Trumpets in the Bible

God wants our minds to remain on spiritual things. That is why He gives us physical symbols. They help us remember specific lessons, especially regarding His master plan for mankind. Often this is through historical or prophetic events that contain rich meaning for Christians. The seven annual Holy Days do just this.

Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread picture God bringing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt—and Christians today coming out of bondage from sin. Pentecost was when God gave the Law to ancient Israel and started the New Testament Church. Atonement pictures the coming time when all mankind will be “at one” with God, the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the Kingdom on Earth and the Last Great Day is tied to the “day of the Lord” mentioned throughout the Bible.

Each of these days have even more layers of meaning, but the past and future events they point to are pretty specific.

The Feast of Trumpets also has past events tied to it. For example, the altar for Zerubbabel’s Temple was built on this day (Ezra 3:6). Yet God seems to want us to apply much grander meaning to this momentous festival. Read the command for this first of the fall Holy Days in Leviticus 23:24: “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”

A memorial of blowing of trumpets. We are to remember the blowing of trumpets on this Holy Day. Because there are a lot of trumpets blown in the Bible, it means there is a lot to keep in mind when looking at this day!

Anciently, the Israelites blew the shofar—an instrument made from a ram’s horn—in observance of this feast day, which is called Rosh Hashanah by the Jews today. Yet the importance of trumpets goes well beyond one specific day of the year.

This instrument was involved in other Holy Days too. The first time the term “trumpet” appears in the Bible is in Exodus 19 when God thundered out the Ten Commandments: “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice” (vs. 19). This occurred on Pentecost! The full account over chapters 19 and 20 emphasizes the trumpet four times.

Trumpets were also blown on the Day of Atonement. Speaking of the Jubilee release, Leviticus 25:9 says, “Then shall you cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.”

Even more, trumpets are used as symbols throughout the Bible and carry various meanings. They were blown in the past, they have meaning for us today—and they will be used in astonishing prophetic events in the very near future.

As we keep the Feast of Trumpets each year, we should remember five major meanings God attaches to this ubiquitous musical instrument.

(1) Announcements

Throughout the Bible, trumpets are blown to accompany the proclamation of crucial information.

On Pentecost, God was announcing His Ten Commandments to Israel, and establishing them for all people who would come after. On Atonement, the trumpet was blown to announce the Jubilee. This was a formal acknowledgment that any land purchased during the previous five decades was to be returned to the original owners and that anyone who had fallen on hard times and sold themselves as bondservants were now freed from their charge.

Matthew 6 illustrates a negative use of the trumpet for announcement. Jesus taught, “When you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward” (vs. 2). The Pharisees were blowing trumpets to announce their good works.

Hearing the noise of modern trumpets makes this principle easier to understand. The loud sound it emits prompts anyone in earshot to sit up and take notice. It is natural for God to use this instrument to get people’s attention to receive information.

Isaiah 58:1 makes this clear. Speaking to an end-time servant, God commands, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

(2) Gathering the People

In Numbers 10, God commanded Moses, “Make you two trumpets of silver…that you may use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to you at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (vs. 2-3).

God gave specific instructions for how to blow these trumpets to gather the princes and the congregation of Israel. These instruments played an integral part in Moses’ leadership. Without them, communication and assembly would have been much more challenging and time-consuming.

Others of God’s leaders used the trumpet in like manner. Judges 6 tells the story of Gideon destroying the altar of Baal. Verse 34 records that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.” What did Gideon do immediately after the Holy Spirit’s power came? “He blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered after him.”

Yet this was not only a divinely ordained assembly system used in the Old Testament. The trumpet blast signifying the gathering of God’s “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) is actually a forerunning type of when He will assemble a much larger group in prophecy.

Notice I Thessalonians 4: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (vs. 16-17).

Matthew 24:31 says, “He [God] shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

All of God’s faithful servants, past and present, are awaiting the sound of this trumpet to be “caught up together…in the clouds.”

(3) Call to Battle

The silver trumpets of Numbers 10 had another distinct, important purpose: “If you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies” (vs. 9).

Further instructions in this chapter make clear that blowing the exact same instruments that were used for assembly using a different method would signal to Israel it was time to go to battle.

Trumpets were used for war not only under Moses’ leadership. Notice their role in the fall of Jericho: “The Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into your hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And you shall compass the city, all you men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shall you do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets” (Josh. 6:2-4).

Joshua and the people followed God’s instructions, and as a result, “it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord has given you the city” (vs. 16). Take time to read the entire chapter.

God also invokes the trumpet in the context of His coming wrath: “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hastes greatly…A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers” (Zeph. 1:14, 16).

(4) Celebration

II Chronicles 5 describes the time when King Solomon and Israel celebrated the finished temple: “Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished…Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord” (vs. 1-2).

What follows is a description of a huge gathering and celebration in Israel. Trumpets were an important element of this joyful time: “It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endures for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord” (vs. 13).

This instrument is seen to be a symbol of celebration in various places in Scripture. Notice Psalm 98:6: “With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.” Psalm 150:3 says, “Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp.”

You may remember a trumpet being played for offertory music or special music at the Feast of Tabernacles or in your local congregation. It can produce beautiful music that evokes feelings of happiness.

(5) Prophecy Fulfilled

Besides the historical use of the trumpet to foreshadow future events, God also uses it directly in prophecy. Revelation 8 speaks of “the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound” (vs. 6). Chapters 8 to 11 describe each angel (or messenger) sounding their trumpet and the climactic events that follow.

Revelation 10:7 zeroes in on the seventh messenger: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets.”

A trumpet is also invoked among the very first verses of Revelation: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (1:10).

While not every prophetic trumpet blast must be fulfilled on the Feast of Trumpets, every one of them underscores the richness of meaning God associated with the symbol.

A Pivotal Symbol

When you observe the annual memorial of blowing of Trumpets, keep these five purposes in mind. Even more, allow all the trumpet blasts—from the distant past in ancient Israel to the prophetic future involving God’s Kingdom—to ring out in your mind.

Trumpet blasts should get our attention. If there are changes we need to make in our lives, allow God’s Word to cry aloud and motivate us to change. They can be our call to battle as Christian soldiers.

Most important, when meditating on the symbolism of trumpets, remember it indicates God’s divine involvement in our lives. Allow the messages of this enduring symbol to carry across time and help us press forward.

Let’s all yearn to hear the blast of I Corinthians 15: “Behold, I show 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (vs. 51-52).