might be full.” “Rejoice in the Lord alway” “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” “Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The gospel forbids no pure delight, but hallows and increases it.
2. Seasons of solemnity. “In your solemn days ye shall blow with the trumpets,” &c. There are many solemn days in life--days of mental conflict, of spiritual darkness, of social bereavement, &c. In such days the hopeful and helpful sounds of the gospel trumpet are peculiarly precious.
3. Closing and commencing seasons. “And in the beginnings of your months ye shall blow,” &c. (W. Jones.)
The silver trumpets
We have here directions concerning the public notices that were to be given to the people upon several occasions--by sound of trumpet. In a thing of this nature one would think Moses needed not to have been taught of God, his own reason might teach him the convenience of trumpets; but their constitution was to be in everything Divine, and therefore even in this matter, as small as it seems. Moses is here directed--
I. About the making of them They must be made of silver; not cast, but of beaten work (as some read it); the matter and shape no doubt very fit for the purpose. He was now ordered to make but two, because there were but two priests to use them; but in Solomon’s time we read of an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets (2 Chronicles 5:12). The form of these trumpets is supposed to be much like ours of this day.
II. Who were to make use of them. Not any inferior person; but the priests themselves, the sons of Aaron (Numbers 10:8). As great as they were, they must not think it a disparagement to them to be trumpeters in the house of God; the meanest office there was honourable. This signified that the Lord’s ministers should lift up their voice like a trumpet, to show people their sins (Isaiah 58:1), and to call them to Christ (Isaiah 27:13).
III. Upon what occasions the trumpets were to be sounded.
1. For the calling of assemblies (Numbers 10:2). Thus they are bid to blow the trumpet in Zion, for the calling of a solemn assembly together, to sanctify a fast (Joel 2:13). Public notice ought to be given of the time and place of religious assemblies, for the invitation to the benefit of ordinances in general. “Whoever will, let him come.” Wisdom cries in the chief places of concourse. But that the trumpet might not; give an uncertain sound, they are directed, if only the princes and elders were to meet, to blow only one of the trumpets; less should serve to call them together who ought to be examples of forwardness in anything that is good. But if the body of the people were to be called together, both the trumpets must be sounded, that they might be the farther heard. In allusion to this, they are said to be blessed that hear the joyful sound (Psalms 89:15), i.e., that are invited and called upon to wait upon God in public ordinances (Psalms 122:1). And the general assembly at the great day will be summoned by the sound of the archangel’s trumpet (Matthew 24:34).
2. For the journeying of the camps; to give notice when each squadron must move, for no man’s voice could reach to give the word of command. Soldiers with us, that are well disciplined, may be exercised by beat of drum. When the trumpets were blown for this purpose they must sound an alarm (Numbers 10:5), a broken, quavering, interrupted sound, which was proper to excite and encourage the minds of people in the marches against their enemies; whereas a continued equal sound was more proper for the calling of the assembly together (Numbers 10:7). Yet when the people were called together to deprecate God’s judgments we find an alarm sounded (Joel 2:3). At the first sounding, Judah’s squadron marched; at the second, Reuben’s; at the third, Ephraim’s; at the fourth, Dan’s (Numbers 10:5-6). And some think this was intended to sanctify their marches; for this was proclaimed by the priests, who were God’s mouth to the people, not only the Divine orders given them to move, but the Divine blessing upon them in all their motions. He that hath ears let him hear that God is with them of a truth.
3. For the animating and encouraging of their armies when they went out to battle (Numbers 10:9). “If ye go to war blow with the trumpets”; signifying thereby your appeal to Heaven, for the decision of the controversy, and your prayer to God to give you victory; and God will own this His own institution, and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God. God will take notice of this sound of the trumpet, and be engaged to fight their battles; and let all the people take notice of it, and be encouraged to fight His; as David, when he heard a sound of a going upon the tops of the mulberry-trees. Not that God needed to be awaked by sound of trumpet, no more than Christ needed to be awaked by His disciples in the storm (Matthew 8:25), but where He intends mercy it is His will that we should solicit for it. Ministers must stir up the good soldiers of Jesus Christ to fight manfully against sin, the world, and the devil, by assuring them that Christ is the Captain of their salvation, and will tread Satan under their feet.
