Friday, November 9, 2012

Trumpets of silver


(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 10:1–10, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest 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 thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations. And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.”
There were about 2 million people travelling through the desert during this period of history. These people were all fed and given enough water, this was also true for all their domestic animals and stock as well. This could only happen if everything was well organised and nothing was left to chance. The Lord took control of the situation and told Moses what to do from day to day so that they could all survive without experiencing a huge disaster. They were given food in the morning and the Lord provided food at the right time but everything had to be done in an orderly fashion. In order to make sure that all this happened the Lord told them to make trumpets to sound alarms. The trumpets made clear calls and everyone understood what they meant and the entire nation were able to move in an orderly fashion (compare 1 Cor 14: 8, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”) There was also a special alarm that could be blown when they nation was in trouble during a time or war and the Lord would intervene to save them from trouble.

No comments:

Post a Comment