In high school, I played the trombone. That may or may not matter much to you, but if you were a trombone player also, you’ll identify with the following statement:
Trumpets were the worst. Not trumpet players per se, just…the trumpets.
For starters, there was just way too may of them. Our band had about 13 trombone players, and there were easily close to 30 trumpet players. That’s absurd. No band should ever have that many.
Second, they were all just so loud. An entire line of trumpets blaring in front of us while we were trying to make the sweet music of angels behind them was an insult to Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, and every other composer throughout time that genuinely cared about the sound of their compositions.
I’ll give trumpets one thing though: They are noticeable. From the moment our trumpet line started playing, everyone knew where they were.
Maybe that’s why God chose them to be the ones to communicate certain actions to the entire tribe of Israel. Trombones wouldn’t be able to do that. We’re too musical.
At first glance, the instructions in Numbers 10 seem confusing. Blow once for the leadership (Numbers 10:4), and blow twice for the entire congregation to gather (Numbers 10:3, 7). Sound an alarm once to send the eastern tribes out (Numbers 10:5), sound two alarms to signal the southern camps to head out also (Numbers 10:6).
In the event of an attack, the trumpets were used to sound an alarm as well. It’s notable that when Joshua is told to march around the city of Jericho seven times, those are ram’s horns that the priests use, not these types of trumpets precisely because they were the ones attacking, not being attacked.
Regardless, trumpets are used several times in Scripture to indicate a gathering of sorts. The most famous is probably the description of angels blowing trumpets in Revelation 8-11; that scene ends with the arrival of Jesus alongside the twenty-four elders.
But there’s another noteworthy time we’ll all hear trumpets—at the final resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:52 tells us that at the “last trump,” the dead will be raised and we will be changed. That trumpet may not be silver, but we’ll all hear it and we’ll all be gathered, just like Israel in the wilderness (ref. Also Matthew 24:31).
What will be your first thought when you hear the trumpet, though? Which side of the “alarm” will you be on? For those who are with Christ, it’ll be the rallying cry for you to join the rest of God’s kingdom.
For those who are against Him, it’ll be sound of destruction coming quickly to your doorstep.
