Disaster unless repentance.

“‘Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.’” (Jeremiah 6:1)

The whole of chapter six is of great importance for an understanding of the nature of God that is revealed through Jeremiah’s writing. There is probably no other chapter in the Book of Jeremiah that more clearly encapsulates both the justice and the love of God, and also the tenderness of his care for his covenantal people.

The Heart of God

In his times of standing in the Council of the Lord, Jeremiah senses the grief in the heart of God as he looks at what is happening among the people with whom he established a covenant relationship of love.

The chapter begins with the command to sound the trumpet warning of the approach of a mighty army that will bring destruction upon the cities of Judah. Then there follows: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy’” (Jer 6:22-23).

Jeremiah then adds his own plea: “We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us,… Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us” (Jer 6:24-26).

Although these reports are clearly about the Babylonian army being on the move, it would be a mistake to think that this was a warning from God telling them to prepare the defences of Jerusalem and put the army of Judah on red alert to resist an invasion. Certainly, this was an accurate description of the international situation. But the whole purpose of this chapter is not to warn about a Babylonian attack even though Jeremiah could see it as vividly as though it were already taking place.

Jeremiah senses the grief in the heart of God over his covenant people.

The Real Danger

The danger is not from the Babylonians. The danger is that God will withdraw his covering of protection over the land and over his covenant people because they have broken the covenant and poured out wickedness, violence and corruption like a fountain gushing out water from a well (Jer 6:7). The next verse delivers the heart of the message: “‘Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so that no one can live in it’” (Jer 6:8).

This is a poor translation that fails to express the heart of the message that Jeremiah is trying to convey. The Authorised Version gets closer to the Hebrew for this verse – “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” The command to ‘be instructed’ (Hebrew ysr) or to ‘learn a lesson’ is not a warning or threat as the NIV states. It is a cry from the heart of God for the people he loves who are so unfaithful to him. It represents an element of indecision in the heart of God that is similar to that reflected in Hosea: “‘My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man – the Holy One among you. I will not come [in wrath]’” (Hos 11:8-9).

That was said shortly before God withdrew his covering of protection over the northern Kingdom of Israel and allowed the Assyrian army to ravage the land and take the people into exile. Jeremiah was constantly aware that this same tragedy could fall upon the southern Kingdom of Judah where the people were just as idolatrous and unfaithful as their northern brothers and sisters had been. The fate that befell Israel was now looming over Judah.

The danger is that God will withdraw his covering of protection over the land because his people have broken the covenant.

Words of Warning

It was Jeremiah’s prophetic calling to blow the trumpet in Jerusalem, but all his words of warning were ignored, “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so that they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the Lord, and I cannot hold it in.” (Jer 6:10-11).

Jeremiah’s dilemma was a reflection of what he saw in the heart of God. He knew God’s great love for his people, yet he knew God to be a God of righteousness who was utterly faithful in keeping his promises. Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had delivered his people from slavery in Egypt and had brought them into the Promised Land, had established a solemn covenant: so long as people were faithful to him, worshipping no other god and putting their trust in him, he would watch over them, protect them, bless them and give them prosperity.

But if they were faithless and turned away from him to the gods of the world, he could do no other than withdraw his presence and the power of his protection. This was the fate that had befallen Israel and was now about to fall upon Judah. Jeremiah sensed a moment of indecision in the heart of God: the fate of Judah did not depend upon Nebuchadnezzar or the army of Babylon. It depended entirely upon God.

Jeremiah knew God to be a God of righteousness who is utterly faithful to his covenant promises.

The Need for Repentance

There was still just the faintest chance that Judah would be spared the inevitable disaster. God had not yet declared: “‘Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law’” (Jer 6:19).

If there were the slightest sign of repentance – a recognition of their wrongdoing and a willingness to seek the forgiveness of the Lord and put their trust in him, God would remain faithful to keep his word. The Babylonian army would be powerless to put a foot upon the soil of Judah: Jerusalem would be safe because God is a God who keeps his word and he is the God of Creation who could wipe out the Babylonian army at a stroke.

The fate of Judah depended upon people hearing and heeding the word of the Lord. Disaster was inevitable unless there was repentance. The “UNLESS” was still there: but for how long?

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.

Edmund Heddle looks at the biblical significance of the shofar and the silver trumpet as prophetic instruments.

Reference to the blowing of trumpets is made in both Old and New Testaments. In every case they are sounding the alert to wake up the people to what God has to say to them. As we study the occasions on which trumpets were blown we shall gain a clearer understanding of 'What is a prophet?' and of the responsibility he has to make his trumpet call unmistakably clear (1 Cor 14:8).

Two Types of Trumpet

With a single exception the trumpets of the Old Testament divide up into the shofar or ram's horn and the chatsotserah made of hammered silver. In the New Testament the word 'salpinx' does service for both.

