The Christian Jewish RootsSýnishorn

There are three major reasons in the Bible to blow the shofar.  The first is to announce a new king. When Jesus returns to earth, He will come not as a Lamb but as a King to set up the new Jerusalem. The blowing of the trumpet announces the coming of the King.

Second the blowing of the shofar is to call the army of the Lord to battle. It alerts the church to be battle ready. Evil is to be destroyed and truth to be established. God’s Word is truth and that alone will last for now and eternity. 

Thirdly, the blowing of the shofar is to a call the faithful as well as the lukewarm back to worship. In Eph.5: 16, 17 Paul is quoting from the Book of Isaiah and writes, “Wake up!” in other words, Paul is wanting his readers to let the sound of the shofar awaken them out of their spiritual slumber and alert them about the end that is fast approaching. Worship establishes and gives God His rightful place in the center of the believer’s life and lifestyle.    

Today, with an increasing awareness of the Jewish shofar, there is an abuse that arises from the indiscriminate blowing of the shofar in Christian meetings.

Let me explain. Many today feel it is trendy to have someone blow the shofar during a worship service. But in the days of Joshua when the shofar was sounded, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.[Josh.6: 20] Thus, the sounding of the shofar will bring down the walls of depression and oppression when it is done in a divinely instructed way. So the shofar can be used as a mighty weapon in the spirit. 

However, abuse has crept in, and these days many people feel that they have the liberty to bring their own personal shofars to a service and keep sounding their shofar as and when they feel it is right to do so or led to do so. It is here that the problem arises. 

One of the key elements of blowing the shofar is that when you use something that is sacred over and over again, it loses it sacredness. The Jewish Sabbath is considered sacred because it happens only once a week. No Jew would consider it holy if they celebrated the Sabbath dinner every day of the week. Anniversaries come at a point of time so we can give focus to a relationship or an event. You can’t have anniversaries happen every day. That is why God called these days in the Torah as - appointed times. [Lev.23: 1, 2]

Therefore the shofar should be sounded in a more intentional and purposeful way, because we don’t see in the Bible people simply blowing a shofar at their whim. Even the two silver trumpets in Numb.10: 1, 2 were blown at specific times for a specific purpose.   If they were both sounded it was a call for everyone to come together [vs.3]. If one trumpet was sounded only the leaders came. [vs.4] It was a kind of email or message app of that day.