Ancient Oornets: a, from Hercnlanemn ; 5,fix)mCalmet
"The silver trumpets (C)^? ni^XIXh) which Mo- ses was charged to furnish ifor the Israelites were to be used for the following purposes : for the calling to- gether of the assembly, for the journeying of the camps, for sounding the alarm of war, and for cele- brating the sacrifices on festivals and new moons (Num. z, 1-10). The divine command through Moses was restricted to two trumpets only, and these were to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests of the sanctuary, and not by laymen. It would seem, however, that at a later period an impression prevail- ed that * while the trumpets were suffered to be sound- ed only by the priests withm the sanctuary, they might be used by others, not of the priesthood, without the sa- cred edifice* (Conrad Iken's AntiqwiaUa ffebraic(Bj par. i, sec. vii, * Sacerdotum cum instrumentis ipsomm"). In the age of Solomon the * silver trumpets* were in- creased in number to 120 (2 Chron. v, 12) ; and, inde- pendently of the objects fir which they had been first introduced, they were now employed in the orchestra of the Temple as an accompaniment to songs of thanks- giving and praise.
"ro6fr, bn'r, used sometimes for the < year of Ju- bUee' (^Di^n n3^ ; comp. Lev. xxv, 18, 16, with xxv, 28, 80), generally denotes the institution of Jubilee ; but in some instances it is spoken of as a musical in- strument, resembling in its object, if not in its shape, the keren and the shophar. Gresenitts pronounces ffobel to be * an onomato-poetic word, signifying^MAnn or a joyful sound, and hence applied to the sound of a trum- pet signal, like M^^'ltn' (* alarm,' Num. x, S) ; and Dr. Munk is of opinion that * the word tobel is only an epithet' (Pakatme, p. 456 a, note). Still it is difficult to divest ffobd of the meaning of a sounding instru- ment in the following instances : * When the trumpet (^Dl^h) soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount' (Exod. xix, 18) ; * And it shall come to pass that when they niake a long blast with the ram's horn' (^Disn l^ga, Joshua vi, 6); *And let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns' (ni*^^*!^ D'^^Di'f, Josh, vi, 6). See Jubilee.
" The sounding of tiie oomet C^fii^ P^?'^pl?) was the distinguishing ritual feature of the festival ap- pointed by Moses to be held on the first day of the seventh month, under the denomination of *a day of blowing trumpets' (hjsi'^rt Oi*', Num. xxix, 1), or *a memorial of blowing of trumpets* (rt5*l^rt I'llSt, Lev. xxiii, 24) ; and that rite is still observed by the Jews in tbeir celebration of the same festival, which they now call * the day of memorial' (T^IWH Dl"'), and also * New Tear' (ilj^rt tSKl). *Some commentators,' says BosenmQller, *have made this festival refer to the preservation of Isaac (Gen. xxii), whence it is — ^Qtimes called by the Jews * the Binding of Isaac'
(pnri n^g^. But it is more probable that tbe name of the f(»tival is derived from the ustud kisd of trumpets (ram's horns) then in use, and that the ob- ject of the festival was the celebration of the new yev and the exhortation to thanksgivings for the Ues^ugi experienced in the year just finished. The oae oictx- nets by the priests in all the cities of the land, not k Jerusalem only (where two silver trumpets were add- ed, while the Levites chanted the 81st Psalm), was a suitable means for that object* (Morgmlamd, voL i, , No. 887, on Lev. xxiii, 24).
"Although the festival of the first day of the sev- enth month is denominated by the Mi^hnit *■ New Teftr.' and notwithstanding that it was observed as anefa by the Hebrews in the age of the second temple, there if no reason whatever to believe that it had snch a nans or character in the times of Moses. The Pentatenek fixes the vernal equinox (the period of the institiitkM of the Passover) as the commencement of the Jewiik year; but for more than twenty oentories the Jews have dated their new year from the antoiiuial equi- nox, which takes place about the season when the ies- tivalof * the day of sounding the oomet' is hdd. Rab- binical tradition represents this festival as the asni- versaiy of the creation of the world, bat the statemprt receives no direct support from Scripture. On the contrary, Moses expressly declares that the moaih Abib (the moon of the spring) is to be regarded fay the Hebrews as the first month of the year: ^Tbis month shall be unto you the beginning O^M"f) rf months ; it shall be the first (V3M*1) month of the year toyou*(Exod.xii,2)(Munk,Pa&i<Me,p.lM5)L See Tbab.
"The intention of the appointment of the fesCxnl ' of the sounding of the comet,' as well as the dntiei of the sacred institution, appear to be set forth in tl» words of the prophet, * Sound the comet (^fe*rc) in Zion, sanctify the fast, proclaim the solemn assembly' (Joel ii, 15). Agreeably to the order in which this passage runs, the institution of * the festival of eonnd- ing the comet' seems to be the prelude and prepan- tion for the awful day of atonement. The divine ocsm- mand for that &st is connected with that for ' the day of sounding the comet' by the conjunctive partadt "T^M. ^Lihewiae on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement' (Lev. xxHi, 27). Here T^M (likewise) unites the festival * of the day of sound- ing the comet' with the solemnity of the day of atone- ment precisely as the same particle connects the * fes- tival of tabernacles' with the observance of the cere- monial of ' the fhut of the Aodor-tree, the paha branches,' etc. (Lev. xxiii, 84-40). The woid * sol- emn assembly* (Tl*^^^ in the verse from Joel quoted above applies to the festival * eighth day of sokaooi assembly' (n^X5 ^^^^W) (Lev. xxiii, 86), the closing rite of the festive cycle of Tisri (see Mudo, Bd^kmi Ducoums, i, 291-2).