Make thee two trumpets of silver
A metal very valuable and precious, durable, and fit for sound;
only two are ordered, Aaron having but two sons, Eleazar and
Ithamar, who were to blow with them, ( Numbers 10:8
) ; for though Moses's order is, "make thee", or for thee, yet
not for his own use, but for the priests to use when he should
order them: the Targum of Jonathan adds, of what is thine own, as
if they were to be made at his own expense; but others say, and
which is more probable, that they were to be made at the public
expense: Josephus F9 gives a description of them, and
says, that they were little less than a cubit long, the pipe of
them narrow, but broader about the mouth to receive the breath,
and ended like a bell; they seem to be much of the shape of our
trumpets: these trumpets were an emblem of the ministry of the
Gospel, called the great trumpet, and in the ministration of
which, the preachers of it are to lift up their voice like a
trumpet, to show men their perishing condition through sin, and
to encourage them, as such who are ready to perish, to come to
Christ for salvation, ( Isaiah 27:13
) ( 58:1 )
; the Gospel is comparable to silver, being fetched out of the
mines of the sacred Scriptures, pure and free from the dross of
errors and human inventions, will bear to be tried by the
standard of the word, and is lasting and durable, yea, the
everlasting Gospel; as well as valuable and precious, containing
the unsearchable riches of Christ treasures of divine truths,
comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones; yea, it is more
valuable and precious than silver, not to be obtained by that,
more profitable and useful, more satisfying and lasting: the
number two may be applicable to the two dispensations, under
which the Gospel has been ministered, directing to the same
Saviour, and to the same way of salvation, by his grace, his
blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; and to the two Testaments,
which agree in the same truths respecting his person, offices,
obedience, sufferings, and death; and to the prophets and
apostles of both dispensations and testaments, who have united in
laying Christ as the foundation; and also to the two witnesses
that are still to prophecy in sackcloth, that is, preach the
Gospel and blow the trumpet of it: ( Revelation
11:3 )
of an whole piece shall thou make them;
of one solid mass of silver, beaten with an hammer, as Jarchi,
such a piece as the candlestick was made of in ( Exodus 25:31
) , where the same word is used as here, and rendered "beaten
work": this may denote the pure and unmixed Gospel of Christ,
having no dross, nor bad nor base metal of human corruptions in
it; no jar, discord, or contradiction in it, but all in perfect
harmony and agreement; and the whole of it, no part of it dropped
or concealed; and the ministry of it, laboured by those employed
in it, who study to show themselves workmen that need not be
ashamed:
that thou mayest use them for the calling the
assembly;
the body of the people of Israel, either on civil or sacred
accounts, see ( Joel 1:15 Joel 1:16 ) ; the
ministry of the Gospel is for the calling and gathering of souls
to Christ, and to his churches; even the remnant of Israel, all
that are given to Christ and redeemed by his blood, whether Jews
or Gentiles; these are gathered out of the world, which is an act
of distinguishing grace; it is by means of the Gospel trumpet
that they are awakened, and quickened, and directed to Christ:
and for the journeying of the camps:
both of the four camps of the Israelites, and the camp of the
Levites, to direct them when they should set forward on a
journey: and of like use is the ministry of the Gospel; saints
are pilgrims and travellers here; they are passing through a
wilderness, their way is attended with many difficulties; Canaan
is the place they are travelling to, and the Gospel is of
singular use to them by the way, both to refresh them with its
joyful sound, and to direct them in the path in which they should
go.