Trumpet

TRUMPET. The Lord commanded Numb. x. 2, 3, 4, 5, &c.Moses to make two Trumpets of beaten Silver, to be made use of to call the People together, when they were to decamp. He adds, “ After you shall “ have sounded these Trumpets, all the “ People shall assemble to you at the Entry of the Tabernacle of the Covenant. “ If you sound but once, the Princes “ and chief of the People of Israel, shall “ come to you: But if the Sound of the “ Trumpet is longer, and more interrupted, then those that are on the East “ side shall decamp first. At the second “ Sound of the Trumpet, those that are “ to the South shall take down their “ Tents. At the third Sounding, those “ that are to the West: And at the “ fourth, those that are to the North “ shall decamp. But when it is only to “ assemble the People, the Trumpets “ shall sound with a more simple and “ uniform Blast, and not with an interrupted or discontinued Sound.

“The Priests the Sons of Aaron shall only have the Privilege of sounding the Trumpets, and this shall be an immutable Law throughout all your Generations. They shall sound when you go forth to War against your Enemies, and the Lord your God shall remember you to succour you. They shall also sound when you are to keep your religious Festivals, when you celebrate your solemn Feasts; when you offer your Burnt-Offerings, and your Peace-Offerings; and on the first Day of every Month.” They also chiefly made use of these Trumpets, to proclaim the Beginning of the Civil Year, the Beginning of the Sabbatical Year,¹ and the Beginning of the Jubilee. Levit. xxv. 9, 10. Joseph. Antiq. l. 3. c. 11.Josephus says, that these Trumpets were near a Cubit long, and had a Tube or Pipe of the Thickness of a common Flute. Their Mouths were no wider than just to blow into them, and their Ends were like those of a modern Trumpet. At first there were but two in the Camp, but afterwards they made a greater number. Even in the time of Joshua there Josh. vi. 4. 2 Chron. v. 12.were seven of them. At the Dedication of the Temple of Solomon there were six score Priests that sounded the Trumpets. Josephus will have it, that this Prince made two hundred thousand Trumpets, as Moses had commanded. I know not from whence he took this Account, of so great number of Trumpets.

Besides the sacred Trumpets of the Temple, the use of which was restrained to the Priests only, even in War and in the Battel, there were others, which the Generals made use of sometimes, to gather their Troops together. For example, Ehud Judg. vi. 27.sounded the Trumpet, to assemble the Israelites against the Moabites, who oppressed them, and whose King Eglon he had lately slain. Gideon took a Trumpet in his Hand, and gave every one of his People Judg. vii. 2, 16.one, when he assaulted the Midianites. Joab sounded the Trumpet, to give the Signal of Retreat to his Soldiers, in the 2 Sam. ii. 28. 2 Sam. xviii. 16.Battel against those of Abner’s Party, and in that against Absalom; and lastly, in the Pursuit of Sheba the Son of Bichri. We may see the same thing in twenty other Places of the History of the Hebrews.

The Feast of Trumpets: It was kept on the first Day of the seventh Month of the Sacred Year, which was the first of the Civil Year. This Month was called Tizri, and answered to the Moon of September. The Beginning of the Year was proclaimed by Sound of Trumpet: This Day was kept solemn; all servile Business was forbid to be done upon it. They offered a solemn Holocaust upon it, in the name of the whole Nation, of a Calf, two Rams, and seven Lambs, of the same Year, with the Offerings of Flour and Wine, that were usual with these Sacrifices. The Scripture does not acquaint us with the Occasion of appointing this Feast. Theodoret believes, it was in memory of the Thunder and Lightning upon Mount Sinai, when God gave his Law from thence. The Rabbins will have it, that it was in Remembrance of the Deliverance of Isaac, in whose stead a Ram was sacrificed by Abraham.

At present the Jews are accustomed upon this Evening to wish one another a good Year, to make better Chear than ordinary, and to sound the Trumpet thirty times successively. Leo of Modena observes, that heretofore there was a Dispute among the Rabbins concerning the Time at which the World began. Some maintained it was at the Beginning of the Spring, and others at Autumn. But the Opinion prevailed that placed the Beginning in Autumn; and ‘twas upon this Occasion that the Feast of Trumpets was founded, which is kept on the Beginning of Tizri, which answers to our September. During this Feast, which lasts the two first Days of the Month, all Labour and Business are suspended. The Jews hold it from Tradition, that on this Day God particularly judges of the Actions of the foregoing Year, and disposes of the Events of the Year following. Wherefore, on the first Days of the foregoing Month, or at least, eight Days before the Feast of Trumpets, they generally apply themselves to Works of Penitence and Mortification; and the Evening before, many of them cause to be given them thirty -nine blows with a Whip, by way of Discipline.

On the first Evening that begins the Year, and which precedes the first Day of Tizri, as they return from the Synagogue they say to one another, May you be written in a good Year; the other answers, And you also. Being returned into their Houses, they serve at Table Honey and leavened Bread, and whatever may betoken a happy and plentiful Year. Some of them on the Morning of these two Feasts go to the Synagogue cloathed in White, as a Token of Purity and Penitence. Among the Germans, some of ‘em then wear the Habit that they have appointed for their Burial; and this in a sense of Mortification. This Day they repeat in the Synagogue several particular Prayers and Benedictions. They take the Pentateuch very solemnly out of the Chest, and they read to five Persons the Sacrifice that was performed on that Day. Then they sound twenty times upon a Horn, sometimes after a very slow manner, and then very briskly. They say it is to make them think of the Judgments of God, to intimidate Sinners, and to induce them to repent. After some Prayers they return to their Houses, sit down at Table, and pass the rest of the Day in hearing some Sermons, and in other Exercises of Devotion. The two Days of the Feast are just alike.

To prepare themselves for the Feast of Trumpets, or for the Beginning of the Civil Year, many Jews plunge themselves into cold Water, and as they sink in they confess their Sins, and beat their Breasts. They plunge over Head and Ears, that they may appear entirely clean to the Eyes of God. They think that on this Day God assembles his Council, or his Angels, and that he opens his Books to judge all Men. Three sorts of Books are opened; the Book of Life, for the Just; the Book of Death, for the Wicked, and the Book of a Middle State, for such Men as are neither entirely good, nor entirely bad. In the two Books of Life and of Death, there are two kinds of Pages; one for this Life, and the other for Eternity. For it often happens, that the Wicked are not punished in this Life according to their Demerits, and that the Just are used with Severity, as if they had incurred the Anger of God. This Conduct of God is the Occasion that no one can be sure of his Condition, but is always uncertain, whether he is worthy to be loved or hated. As for the middling ones, who are neither quite good, nor quite bad, they are not written down any where, as the Jews say; God stays till the Day of Expiation, which is the tenth of the Year, to try if they will be converted. On this Day their Sentence passes, and their Fate is determined, whether for Life or Death, according to their Merits.

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