The Great Shofar
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There is a really catchy song that was written by Craig Terndrup back in ‘83 that goes like this:
They rush on the city; they run on the wall. Great is the army that carries out His Word. They rush on the city; they run on the wall. Great is the army that carries out His Word. The Lord utters His voice before His army. The Lord utters His voice before His army.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion. Sound the alarm on My holy mountain. Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion. Sound the alarm.
But I wonder if those singing the song actually know what they are asking for?
Let’s start by reading the Scripture that it comes from: Joel 2:1-11
Blow the shofar in Zion! Sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all living in the land tremble— for the day of Adonai is coming— surely it is near! A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as blackness spreads over the mountains. A great and mighty people— from antiquity there was never anything like it, nor after it ever again from generation to generation. A fire devours before them and behind them flame blazes up. Like the Garden of Eden is the land before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Nothing at all ever escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses— they gallop like war horses. Like the clatter of chariots, they leap on the tops of mountains, like crackling flame of fire devouring stubble, like a mighty horde in battle array. Before them peoples are in anguish. All faces become ashen gray. They run like mighty men. They climb a wall like men of war. They each march in line, never deviating from their ways. One does not crowd another. Each one marches on his own highway. They plunge through the weapons, never breaking off. They rush on the city, they run on the wall, they climb up into the houses, coming through the windows like a thief. Before them land quakes, heaven trembles, sun and moon become dark, stars withdraw their brightness. Adonai utters His voice before His army. For His camp is very vast—for mighty is it that carries out His word. For great is the day of Adonai— very terrifying! Who can endure it?
Call of War and Judgement
Call of War and Judgement
The prophet Joel saw a plague of locust destroying the land. This plague blocked out the sun, destroyed all produce like a fire, marched through the land like an army, and was driven, as Joel says, by Adonai Himself.
The first thing to note is that the sounding of the Shofar is a call to war. We have seen this several times in our study of Jeremiah. Jer. 4:5
Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, saying: “Blow the shofar in the land!” Cry aloud and say, “Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities.”
My stomach, my stomach! I writhe in anguish! The pain of my heart! My heart is pounding within me! I cannot keep silent because I have heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the battle-cry of war. Disaster on disaster is reported. So the whole land is ruined. My tents are suddenly ravaged, my curtains in an instant. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the shofar?
Other passages in Jeremiah include: Jer. 6:1 & 17.
We see this usage of the Shofar through out many of the prophets, including the passage from Joel that we just read.
In Joel 2:15 we see a slight different use of the Shofar.
Blow the shofar in Zion! Sanctify a fast; proclaim an assembly.
Here the Shofar is used to assemble people together for repentance. But we can not escape the reality that the call to repentance has come after the judgement that Adonai sent. Later on in the passage, it seems that the people do repent, and then Adonai promises to Joel 2:25 ““restore to you the years that the locust, the swarming locust, the canker-worm and the caterpillar have eaten— My great army that I sent among you.””
Praising the Lord
Praising the Lord
When the Psalmists use the word “Shofar” they usually use it with the idea of praising Adonai. One of the clearest examples is found in Ps. 150
Halleluyah! Praise God in His Sanctuary! Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His acts of power. Praise Him for His enormous greatness. Praise Him with the blast of the shofar. Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and dance. Praise Him with string instruments and flute. Praise Him with clash of cymbals. Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let every thing that has breath praise Adonai. Halleluyah!
Other examples in the Psalms of this would include Ps. 47:6, Ps. 98:6 & Ps. 81:4
Announcing the King
Announcing the King
Most of us will have seen the news, of King Charles III being announced, and heard the fanfare of trumpets. However this is not the first king to be announced by trumpets, and it won’t be the last. We read in 1 Ki. 1:33-35
the king said to them: “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. There let Zadok the kohen and Nathan the prophet anoint him as king over Israel, blow the shofar and say: ‘Long live King Solomon!’ Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne. For he shall be king in my place, as I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.”
All the people went up after him, while the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the ground shook at their noise.
This tradition continued throughout Israel’s history as we see with Jehu in 2 Ki. 9:13
Then they hurried and every man took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and blew the shofar, saying, “Jehu is king!”
But every king from then until now has been a disappointment. They have not lived up to the calling in Ps. 2:6-8
“I have set up My king upon Zion, My holy mountain.” I will declare the decree of Adonai. He said to me: “You are My Son— today I have become Your Father. Ask Me, and I will give the nations as Your inheritance, and the far reaches of the earth as Your possession.
Which is why the Psalmist has to refer to Adonai when he writes in Ps. 98:5-6
Sing praises to Adonai with the harp, with the harp and a voice of melody. With trumpets and sound of the shofar blast a sound before the King, Adonai.
Truly, Adonai is King. In fact the first time that the word Shofar occurs is announcing the coming of Adonai on Mount Sinai. Ex. 19:16
In the morning of the third day, there was thundering and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and the blast of an exceedingly loud shofar. All the people in the camp trembled.
