The Sound of the Shofar

 It’s Yom Teruah today. 

The first Shofar may have been the horn of the ram sent as a sacrifice instead of Issac. 

As the Talmud ascribes to the shofar the power “to confuse the accuser.

The shofar (ram's horn) is often used as an instrument of spiritual warfare... For example, the Torah states, "When you go to war in your land against an adversary who is oppressing you, you are to sound an alarm with trumpets; then you will be remembered before the LORD your God and you will be saved from your enemies" (Num. 10:9).

In the Scriptures, the word shofar (שׁוֹפָר) first occurs in Exodus 19:16 when the Torah was first given to Israel during Shavuot (i.e., "Pentecost"): "On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud shofar blast (קל שׁפָר חָזָק מְאד), so that all the people in the camp trembled.... And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder."

‘The shofar is the call of the heart, the inner awakening of repentance and return to God. 

There are three notes of the shofar: tekiah, one long blast, shevarim, three shorter blasts and the teruah, nine bursts from the shofar. The cry starts complete, but becomes broken and confused until it breaks down into the teruah, like sobs of the pained. From tekiah, to shevarim to teruah. However the pattern always concludes with a tekiah to show us that there is hope.’ -Yeshiva

The Shofar and Teshuvah

‘During the start of this season of teshuvah it's important to recall that the shofar is also a means of awakening the slumbering soul...  Maimonides writes: "There is a hidden message we are supposed to infer by listening to the shofar. It suggests to say: 'Sleeping ones! Awaken from your sleep! Slumbering ones! Awaken from your slumber! Examine your deeds. Remember your Creator and do teshuvah." This idea was earlier stated in the New Testament writings: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Messiah will shine on you" (Eph. 5:13-14). This theme of "awakening from sleep" is used elsewhere in the Scriptures (e.g., John 11:11, Rom. 13:11, 1 Thess. 5:6, Dan. 12:1-2, Psalm 78:65, etc.’ - Hebrew 4 Christians

The shofar is featured throughout scripture in both the old and New Testament.

For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar,and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord. - Thessalonians 4:16-17

"The seventh angel sounded his shofar; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever!" (Rev. 11:15). 

Including some excerpts from Yeshiva and Hebrew 4 Christians