Trumpet

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Trumpet —The sole mention of the trumpet in the Gospels occurs in Mt.’s version of the small apocalypse which has been incorporated in the eschatological discourse of Jesus. There ( Matthew 24:31) we read that when the Son of Man comes in the clouds for the final judgment, He despatches His angels ‘with a loud trumpet’ to gather His elect from the four corners of the earth. The context, especially in Mt., is a Jewish-Christian application of the older Messianic tradition (cf. e.g. Is 27:13,  Zechariah 2:10 [LXX Septuagint]) which depicted the scattered members of Israel being summoned together by a trumpet-blast at the Messiah’s advent. The figure was natural, for the trumpet-blast denoted the approach of majesty. ‘Power, whether spiritual or physical, is the meaning of the trumpet: and so, well used by Handel in his approaches to the Deity’ (Fitzgerald’s Letters , i. 92). It was a favourite figure of John Knox, too, as Stevenson has noted (in Men and Books ). But it is rather as a rallying summons than as a herald of royalty or even an awakener of sleepers, that the trumpet is employed as a pictorial detail in the passage before us. The writer does not develop the sketch. We are not told who blows the trumpet, though possibly the angels were meant. St. Paul seems to reflect, in  1 Thessalonians 4:16, the tradition which connected it with the archangel Michael, but Mt. merely inserts the realistic trait, owing to his characteristic love of Hebrew Messianic prophecy.* [Note: Wellhausen argues that as ‘the trumpet is singular, it cannot be connected with the angels, but must be posited as a separate unit.’ This seems prosaic. ‘Trumpet’ may have been meant to denote ‘trumpet-blast,’ as indeed the gloss φωνῆς suggests. We should rather conjecture that μετὰ σάλτιγγος μεγάλης, preceded by καί, originally stood after δόξης πολλῆς, which would give a better order.]

Literature.—See Huhn’s Messianischen Weissagungen (§ 45). Volz’s Jüdische Eschatologie (1903, § 45 b ); Bousset’s Antichrist (English translation pp. 247, 248), and the same author’s Die Religion des Judentums (1903, p. 224 f.); also Haupt’s Die eschatolog. Aussagen Jesu (1895, pp. 116 f., 128 f.).

James Moffatt.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

The Lord commanded Moses to make two trumpets of beaten silver, to be employed in calling the people together when they were to decamp,  Numbers 10:2-3 , &c. They also chiefly made use of these trumpets, to proclaim the beginning of the civil year, the beginning of the Sabbatical year, and the beginning of the jubilee,  Leviticus 25:9-10 . Josephus says, that these trumpets were near a cubit long; and had a tube, or pipe, of the thickness of a common flute. Their mouths were only wide enough to be blown into, and their ends were like those of a modern trumpet. At first there were but two in the camp, but afterward a greater number were made. Even in the time of Joshua there were seven of them,  Joshua 6:4 . At the dedication of the temple of Solomon six-score priests sounded as many trumpets,  2 Chronicles 5:12 . Beside the sacred trumpets of the temple, the use of which was restrained to the priests only, in war there were others, which the generals sometimes employed for gathering their troops together. For example, Ehud sounded the trumpet, to assemble the Israelites against the Moabites, who oppressed them, and whose king Eglon he had lately slain,  Judges 6:27 . Gideon took a trumpet in his hand, and gave every one of his people one, when he assaulted the Midianites,  Judges 7:2;  Judges 7:16 . Joab sounded the trumpet, to give the signal of retreat to his soldiers, in the battle against those of Abner's party, and in that against Absalom; and lastly, in the pursuit of Sheba the son of Bichri.  2 Samuel 2:28;  2 Samuel 18:16;  2 Samuel 20:22 . The feast of trumpets was kept on the first day of the seventh month of the sacred year, the first of the civil year. See Music .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The Lord commanded Moses to make two trumpets of beaten silver, for the purpose of calling the people together when they were to decamp,  Numbers 10:2 . They used these trumpets to proclaim the beginning of the civil year, of the sabbatical year,  Leviticus 23:24   Numbers 29:1 , and of the jubilee,  Leviticus 25:9-10 . See Music .

The feast of Trumpets was kept on the first day of the seventh month of the sacred year, which was the first of the civil year, called Tishri. The beginning of the year was proclaimed by sound of trumpet,  Leviticus 23:24   Numbers 29:1; and the day was kept solemn, all servile business being forbidden. In addition to the daily and the monthly sacrifices,  Numbers 28:11-15 , a solemn holocaust was offered in the name of the whole nation, of a bullock, a ram, a kid, and seven lambs of the same year, with offerings of flour and wine, as usual with these sacrifices. Scripture does not mention the occasion of appointing this feast.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( v. t.) To publish by, or as by, sound of trumpet; to noise abroad; to proclaim; as, to trumpet good tidings.

(2): ( n.) One who praises, or propagates praise, or is the instrument of propagating it.

(3): ( n.) A trumpeter.

(4): ( n.) A wind instrument of great antiquity, much used in war and military exercises, and of great value in the orchestra. In consists of a long metallic tube, curved (once or twice) into a convenient shape, and ending in a bell. Its scale in the lower octaves is limited to the first natural harmonics; but there are modern trumpets capable, by means of valves or pistons, of producing every tone within their compass, although at the expense of the true ringing quality of tone.

(5): ( v. i.) To sound loudly, or with a tone like a trumpet; to utter a trumplike cry.

(6): ( n.) A funnel, or short, fiaring pipe, used as a guide or conductor, as for yarn in a knitting machine.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

We read much of the use of trumpets in the old church in the wilderness. And as they were formed by the express command of the Lord no doubt their signification was important. (See  Numbers 10:1, etc.) I do not stay to enter into particulars, for the limits I must observe necessarily compel me to be very short on each subject. It maybe proper however to remark on this particular, that there were four distinct uses for the service of the trumpet in the church of Israel. They had the trumpet to call the people to their religious service; the fast trumpet, the feast trumpet, and the war trumpet, beside the Jubilee trumpet, which was heard but once in nine and forty years; and though it was never heard but on that day, yet so particular was the sound of it that no captive in Israel could mistake its meaning. See Jubilee.

King James Dictionary

TRUMP'ET, n.

1. A wind instrument of music, used chiefly in war and military exercises. It is very useful also at sea, in speaking with ships. There is a speaking trumpet, and a hearing trumpet. They both consist of long tubular bodies, nearly in the form of a parabolic conoid, with wide mouths.

The trumpet's loud clangor

Excites us to arms.

2. In the military style, a trumpeter.

He wisely desired that a trumpet might be first sent for a pass.

3. One who praises or propagates praise, or is the instrument or propagating it. A great politician was pleased to be the trumpet of his praises.

TRUMP'ET, To publish by sound of trumpet also, to proclaim as, to trumpet good tidings.

They did nothing but publish and trumpet all the reproaches they could devise against the Irish.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Trumpet. See Cornet .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Instruments DancingMusicShophar

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

TRUMPET . See Music, 4 (2) ( e ).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Trumpet'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/t/trumpet.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

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