Moses was told by God to make two trumpets of hammered silver. Only the priests were allowed to blow them, and they were the means of alerting the people to assemble, to dismiss, to set out on a journey, to go into battle and to mark new year and other festivals.

Both the Old and the New Testaments contain references to the blowing of the trumpets – in every case they are sounding the alert to wake the people up to what God is saying.

It would appear that, unlike the shofar which has no musical sound with different notes, the silver trumpets had two distinct notes. This is apparent from the instructions given to Moses that when both trumpets were sounded simultaneously the whole assembly of the Lord's people were to gather at the Tent of Meeting; but if a single trumpet was sounded only the leaders were to assemble before Yahweh. Unless one of the trumpets produced two different notes no-one could tell whether all the people or only the leaders were being called.

By contrast the shofar, mentioned 72 times in the Old Testament, is not a musical instrument as such. Made of the curved horn of a cow or a ram, it was used to make a loud sound. It is still used by Jews at their solemn festivals. By contrast the silver trumpets were long, straight and slim. We know their shape from the bas-relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome depicting the overthrow of Jerusalem.

When God Appears

When God descended to Mount Sinai there was a very loud trumpet blast, which grew louder and louder (Ex 19:16 and 19). When the trumpet sounded the people trembled with fear and stayed at a distance (Ex 20:18). The writer to the Hebrews comments on the people's fear (Heb 12:18-21).

Paul tells us that when God descends at the Last Day the trumpet call of God will sound (1 Thess 4:16) and at the last trumpet the dead will be raised (1 Cor 15:52). Jesus makes it clear that this final trumpet call will be blown by angels (Matt 24:31). All prophesying has as its objective the preparing of people for that 'dreadful day' (Rev 6:15-16).

Directing the People of God in the Wilderness

According to Numbers 10:1-10, the Israelites were alerted to their responsibility by the sounding of the silver trumpets. For example, the whole company of people, or perhaps just the leaders, were summoned to the Tent of Meeting; the clans of Israel set out on their journey to the Promised Land, or camped for a while in some place.

References to trumpets in Scripture usually concern either the shofar (ram's horn) or the silver trumpet, which are very different in appearance and sound.

At Historic Events

These events included:

• the bringing up of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chron 13:7-8);
• the establishment of the Ark in the Holy Place in the Temple (2 Chron 5:7);
• the dedication of the Temple (2 Chron 15:14);
• Jehoshaphat's victory (2 Chron 20:28);
• the proclamation of Joash as king after his escape from the massacre under Athaliah, the only queen ever to occupy the throne of Judah (2 Chron 23:11-13);
• subsequent to the purification of the Temple by King Hezekiah and while the Levites and all the people bowed in worship (2 Chron 29:25-29);
• after they had laid the foundation stone of the Temple (Ezra 3:10-11);
• and when they had dedicated the wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:31-36).

We note that seven named priests were appointed to blow trumpets before the Ark of God (1 Chron 15:24). In all the religious celebrations accompanied by the blowing of trumpets the one song which was repeated over and over again down the years was, "He is good: his love endures forever" (1 Chron 16:41. 2 Chron 5:14; 7:3; 20:21 and Ezra 3:11).

On Regular Occasions

Trumpets were blown at the new moon (Num 10:10, Ps 81:3). The Hebrew word for 'moon' is the same as the word for 'month', and at the commencement of each period trumpets alerted God's people to the passing of time.

The feast of trumpets, held on the first day of the seventh month, was a New Year festival celebrated with the blowing of trumpets (Lev 23:23-25, Num 29:1-6). As in the West today where there is both a religious year commencing in Advent and a civil year commencing in January, so in Bible times there was a religious year beginning with the month Nisan or Abib, the 'green ear month' roughly equivalent to our April, and a civil year commencing with the seventh month Tishri or Ethanim (1 Kings 8:2) in the autumn.

The sound of the trumpet marked both regular occasions like each new month and year, and special occasions like festivals.

The one-day Feast of Trumpets announced the most important month in the year, in which occurred both the Day of Atonement (Num 29:7-11) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Num 29:12-39), and took its feast place at the new moon of the seventh month. It would appear that the new moon was the regular day on which to consult prophets (2 Kings 4:23). The use of these instruments at this feast is called a memorial blowing of trumpets, and may be understood in two ways. First, that God is alerting the people to prepare for the solemnities of that particular month and, second, that the people are reminding God of his covenant promises.

It is interesting that in neither of the scripture passages dealing with the Feast of Trumpets does the word 'trumpet' occur. The word used instead is 'teruah', which denotes either the shouting of people or the blast of a trumpet - perhaps both are included.

At the Feast of Trumpets the memorial blowing of trumpets is designed to alert the people to prepare, and to remind God of his covenant promises.

