Trumpets and horns/shofars are mentioned many times in Scripture. The trumpet/shofar was used to call the Hebrew nation to assembly and was most commonly used as a warning of, and summons to, war; and throughout the Bible during Appointed Times of the Lord, in processions, musical performances, and acts of devotion.
Judg. 3:27; 1 Cor. 14:8.
Only the Priests were allowed to sound these silver trumpet shofars.
The trumpets most people think of are those in the Book of Revelation, seven trumpets are sounded, one at a time, to cue apocalyptic events seen by John in his vision Revelation 1:1,9. The seven trumpets are sounded by seven angels and the events that follow are described in detail from Revelation Chapts. 8 -11.
Readers may be familiar with the term the last Trump/trumpet which is part of the description in the Paul’s 1st letter to the assembly in Corinth. It is actually a reference to the 100th trumpet blast sounded during the Feast of Trumpets. The 100th Trump is the final or the last trump; and this is one of those references in which Hebrew idioms must be understood as it represents a specific moment at the very end of the proceedings.
The Trumpet Shofar blasts have names:
The Tekiah – is a long, single blast. It was straight, plain, smooth, continuous note and it is to symbolize the expression of joy and contentment.
The Shevarim – is three short blasts. A combination of three broken notes to symbolize weeping.
The Truah – Extremely short blasts which are a combination of nine staccato notes in a very quick succession of short trill. This symbolizes trepidation, sorrow and sobbing.
The Tekiah Gedolah – Means “the last trump.” This one symbolizes the hope of redemption. It is a very long, final note.
For more in depth on this subject links below:
https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-the-sound-of-the-trumpet/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/blowing-your-own-trumpet-2/
In the 100 trumpet blasts during the Appointed Time/feast of trumpets, the first of the three categories above are combined back and forth until there is a total of 99 sounds. Then comes the 100th, the Tekiah Gedolah, a very long-sustained note – as long as the trumpeter had breath to hold it, and this is known as the last trump.
Mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and Matthew 24:31 “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
This scripture below in Matthew 6:1-4 includes the words
sounding a trumpet
and it is Jesus/Yeshua warning His disciples about their attitude to giving and it hearkens back to instructions about giving in Deuteronomy 15:7-11.
7 if there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. 8 Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.…9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.… 10 Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.… 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.…
Below versions of Matthew 6:2
1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, 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. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. KJV.
New American Standard Bible
“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
do not sound a trumpet before thee is an idiom meaning:
when giving alms don’t announce it with trumpets.
We have an idiom which is similar when we say:
‘sounding your own trumpet’
its’ meaning: a person is boasting of their own deeds.
This figure of speech/idiom, describes a vain/prideful person as being “their own trumpeter,” or making a “flourish of trumpets” about their own acts, probably common in every country where trumpets have been used. What is meant in scripture is that, whether it is in the offering receptacles of the synagogue, or the alms given to beggars in the streets; there was such a show of generous giving designed to cause men to stare and admire.
To better understand Messiah Jesus, it is beneficial to try to understand the social and cultural background of His Life and times.
Using the Hebrew language is the best way we can get an authentic concept for the culture that has so influenced our lives today.
WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY DEFINES “IDIOMS” AS:
A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elementsA. A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon: legal idiom.
B. A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people.
We look and no doubt when we read this phrase
we naturally think…
Sounding the Shofar
is referring to
sounding the trumpets/blowing the shofar.
Sounding the trumpet as found in Matthew 6:1-4, is a warning by the Messiah to His Disciples, not to sound the trumpet when giving Alms.
During the first century, Alms was a synonym for a charitable gift that was required to be given to the poor.
The word alms
in the Aramaic language is the word
zedhqatha
which means:
a right, or righteous act, the proper thing to do.
Jesus/Yeshua was obviously not against giving to the poor as He had already agreed with the need for these Alms to be given as commanded in the Torah, God’s teaching and instruction in Deuteronomy 15:10; and that there was a reward for all who offered gifts to the poor. The Ancient Hebrews believed that there were 3 evidences of the purity of a man’s heart that would be seen, if the man or woman had repented of sin and was faithfully following the Lord.
