Shofar Sounds ~ Blasts
Note: Scroll to bottom of page for Shofar sound clips...
The Shofar is the ritual instrument of the ancient and modern Hebrews, the only Hebrew cultural instrument to have survived until now. Of martial origin, the shofar was a priestly instrument in Biblical times.
The shofar was not primarily a musical instrument. Its purpose had more to do with the making of an announcement - a proclamation of what was to follow.
Two types of shofars were used: the small one is the ram's horn, while the larger Yemenite shofar comes from an African antelope called the Kudu.
The shofar was sounded:
As an instrument of proclamation, announcing the presence or coming of the Lord...
"And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice." (Exodus 19:19 NKJV)
"When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord you God, and you will be saved from your enemies." (Numbers 10:9 NKJV)
To assemble the people...
"Therefore, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us." (Nehemiah 4:20 NKJV)
To call God's people to worship Him...
"So it shall be in that day that the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." (Isaiah 26:13 NKJV)
At the swearing of an oath to God...
"Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams' horns." (2 Chronicles 15:14 NKJV)
In the midst of battle...
"Then the Lord will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south." (Zechariah 9:14 NKJV)
To announce the beginning of festivals...
"Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his own possession, and each of you shall return to his family.." (Leviticus 25:9-10 NKJV)
NOTE: One of the Hebrew words for "trumpet" is also the word for "jubilee." The "Year of Jubilee" began with the sounding of the trumpet. 1998 marks the beginning of Israel's first 50 year "Jubilee" since becoming a nation in 1948...
At the return of Jesus, the Messiah...
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NKJV)
The Various Sounds Produced By The Shofar...
The Shevarim: Hearing the Brokeness of the World; Shevarim is a wailing sound, a mournful dole. As "Shevarim" itself means broken things, shevarim gives voice to the brokeness of the world. It echoes the pain of our lives; a "broken," sighing sound of three short calls.
