“make for yourself two silver trumpets, etc.” BeMidbar 10,2
According to the plain meaning of the text these two trumpets were made of silver, a single casting each as directed in our verse by the words מקשה תעשה אותם,” make them hammered out.” These trumpets had two functions 1) they served to call the people or the princes to an assembly. 2) They provided the signal for the people to break camp and commence their journeys. This is the meaning of the words: “they shall be yours for summoning the congregation and to cause the camps to journey.”
A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Behaalotcha 9-10: [In order to understand this one must remember that the word חצוצרות is related to חצץ which also means crushing stones into pebbles. Ed.] According to this Midrash there is a connection with Psalms 24,7 where Solomon prayed for the gates of the Temple to raise themselves, seeing they were too low to admit the Holy Ark. When the gates demanded to know who was going to enter that they had to change their posture, Solomon said that “the king of glory wants to come in.” This did not satisfy the gates and they demanded again who this king of glory was. Solomon replied that it was ה' עזוז וגבור ה' גבור מלחמה, “the Lord, mighty and valiant, the Lord valiant in battle.” This still did not prove enough to persuade the gates to raise their heads until Solomon added that the king of glory he spoke about was ה' צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה, that it was “the Lord G’d of hosts, He is the king of glory, Selah.” Up until that moment the gates had threatened to crush Solomon. When they heard the latter description of G’d, they opened up immediately. Seeing these gates had shown this honor to G‘d, G’d in turn promised to reward them saying that if and when He allowed His Temple to be destroyed these gates would not fall into the hands of the enemy or into the hands of any other creature.
You should know that when the Babylonians took King Yehoyakim into captivity together with most of the furnishings of the Temple (Daniel 1,2), the gates were hidden. This is the meaning of Lamentations 2,9: “its gates sunk into earth.”
The reason G’d is referred to as the king of כבוד , “glory,” is because He shares some of His glory with His creatures. How do we observe this in practice? We know that G’d is called אלו-הים. We find that G’d accorded the title Elohim to Moshe when He told him: “here I have made you Elohim for Pharaoh” (Exodus 7,1). We know that it is G’d’s prerogative to kill and bring to life. Yet we find in Kings I 17,23 when Elijah told the mother: “here your son is alive (again)” that G’d had transferred this power to revive the dead to the prophet Elijah. G’d is known as “king” as we know from Psalms 47,6-8 הים-הים בתרועה....כי מלך כל הארץ אלו-עלה אלו , “G’d ascends as part of the teruah; ....for the king is king over the whole earth.” Moshe has also been accorded the title “king,” as we know from Deut. 33,5 ויהי בישורון מלך, “he was king in Yeshurun (the Jewish people). Just as people herald the impending arrival of a king by blowing trumpets so G’d told Moshe to make for himself two silver trumpets that were to be blown at the time the Israelites would be assembled (compare verse 3).
The words עשה לך, “make for yourself,” mean that they will be yours exclusively; you will make them and no one else is to use them. Even Moshe’ successor and foremost disciple, Joshua, never used the trumpets to blow in but only ram’s horns, such as when he was about to capture the city of Jericho (Compare Joshua 6,3). In fact we have reason to believe that Moshe hid these trumpets already during his lifetime as we read in Deut. 31,28: that Moshe commanded the Levites to assemble the people to him so he could address them. If the trumpets had been available at the time, why did he not sound the trumpets to assemble the people? Obviously, they had already been hidden in order to fulfill the statement in Kohelet 8,8 that there is no authority exercised by a ruler on the day he dies. [Deut. 31,28 quotes happenings on the last day of Moshe’ life.]
Temple Instruments and Symbolism
We find a verse in Chronicles II 29,26 discussing matters which took place in the Temple during the time of King Chiskiyahu. “The Levites stood equipped with the musical instruments of King David and the Priests were (blowing) the trumpets.” In verse 28 of the same chapter we read והשיר משורר והחצוצרות מחצצרים, “and the song was sung, and the trumpets were blown, etc.” This was in contrast to David personally who favoured playing the harp as we know from Psalms 57,9 “awake, O my soul (my glory), awake, O harp and lyre, I will wake the dawn.” We are told that he had a harp hanging over his bed and that as soon as midnight arrived, and the North wind began to blow the harp would start playing on its own. As soon as this occurred David would rise from his bed and together with all the other students they would study Torah and chase the sleep from their eyes until dawn.
According to the Tanchuma the reason the verse in Psalms speaks about “waking dawn” in connection with his soul awakening was to demonstrate that David’s personal כבוד was nothing compared to G’d’s כבוד , glory. David “woke” dawn not just for himself but he wanted to shake up people from their slumber.
Kabbalistic and Mystical Dimensions
A more kabbalistic approach: the two trumpets symbolized the tekiah and teruah, i.e. the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice. When G’d said to Moshe “these shall be for you an instrument to call the congregation to journey,” this is equivalent to His saying to Moshe: “they shall be for you as either tekiah or teruah.” If so, this is clear proof that the journeys and campings of the Israelites were subject to the two attributes mentioned, i.e. that the words על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו את משמרת ה' שמרו which are written adjoining the paragraph instructing Moshe to make the trumpets are conceptually closely connected, and that the words על פי ה' refer to both attributes, as the case may be.
If we consider that Moshe was entrusted with these two trumpets and what they symbolized you can appreciate his elevated status, i.e. that he could call upon either the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy at will, so to speak. This proves his status as king.
The reason the trumpets had to be made only of silver, and that no other metal was acceptable as a substitute (as opposed to the Menorah), is discussed in Menachos 28. The Talmud says that the silver used for their construction was a silver bar. Whereas smaller pieces of silver scrap were acceptable as the raw material, other metals were not. The reason there had to be two such trumpets was in order for Moshe to be able to address and be addressed by the attribute of Mercy on a “face to face” basis,” as sort of a vision within a vision, there had to be two. The construction is described in the Torah as מקשה, “hammered, beaten work,” This is the mystical dimension of what is written in verse 3 ונועדו אליך כל העדה, “the tekiah element when blowing both trumpets” is the signal to assemble the entire congregation to be exposed to the communication from the attribute of Mercy which addressed the Israelites out of the fire.
This is what Moshe had in mind when he told the people in Deut. 4,15: “on the day the Lord spoke to you at Chorev out of the fire.” When the tekiah was blown out of only one of the trumpets this was the signal for the princes who were unique people to be assembled around Moshe. Moshe who was unique, would hear the voice of G’d who was unique. He was the only one who could understand the voice of the attribute of Mercy speaking to him. The teruah sound would be blown to signal that the people were to get ready to journey, part of their campaign to conquer the Holy Land. The fact that the attribute of Justice (symbolized by the teruah sound) was called upon is a compliment to the stature of the Jewish people. Seeing that no other prophet had attained the stature of Moshe to be addressed both by the attribute of Mercy and the attribute of Justice on a “face to face” basis by means of the trumpets, these trumpets had to be “hidden,” so that no one else would use them. The very words והיו לך, “they shall be yours,” which G’d said to Moshe concerning these trumpets mean that only Moshe would have access to these two attributes of Hashem in such a manner. Seeing these trumpets were so sacred they had to be hidden prior to Moshe’s death.