4. For the solemnising of their sacred feasts (Numbers 10:10). One of their feasts was called the feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-24). And it should seem they were thus to grace the solemnity of all their feasts (Psalms 81:3), and their sacrifices (2 Chronicles 29:27), to intimate with what joy and delight they performed their duty to God, and to raise the minds of those that attend the services to a holy triumph in the God they worshipped. And then their performances were for a memorial before God; for then He takes pleasure in our religious exercises when we take pleasure in them. Holy work should be done with holy joy. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Significance of the silver trumpet
It is the voice of Him who came preaching peace, the proclamation of those of whom the prophet speaks (Isaiah 52:7). For just as the two silver trumpets entered into every part of Israel’s life, and their varied notes were always adapted to Israel’s wants and position, so it is with the gospel. Its awakening power, its soothing promises, its sanctifying influence, is meant to consecrate every act of our lives, and move every thought of our hearts. Did the sound of the silver trumpets call the slothful or backsliding Israel to the tabernacle of the congregation, either to hear the will of God announced by Moses, or to worship? So does the voice of Jesus in the gospel invite us into the presence of God. It says to the slumbering heart, “Awake, thou that sleepest,” &c. It says to the fearful and desponding, “Come boldly unto the throne of grace,” &c. It says to the backsliding and to the guilty conscience, “Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thy iniquity.” It says, again, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” &c. Did the sound of the silver trumpets bid Israel arise and follow the pillar of fire and cloud which went before them? So does the voice of Jesus bid us arise and journey onward. When our hearts are entangled by the secret influences of the world--when we begin to take up our rest in the love of the creature--then there is a still small voice full of warning, “Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your rest; it is polluted.” Whensoever we rest contented with low attainments, losing sight of Him to whose image we ought to be conformed, the silver trumpets sound, bidding us press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. As, too, Israel of old was called to engage in warfare with their enemies and God’s, and one use of the silver trumpets was to summon them to preparation and to the field of battle, so has the Israel of God now a great conflict to engage in--a conflict with enemies seen and unseen, and the unseen more powerful than the seen. Yet, how seldom do we realise as we ought the greatness of the conflict, and the power of our spiritual enemies! and, consequently, we are too often off our guard. Hence it is that the silver trumpets are needed to summon us to the conflict. We require to be summoned to “endure hardness,” as good soldiers of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3), that we may not, like Israel of old, turn back in the day of battle, but may feel and exclaim with David (Psalms 18:32; Psalms 18:34-35). And, once more, were the silver trumpets needed to consecrate all Israel’s offerings, that they might be a memorial before the Lord? Oh, still more is it the gospel of Christ that does and can consecrate all acts of life and of worship! It is the word, too, of the gospel which explains to us the means of approach to God, and, still more, prepares our hearts for that communion. We should listen to the sound or the silver trumpet in every act of life, in every prayer, and over every offering. With this everything will become a memorial before the Lord. (G. Wagner.)
The trumpet gospel:
One of the good doctors whom I often heard in my boyhood had a voice like the distant rolling of thunder. He exchanged pulpits with a neighbour, whose voice was peculiarly effeminate. It was a little voice, and withal quite musical. The doctor returned to his own congregation for the evening service. Arising in his place, he commenced with this preface, “My friends, you have to-day heard the gospel through a silver trumpet; but to-night you must hear it through a ram’s horn.” Alas! how many are charmed with the silver trumpet! Sweet morsels, drops of honey-dew, like globules of sugar-coated opiates, form the only compound suited to their taste. “Peel it, pare it, smooth it, trim it!” is their cry, “take away from it those distorted and hideous features! Fashion it, form it, compound with it some thrilling narrative, some pleasant story, and we will receive it.” In other words, make it anything but the plain simple gospel, and it may become palatable. We have advanced to a strange pass in our tastes touching the gospel of the Son of God. (Buffalo Christian Advertiser.)