Trumpet(s), Page 3

This thread of high meaning for Trumpet is thus woven at various spiritual levels throughout the fabric of the Bible. Particular notice is taken, however, of its use in the following passages, in canonical order rather than spiritual level (emphasis mine; bold print indicates a “term or phrase” to be covered in this work):

Ex 19,10-20: (10) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, (11) and be ready by the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. (12) And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Take heed that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death [see the “third group” of scriptures concluding the discussion of “Mysteries” herein]; (13) no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” (14) So Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. (15) And he said to the people, “Be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman.” (16) On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. (18) And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. (19) And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. (20) And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

The prophetic and evolutionary nature of this passage seems powerfully indicated by the understanding given herein to the term “trumpet,” especially when the occult meaning of the words in bold print is considered. The prevalence of such words itself (enhanced by the bracketed note matter) is an indication of the purport of the passage, as is the presence of the element of fire, whose significance has been noted elsewhere herein (see “Bush”; “Fire” is one of the terms discussed in Vol. 2). Moses here telescopes many powerful New Testament themes into one brief passage. Even in the New Testament era these themes are prophetic of what will evolve over long periods of time, as can be seen from the above table illustrating the four sets of septenary symbols from Revelation. The bold words are not discussed in this volume, so it must suffice for the present merely to state succinctly their significance. As indicated in “Naked,” “Garments” refers to the state attained when the lower “Three Bodies,” the astral, etheric and physical, have been respectively perfected by the higher Ego into their spiritual counterparts, manas (Manna; Spirit Self), buddhi (Life Spirit) and atma (Spirit Man); see I-9 and cf. Mt 13,33. One cannot enter into the spiritual world without wearing these “garments” (Mt 22, 11-14). The “Third Day” is an indication of the time when a significant spiritual event is ready to happen. “Mountain” denotes the elevated human condition where spiritual perception occurs. One who has ever climbed a mountain knows that it takes persistent effort and struggle to reach its summit. “Lightning” (with which “Thunder” is always associated), “Clouds” and “Fire” are the media through which hierarchical beings, the Seraphim, Cherubim and Archai, respectively (see I-29), manifest in the mineral-physical world. “Fire” is also the point of contact between the mineral and spiritual conditions, the element in which the physical and etheric worlds meet. Whatever historical incidents, if any, may be indicated by, or utilized in, such account would thus be secondary and subservient to the higher spiritual message.

Is 18,3: All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!

This passage incorporates the mandate to “look” at a signal (sign) from the “Mountains,” which relates to “seeing,” and to hear the “trumpet.” This command to “see” and “hear” relates to the important occult message in Is 6,9-13.

Ezek 7,14: They have blown the trumpet and made all ready; but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude.

Ezek 33,1-6: (1) The word of the Lord came to me: (2) “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman; (3) and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people; (4) then if any one who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. (5) He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. (6) But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any one of them; that man is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”

This passage is a warning both to the watchman to watch and to those who hear such warning to heed it. There is a responsibility not only for oneself, but equally so for others. The term “watch” involves “seeing,” and in the prophetic sense means clairvoyant perception of what the spiritual world reveals. One who so perceives is burdened with the responsibility to make the vision and its importance known. It is well to interpret the “sword” as being the “word of God” (see the discussion of 1 K19,1 in “Widow’s Son”). Given the higher meaning of “trumpet” herein, what is seen and announced by the watchman relates to the Seventh Evolutionary Epoch when humanity is nearing the end of its Physical Condition of Form (see I-1 and I-2; also the passage quoted above from ASJ, Lect. 9). That alone suggests the extreme urgency and higher significance of the warning to prepare before “the sword comes and takes him away” (vs 4) from physical existence without his having put on the “garments” needed to enter the astral or spiritual condition.

Zeph 1,15-16: (15) A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, (16) a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

Zech 9,14: Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.

Mt 24,31: and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

This is part of the “Little Apocalypse,” discussed under Mt 25,31-46 in “Lord of Karma” herein (Point 4 addresses the trumpet call).

Heb 12,18-24: (18) For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, (19) and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them. (20) For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” (21) Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” (22) But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering [garments?], (23) and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (24) and to Jesus, the mediator [see “Lord of Karma”] of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.

Just as in 1 Cor 10,1-4 and Gal 4,22-31, Paul shows here the allegorical and prophetic nature of the Mosaic account. Again we have the “Mountain,” but this time we go further to the “Perfect,” which points strongly to the distant future envisioned by the “heavenly Jerusalem.” And again, with the latter reference, we have Paul and John speaking of the same things. The overtones (“darkness and gloom”) of the Zephaniah passage above can be seen also in this passage. Significantly, Paul says that while they have come to Jesus (who thus represents the “Perfect”), they have not yet come to the fire (i.e., the point of contact between heaven and Earth) or to the time of the Trumpet (presumably here the last Trumpet), or to the other indicators that the (“apocalyptic”) end is near. Clearly the interpretation set out above for Ex 19,10-20 seems vindicated by this passage. Consider the relationship between Paul and Moses suggested by the concluding essay, “Pillars on the Journey.”