With Rosh Hashanah coming up, I am thinking about the sound of the shofar. These are the verses from the Torah that are the basis for the Hebrew New Year, Rosh Hashanah:
Leviticus 23:24 (NIVl) -- “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.’”
Numbers 29:1 -- “On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.”
The KEY phrase in Leviticus 23:24 is "zikhron teruah" (“memorial of blowing”), which is interpreted by the rabbis and tradition as a command to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah.
Numbers 29:1 calls it "yom teruah," literally “the day of sounding the shofar,” making the shofar central to Rosh Hashanah observance.
The verses in Leviticus and Numbers beg the question: What Trumpet blast(s) are we remembering? The first is of course the sound at Sinai. We are remembering the sound of the trumpet at Sinai when God spoke to Moses and he received the Tablets of Testimony, the Ten Commandments.
19:16-19 (NIV) -- On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
The Battle of Jericho
There is another very memorable moment in Torah when there was a great sounding of Shofars. It was after Joshua crossed into the land God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which Moses led the Hebrew Israelites to. It was at the Battle of Jericho.
Joshua 5:13-15 (NIV) -- 13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"14 "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
Joshua 6:1–5 (NIV) -- 1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
Joshua was instructed by the Lord to fight the battle spiritually -- with trumpet blasts.
I remember about ten years when I was in a Torah study class before the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The rabbi asked the students, about 15 of us, the question. "What do you remember when you hear the sound of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah?" Rabbi went around the table we were all sitting at and everyone gave an answer of what they remembered -- of what was on our mind when we heard the sound of the Shofar in temple on Rosh Hashanah.
Each of us described our thoughts. Some remembered their mother's cooking during the holidays. Others remembered their family getting all dressed up for temple. I could relate to almost all of their memories. I was the last one going around the table to speak.
For me, when I hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah I let transport me back in time and place to the base of Mount Sinai. The sound of the cries and vibrations from shofars filling the space seem to trigger a memory in my DNA. I imagine the powerful and awful (frightening) sound that my ancient ancestors must have felt at Sinai.
Conclusion
Shema, Hear oh Israel...
Epilogue:
WAITING IN JERICHO
I would be remiss if I didn't add the story of the prostitute Rahab who saved Joshua's spies in Jericho to this blog post. After all, this is where in the Hebrew scriptures we first hear the word "Tikvah" used. A Tikvah is a scarlet chord. It's also the hebrew word for "hope" and the name of Israel's national anthem, The Hope, HaTikvah.
Joshua sent spies to scope out Jericho. Rabab hid them for their safety. Joshua instructs Rahab to hang a scarlet cord/thread (a tikvah) out her window as a "sure sign" so Joshua could find and spare her family during the invasion.
Joshua 2:17-18 (NIV) -- "Now then, give us a sure sign. When the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you."
"Tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers and all your family."
This scarlet cord/thread (tikvah in Hebrew) represents the hope and guarantee to Rahab that she and her family would be rescued when the Israelites conquered Jericho. It was a literal sign of deliverance amid uncertainty of battle. When Rahab heard the shofars being blown around Jericho, it was the time of her salvation.
There is a shadow of the Passover story in the verses of Joshua concerning Rahad and the oath regarding the Tikvah. Rahab's salvation has been called "The second Passover" by some. Here is a link to the Hebrew with translation on Chabad. Read Joshua 2 versus 1-19 and see if you can see the parallels:
Yehoshua - Joshua - Chapter 2 - Tanakh Online - Torah
Some commentators see Rahab’s deliverance as a personal reenactment or “second Passover,” shifting from communal (all Israel) to personal salvation.
The sequence surrounding Rahab—Israel crossing Jordan (like the Red Sea), celebrating Passover in the Promised Land, then Jericho’s destruction and Rahab’s salvation—mirrors the Exodus/Passover pattern.
So when we hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah we can be reminded of both Revelation at Sinai AND the battle of Jericho when Rahab is saved.