Shofars – God’s Instrument

The shofar first brings to mind the ram caught in the thicket by its horns which Abraham sacrificed in place of his son Isaac at Mount Moriah (Gen 22:13). By extensions, this “Ram of God” is a picture of the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s Son for the sins of the world. The first time the bible refers to love is in Gen 22:2 where the father’s love for his “only” son to be offered up is a foreshadowing of the greater love written of in John 3:16. For the believer, the blast of the shofar represents the shout of God’s victory over the power of sin and death. (Gen 3:15)

The word shofar is first mentioned in Ex 19:16 when Israel was given the law at Mount Sinah is sometimes referred to as the “first trump” of God.

During various feasts, the shofar is also mentioned.(Lev 23: 24, Num 29: 1, Lev 25: 9)

The shofar (ram’s horn) is often used as an instrument of spiritual warfare (Nu 10:9, Neh 4:20), used to pull down strongholds (Joshua 6:20) and to confuse the enemy. (Judges 7:22)

Apart from these purposes, the shofar was also used to sound alarms for the camp of Israel Num 10: 5-6, to convene assemblies, to herald messages, was used by the watchmen to warn people, to coronate kings and to wage in war. (Num 10:5-6, Ezek 33: 3-6, Josh 6: 4-20, Judges 7:22, 2 Chron 3:12)

The shofar was also used during worship at the Tabernacle and Temple and sounded when the Ark of the covenant was returned to camp. It was regularly used as an instrument of praise in the Temple, to usher in the presence of God. (1 Sam 4:5, 2 Chron 15: 14, 1 Amos 9:11-12, 2 Sam 6:15, Ps 47:5, 89:16, 150:3, Acts 15:16-17)

Blowing the shofar declares that the Lord God is King of the universe and signals Israel’s redemptions during the Day of the Lord at the end of the ages and is a call to repentance before the coming judgement of God (Isa 27:13, Joel 2:1)

Jesus spoke of the shofar blast from the angel who would gather together His elect from the four winds (Matt 24: 31. and Jesus Himself will blow the shofar on the day of rapture (1 Thess 4: 16) and at the sound of the “great shofar” the dead will be raise and death itself will be “swallowed up” in victory 1 Cor 15: 51-57