These 3 qualities were: Prayer, Charity and Repentance.
Collection boxes are still in Jewish Communities today, and are called tzedakah boxes or righteousness boxes.
Every person is expected to do mitvahs = good deeds.
Tzedakah box,
also known by its Yiddish word, pushke, is a:
receptacle for collecting money that is designated for charity.
The Hebrew word tzedakah comes from the root tzedek,
meaning: justice.
Giving money and resources to those in need
is understood to be an act of justice.
Many families decorate boxes or cans, and make a habit of putting money in them before Shabbat. When they are full the money is taken out and given to a person or organization in need.
Tzedakah (צְדָקָה) often translated as charity, is a mainstay in Israel of Jewish life. The sages teach that the world was built upon kindness. Tzedakah goes one step beyond.
The name “ Tzedek Box” comes from the Hebrew root צ.ד.ק. meaning “righteousness.”
Tzedakah is a way of looking at the world and understanding the human role in creating a more perfect world—and by doing so, imitating qualities of the Divine.
tzedakah (charity and righteousness),
chesed (kindness), and
mishpat (justice).
The “right hand” is the higher spiritual element in us that leads to acts of true charity;
the “left” is the baser, self-seeking nature.
As far as
Let not thy left hand know…..
This phrase was probably proverbial, and points to and in a way, overemphasizes, extreme secrecy. It’s possible that there may be some reference to the practice of using the right hand as was usual in offering gifts at the altar and was thought to exclude the mingling of motives.
Many people were forced into begging because of unjust rulers who placed heavy taxes and tributes on them, reducing some people to a level of poverty. They were then forced to beg to survive, yet these were hardworking people, the ones who found it extremely embarrassing to beg for a handout. That is maybe why Jesus/Yeshua used this old Aramaic expression when He said do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, in other words do not let anyone know that you are giving alms so as not to embarrass the person who is receiving the support. Jewish sages teach that to humiliate a person in public is as bad as committing murder, so was Jesus/Yeshua only enforcing this understanding of a zedhqatha or alms, the doing of a righteous act?
To understand Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, as a proverbial expression for doing a thing secretly is also to do it as secretly as it is done consistently, first with the fact that an individual is choosing to do it at all; and secondly, doing it in the most effectual manner for the need and never speaking of it afterward, unless there be good reasons for making it known.
That thine alms may be in secret. May be known to none but God, whose glory thou must have in view in all thy works, whether of piety, justice, or charity, and whose will it must be thy intention to obey in all things. And thy Father, which seeth in secret. Who knows every circumstance of mews most retired and private actions; himself shall reward thee openly.
Tamara qarna are the exact words used in the Aramaic Bible for sound the trumpet.
However the rabbinic textual experts, render this as do not pass the trumpet. Qarna means the horn of an animal, which would fit the description of a shofar. In the first century synagogues the poor box or the alms box was in the shape of a shofar and in many cases was a real shofar. It would be in a quiet area of the synagogue where people could discretely drop in coins for the poor and was western equivalent to the poor box in a church.
It was not the act of giving in public that Messiah had a problem with, but the fact that the men in the synagogue had started passing around the shofar and taking note of who gave what and how much. Sometimes the religious men in the synagogue would even take the shofar out into the streets and call upon people to drop some coins in the trumpet; and this may be what Messiah was addressing, not blowing a trumpet but passing a trumpet or offering plate?
More than likely it was the attempt by some religious people to bring attention to how much they gave that He was addressing.
The words probably refer to the clang of the coins as they fell into the metal trumpet-shaped alms-boxes in the synagogue. This clanging sound came as sweet music to the ears of the proud giver; and it seems the pharisees never missed an opportunity to show off their self righteousness and would drop large handfuls of coins into these wooden containers which would make a very loud sound as the coins raced through the narrow funnel!
In the tzedakah boxes,
this was known as
“sounding the trumpets”
in an attempt to draw peoples attention to
the givers act of “righteousness”.
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