Numbers 10:10

"On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; they shall serve you for remembrance before your God; I am the Lord your God" (Numbers 10:10).

Comment:

The Hebrew title of what Christians call Numbers is In the Wilderness, which is more descriptive of its theme and content. Here the Lord is dictating to Moses many details of how the Hebrews are to live their lives as a chosen people crossing the wilderness. Many of its details would seem to have little to do with us today, but there's always an underlying possibility. In Chapter 10, the Lord is insisting on the importance of music—specifically, trumpets. "Make two silver trumpets; of hammered work you shall make them" (Numbers 10:2 RSV). They are to be sounded to gather the people and announce it's time to break camp and move forward. In this passage, the Lord insists the trumpets must be sounded for every festival, ritual, and sacrifice. The joyful, celebratory sounds of the trumpets are, as music always is, a way of connecting the human and the divine.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed