month, the fact that both the 'shout', the 'voice' and the 'trumpets' are all

used in the New Testament in connection with the Second Coming of Christ will

show how closely this festal year keeps pace with the order of prophetic

fulfilment (1 Thess. 4:16; Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52).  The hope of the

Church of the Mystery, finds no place in this prophetic forecast.

On more than one occasion there is a connection between the sounding of

a trumpet and the voice of the Lord, as at Sinai (Exod. 19:16,19) and in the

day of the Lord (Rev. 1:10; 4:1).  The trumpets employed in Israel's

ceremonies were of two kinds.  The shophar trumpet was so named because the

word means brightness, and refers particularly to the clearness of its note.

It is this trumpet that was sounded at Sinai (Exod. 19:16), at Jericho (Josh.

6:4) and by Nehemiah (Neh. 4:18,20), and it is the trumpet which was

sometimes made of a 'ram's horn' (Josh. 6:6).  This trumpet was employed in

making announcements, for calling the people together for assembly, war, or

other occasions.  It should be noted that the words 'ram's horn' in Joshua

6:4,5,6,8,13 translate the Hebrew yobel, not the Hebrew shophar.

The chatsotserah.  Authorities differ as to the original meaning of

this word.  It is very possible that it is onomatopoetic, that is imitative,

somewhat like the Latin taratantara, or the hunting horn tantivy.  This was a

straight trumpet, differing from the shophar which was bent like a horn.

These trumpets were of beaten silver (Num. 10:2); a description of this

trumpet is given by Josephus in his Antiquities.  These trumpets were used

for calling the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.  One trumpet

was the summons of the princes and the heads of the thousands of Israel.  A

different sound indicated an alarm, from that which was blown at the offering

of sacrifice (Num. 10:1 -10).  The language of Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:8

takes on fuller significance when read in the light of Numbers 10:

'If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to

the battle?' (1 Cor. 14:8).

The blowing of trumpets at the opening of the seventh month assembled

the children of Israel to the most solemn day of their year, the day of

Atonement.  In the Talmud, this feast or fast is called by pre -eminence 'The

day', and this may have been in the apostle's mind when he used

the word hemera, 'day', in Hebrews 10:25.  The day of Atonement fell on the

tenth day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:27), and a whole chapter of Leviticus

is devoted to the description of the ritual observed.  The structure

indicates the main features, and is as follows: