Numbers 10:9

9 "When you go to war in your land against the adversary who ¹attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be ²remembered before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies.

Numbers 10:9 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 10:9

And when ye go to war in your land against the enemy that
oppresseth you
That enters in to invade it, to besiege cities, and distress the inhabitants of it:

then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets:
a "tara-tan-tara" with both of them, to call the several tribes together to join against the enemy; or to call them to fasting and humiliation, to repentance and prayer, to seek the Lord in the exercise of these, and cry for help and assistance, for victory and salvation; for, as Ben Gersom observes, by this alarm their hearts would be broken and become contrite, and they would return to the Lord, and he would have mercy on them when they pray unto him; for such a sound makes a man's heart shake and tremble, according to ( Amos 3:6 ) ; see ( Jeremiah 4:19 ) ; this is a third use of the trumpets, and in a mystical sense it may be observed, that saints are in a militant state, and have many enemies that come in to them to oppress them, sin, Satan, and the world; and the Gospel calls and encourages them to fight, furnishes them with armour, and assures them of victory, and directs them where to fight and with whom, and bids them endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ:

and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God;
for a book of remembrance is written for them that fear God, humble themselves before him, and pray unto him:

and ye shall be saved from your enemies;
as Israel from their temporal, so the people of God from their spiritual enemies, being made more than conquerors through him that loved them.

Numbers 10:9 In-Context

7 "When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm.

8 "The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

9 "When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies.

10 "Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God."

11 Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony;

Cross References

• 1. Judges 2:18; 1 Samuel 10:18; Psalms 106:42
• 2. Genesis 8:1; Psalms 106:4