Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 10

Of a whole piece. —Better, of beaten (or, turned) work. (See Notes on Exodus 25:18; Exodus 25:31.) The trumpets spoken of here are supposed to have been straight, like that on the triumphal arch of Titus at Rome and on the old Egyptian monuments. In this respect, the hazozerah is supposed to have differed from the cornet or horn, keren or shophar (which is interchanged with keren), which was crooked. (See Joshua 6:5, compared with Joshua 6:4, 6, 8, 13.)

We find a reference to the jubilee trumpet in Leviticus 25:9, from which it has been inferred that the trumpets mentioned here were not first made at this time. It is true, indeed, that the first verse might be rendered: Now the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying; but the word used in Leviticus 25:9 is shophar, not hazozerah, and the latter word occurs in this place for the first time.

With one trumpet. —Or, but once (or, at the same time). (Proverbs 28:18; Jeremiah 10:8.) Some suppose that the meaning is that the trumpets were to be blown at the same time with one even or uniform sound, and that not a continuous one.

When you blow an alarm. — The word teruah, alarm, is supposed to denote a loud and continuous blast, by which the signal for the moving of the camps was distinguished from those which were used for summoning the congregation, or of the princes (Numbers 10:7). In the former of these cases, some suppose that both trumpets were blown, and in the latter, only one (Numbers 10:4 and Note. Compare to Lightfoot’s Temple Service, Numbers 7:5; Numbers 7:2).

The fuller directions respecting the order in which the camps were to break up are given in Numbers 2. Here, the order of the eastern and southern camps only is prescribed. In the Septuagint, however, we read this: And you shall sound a third alarm, and the camps pitched by the sea (i.e., westward), shall move forward; and you shall sound a fourth alarm, and those who encamp toward the north shall move forward; they shall sound an alarm at their departure.

But you shall not sound an alarm. —A clear and intelligible distinction was to be made between the summons to the princes, or to the congregation, to assemble at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and the signal for the moving of the camps. So the gospel trumpet must at no time give an uncertain sound (1 Corinthians 14:8), but must be used faithfully and diligently by the spiritual watchmen, whether it is to warn the ungodly, to arouse the careless, or to speak to the hearts of God’s people.

And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets. —As Aaron had only two sons at this time, only two trumpets were needed. In most of the places in which the word hazozerah (trumpet) occurs (as, e.g.,Numbers 31:6; 1 Chronicles 15:24), this instrument appears to have been used by the priests. There are cases, however, in the later history (as 2 Kings 11:14; 1 Chronicles 16:42), in which the trumpets appear to have been used by the Levites, and perhaps by those who were neither priests nor Levites.

The number of these trumpets was increased in the time of David and Solomon. We read in 1 Chronicles 15:24 of seven priests blowing with them before the ark of God, and in 2 Chronicles 5:12 of one hundred and twenty priests blowing with them. Josephus says that Solomon made 200,000 trumpets, according to the command of Moses (Antiq., Book 8, chap. 3).