Blast From the Past

Blast From the Past

Arthur L. Finkle

Pre-historic humankind utilized whatever was useful in their environment. Wherever the primitive lived, they utilized the available materials to signal. Hindus also utilize the Conch Trumpet.

Where is the Shofar in the Bible?

Commentators have tracked the word “Shofar” in 7 parts of the Hebrew Scripture: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua Chronicles and 5-psalms

In the first five books of Moses, Shofar is cited:

Exodus 19:12-14

There are references to the Shofar in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, that Gabriel will announce the Messiah with the sound the Shofar.

Temple Sacrifices

The burnt, grain, peace, sin, and guilt offering composed the basic sacrificial system of Israel. The sacrificial system taught the necessity of dealing with sin and, at the same time, demonstrated that God had provided a way for dealing with sin.

1. Burnt offering (olah). 2. Grain offering (minchah; “meat offering” in KJV). (Leviticus 2:13),

3. Peace offering . As with the burnt offering, the individual laid a hand on the animal and killed it. 4. Sin offering was designed to deal with sin that was committed unintentionally. The sacrifice varied according to who committed the sin.

5. Guilt offering. This is hard to distinguish from the sin offering (Leviticus 4-5). In Leviticus 5:6-7, the guilt offering is called the sin offering.

Interestingly the sacrifice system is found in the New Testament.Hebrews portrays Jesus as the sinless high priest who offered himself up as a sacrifice for sinners (Leviticus 7:27). The book ends with an encouragement to offer sacrifices of praise to God through Jesus.

After the Romans destroyed the Holy Temple, the sacrificial cult terminated.

The Sounds

Thereafter, two Priests stood atop of a marble stand near the altar signaling trumpet blasts: tekiah, tekiah and teruah. A long note followed a series of short notes; then another long note.

In the Mishnah (gathering the laws of the Bible, written in 200 CE by great-grandchildren of those who worshipped at The Temple in Jerusalem) there is a difference of opinion when reciting the manner of Shofar sounding in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sages indicate that on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) Two Shofars and one trumpet are sounded at the sacrifices. There is also a dispute as to what the Shofar sounds should be. The Sages agreed on the “Teki'ah" blast) but differed in “Teruah" note. The Rabbis compromised by adding all both sounds in the service.

Reasons for Sounding the Shofar