Today we begin Numbers Chapter Ten.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
Numbers Chapter Ten goes into the details of the final preparations Israel must undertake before they enter into the wilderness.
Recall that the 12 tribes of Israel will be neatly divided by three.
In other words, there will be four 3-tribe divisions with each 3-tribe group being assigned to encamp at a specific place around the Tabernacle.
The final preparations discussed here goes into detail about the trumpets used that were hammered out of silver.
In those days, the blowing of these trumpets were the signals used to alert the people that an important decree or instruction from God had just been given.
Think of them like the school bell that goes off to signal when the lunch hour ended and and lets all the rowdy school kids know it’s time to hightail back into the classroom.
We’re not really given much information about what these trumpets actually looked like.
However, there are some ancient coins from this era that have pictures of these trumpets engraved on them.
This gives us an idea of just how vital a role these trumpets played in ancient Israel.
There is also an ancient piece of architecture known as the Arch of Titus constructed in A.D. 32 by the Roman Emperor Domitian to commemorate his older brother Titus’s victories that also has pictures of the Silver Trumpets engraved on them.
This Arch of Titus is located on the Via Sacra in Rome just to southeast of the Roman Forum.
Visually speaking, these trumpets were basically a straight tube about a foot and a half in length that flared out at their ends.
The purpose of the trumpets was simple: to direct Israel as a military force.
And of course, this use of trumpets was not unique to Israel.
In ancient times, the nations have always used the blowing of horns or the beating of drums as rallying cries to begin a war.
From verse 3, we’re given specific instructions on how the trumpets are to be used to direct the actions and movements of the people of Israel.
To be continued…
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