This first day of the month Tishri is called by the Jews Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year, or New Year's Day. The Year of Jubilee was announced by the sounding of trumpets everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 25:8-13), which is the Day of Atonement. The term 'jubilee' is derived from the word 'yobhel', which means ram's horn. After every six-year period of use the land was to have a 'sabbath of rest'; during the seventh year the land was to lay fallow for one year.

The culmination of these sabbatical periods was reached every fiftieth year, when the Year of Jubilee was heralded by blasts on the ram's horn throughout the land. With the arrival of this year slaves were released, debts were remitted, property reverted to its original owners and Israelites who had been jailed for debt were released. Isaiah 61:1-3 is steeped in jubilee phraseology, and this was the scripture passage Jesus chose to explain his mission and that of the church, his prophetic people (Luke 4:16-21).

Coronation of KingsShofar.

1 Kings 1:39 tells us, "Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted 'Long live King Solomon!'" In earlier times, during Absalom's conspiracy against King David, instructions had been given to Absalom's supporters that as soon as they heard the sound of the trumpets they were to proclaim, 'Absalom is king in Hebron'. This announcement was to lead to great sorrow when the day came for David to mourn the death of his son. "O my son Absalom, my son, my son, if only I had died instead of you!" (2 Sam 18:33). How different from the day when trumpets declared his accession!

While Elijah was hiding in the cave from the wrath of Queen Jezebel, God told him that Elisha was to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be King over Israel (1 Kings 19:16). In obedience to this commission, Elisha sent one of the young prophets to find Jehu and to take him into an inner room, pour oil on his head and say, 'I anoint you King over Israel'. When Jehu returned to the council of his companions they endorsed his accession: "Then they blew the trumpet and shouted 'Jehu is King!'" Part of Jehu's commission was to avenge the blood of the prophets killed by Jezebel (2 Kings 9:1-13).

Warning of Invasion

The prophet Ezekiel used the concept of invasion to illustrate his prophesying (Eze 33:2-6):

If the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head...but if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword...takes the life of one of them...I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.

Isaiah castigates Israel's prophet-watchmen with the statement, "Israel's watchmen are blind" (56:10). Of what possible use is a blind watchman?

Trumpets were blown to mark the coronation of kings and to warn of impending war.

In Warfare

Trumpets were used in the following ways:

• to recruit an army (Judg 3:26-¬28);
• to lead troops out to battle (Num 10:9);
• to sound a battle-cry (2 Chron 13:12-15);
• to signal to the army during fighting (Num 31:6);
• to call people to defend their city (Neh 4:18-22);
• to effect a God-given strategy (Josh 6:5, Judg 7:17-18);
• to terminate the engagement (2 Sam 2:28) and to send the troops home (2 Sam 20:22b).

When Paul was emphasising the superiority of the gift of prophecy he likened it to blowing a trumpet, and made the point that "If the trumpet does not sound a clear call" the army will not know what they are being ordered to do (1 Cor 14:8).

Heralding the Judgments Preceding the Day of the Lord

In the book of the Revelation seven trumpets reveal the increasing severity of the judgments that will fall on the earth before the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. The first four trumpets announce that one-third of the earth, sea, rivers and sun, moon and stars will be affected. Before the remaining three trumpets sound, three 'Woes' express the terrible nature of what has yet to be revealed.

At the fifth trumpet the angel of the abyss unlocks its door and choking smoke and locusts like scorpions are set loose, while the sixth trumpet sees one third of mankind killed. Yet for all this, the rest of mankind that had survived does not repent of their sins. How thrilling to hear the message of the seventh trumpet: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever" (Rev 11:15).

Paul likened the gift of prophecy to blowing a trumpet, and pointed out that if trumpets are not blown clearly in warfare, the army will not know what it should do.

God's Trumpeters

Prophets are called to sound a clear trumpet call and are responsible for alerting God's people and to rousing them from lethargy, laziness and sleep, as we have seen from our study of trumpets in scripture. It is prophecy that brings God into his rightful place among his people, causing them to crown him King (1 Cor 14:24-25). It is prophets who are needed to lead God's people into victorious spiritual warfare.

Prophets and their warning trumpets are essential if the tide of evil invading Britain and other countries is to be withstood. The insight of Spirit-filled prophets is required to see in the disasters of today the beginnings of the final conflict between Christ Jesus and the adversary, satan, and to make it real to today's church.

Prophets are called to sound a clear trumpet call and alert God's people, rousing them from lethargy, laziness and sleep and causing them to crown God King.

Reaction to the Trumpet Call

When the trumpet sounded on Sinai, the first such sound in scripture, the people trembled (Ex 19:16), as Amos in a later day said they should (Amos 3:6). Trumpets are intended to alert the hearers (1 Kings 1:41). But if the trumpet gives an uncertain call they will not know what is required of them (1 Cor 14:8).

It matters not whether the instrument is a muddy ram's horn or a beautiful silver trumpet, neither will function without breath. So today, prophets can sound the alert only as they breathe in the Spirit that inspired the Lord's trumpeters.