So in summary:
SHOPHAR: A curved musical instrument made of a ram’s horn (Heb. šôp̱ār, “trumpet” or “horn”). The shophar produces two tones, and is important for its signaling quality rather than its musicality. Its sound carried a long way, and thus it was used to signal attack (Josh. 6:4; Judg. 3:27), sound the alarm of war (Jer. 4:19), prepare for war (51:27), suspend battle and recall troops (2 Sam. 2:28; 18:16), and declare victory (1 Sam. 13:3). It was also used to praise God in worship (Ps. 98:6; 150:3), announce the accession of a king (2 Sam. 15:10; 1 Kgs. 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs. 9:13), summon the Israelites to Sinai (Exod. 19:13, 16, 19; 20:18; cf. Heb. 12:19), proclaim the New Year Festival (Lev. 23:24; Num. 29:1), and herald the arrival of the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (1 Chr. 15:28). It warns of God’s judgment (Hos. 5:8; Amos 2:2), the day of the Lord (Joel 2:1; Zeph. 1:16), and eschatological revelation (Isa. 27:13; Zech. 9:14; Rev. 8:2, 6, 12; 9:1, 13).
Yeshua’s Statement
Yeshua’s Statement
Well, Now I I want to look at how the New Covenant writers used the word Shofar. Let’s look at the words of Yeshua recorded by Matt. 24:29-31
“But immediately after the trouble of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. He will send out His angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together His chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Yeshua is quoting from multiple prophets as He speaks to his Talmidim about the Day of the Lord. The first verse is quoting from: Isa. 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Ezek. 32:7; Joel 2:10; 3:4(2:31); Zeph. 1:15. As far as we understand, the passage we read in Joel is the oldest of all these prophesies, and forms the foundations for the others. Yeshua is speaking of the day of his return “on the clouds of heaven” a quote from Dan. 7:13.
Let’s look at Zeph. 1:14-18 for some more clarity.
The great day of Adonai is near— near and coming very quickly! The sound of the day of Adonai is bitter— the shouting of the warrior is there. That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastating storm and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of shofar and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high corner towers. I will bring such distress upon mankind that they will walk like the blind— for they have sinned against Adonai. Their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to rescue them on the day of Adonai’s wrath. With the fire of His passion the entire earth will be consumed. For He will make a total, dreadful annihilation of all the inhabitants of the earth.
And then as Yeshua comes we see that He is given glory, honor and dominion over all the earth. Dan. 7:13-14
“I was watching in the night visions. Behold, One like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days, and was brought into His presence. Dominion, glory and sovereignty were given to Him that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.
Every other time in Scripture, when we hear of someone coming with or in the clouds of heaven, it always refers to Adonai. Every other passage, except this one. Who is this man, who has the right, authority and power to come in the clouds, and to approach the Ancient of Days? How is his dominion “an everlasting dominion” that never passes away?
This is Yeshua of Nazareth!
Sha’ul’s Explanation
Sha’ul’s Explanation
Rav. Sha’ul links the blowing of the shofar with the Day of the Lord and the Resurrection of the Righteous. The first passage, is in his letter to the believers in Corinth. 1 Cor. 15:51-52
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last shofar. For the shofar will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
Sha’ul speaks of the last shofar. This links the passage to Exodus 19:16 that we read, but also to the prophesy in Isa. 27:13
It will also come about in that day, a great shofar will be blown. Those perishing in the land of Assyria and the exiles in the land of Egypt will come and worship Adonai on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
A call, on the day of Adonai, that will bring people from around the world to worship in Jerusalem. This is what the prophet sees.
Sha’ul explains more to the believers in Thessalonica 1 Thes. 4:13-18
Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him God will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. For this we tell you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
This passage provides us with some important details:
The Resurrection of the Righteous applies only to those who believe that Yeshua died and rose again
When Yeshua comes it will be loud and obvious, accompined by a shofar blast
The Resurrection of the Righteous occurs on the same day
The Rapture (being caught up) occurs with the Resurrection of the Righteous
Then, we will meet Yeshua in the air
So what happens then? Well for that we have to go to the end of the book. Rev. 20:4-6
Then I saw thrones, and people sat upon them—those to whom authority to judge was given. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yeshua and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image, nor had they received his mark on their forehead or on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. How fortunate and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no authority, but they shall be kohanim of God and the Messiah, and they shall reign with Him for a thousand years.
Yeshua will then rule and reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years!
So finally, the normal blessing for Rosh HaShana, is “May you inscribed in the book of life for a good year!” But in the very next passage of Revelation it says this: Rev. 20:12-13
And I saw the dead—the great and the small—standing before the throne. The books were opened, and another book was opened—the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what was written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Sheol gave up the dead in them. Then they were each judged, each one of them, according to their deeds.
So choose to have your name inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life today!