Shofar

Several weeks ago, I had a dream that I heard the trumpet announcing the second coming of the Lord. What a vivid dream it was! So vivid in fact that I awoke in a panic wondering why I was still in bed and not changed in the twinkling of an eye and on my way to meeting the Lord in the air. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was all just a dream. Incidentally, it's not the first time I have had that dream in the past year.....oh, how I long for that dream to come true! I don't think it will be long. The signs are all around us.

The trumpet that sounded in my dream carried a different tone than the brass trumpets of our bands today. Perhaps it was a shofar?....

The Shofar is one of the earliest instruments used in Jewish music, and is traditionally played during the month of Elul, which is the last month in the Hebrew calendar, and during the first ten days of the Hebrew year (the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). The blowing of the Shofar is the only specific commandment for Rosh Hashanah. Just as trumpeters announced the presence of their mortal king, the Shofar is used by Jews to proclaim the coronation of the King of Kings. A person should hear at least 100 blasts from the Shofar on each day of Rosh Hashanah.

It is the one musical instrument that has not changed in over 5,000 years. The Shofar is a trumpet made of an animal's horn, but unlike a trumpet, the shofar has no mouthpiece. The Shofar is preferably made of a bent Ram's horn, but it can also be made from the horns of other Kosher animals, including those of a goat or sheep. A cow or calf's horn is not acceptable for a Kosher Shofar, nor are the antlers of a deer or similar animals whose horns are a solid piece. It also may not be constructed of an artificial instrument - it must be an instrument in its natural form and naturally hollow.

In Biblical times the shofar was blown to announce an important event, such as the alarm of war, to announce the New Moon or to announce holidays. The blast of a Shofar emanating from the thick cloud on Mount Sinai made the Israelites tremble in awe (Exodus) 19:16, "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the Shofar extremely loud; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled." Thus the sound of the Shofar reminds one to strengthen their commitment to the Lord and arouse souls to repentance. The shofar is blown to show that God is accepted as King, as it says in Psalm 98:6, "With trumpets and the sound of the Shofar make a call out before the King, God".

I would like to think that when the Lord gives the order for the angel Gabriel to sound the trumpet announcing His second coming...that it will be the shofar that we hear!



In the meantime....I'm going to keep on dreaming...


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And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old (wo)men shall dream dreams.
-Acts 2:17
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