THE SILVER TRUMPETS
[p. 317] THE SILVER TRUMPETS
Ques Would you say chapter 10 completes the first section of the teaching in this book?
JT That is right. It will be seen at the end of chapter 9 that what God had inaugurated was so far perfect. This is an important point to notice, especially as seen in the antitype; what was inaugurated at Pentecost was so far perfect; the saints included in it were the workmanship of Christ. This has to be held in our souls whatever else may happen, there is that which is perfect from the divine side.
In chapter 9, from verse 15 to the end of the chapter, we have a description of a remarkable state in Israel so far. This is a part of Scripture which ought to be specially noted in regard to our assembly exercises; how thoroughly, as far as the account goes, the people were subject. God secured His thought in them, no doubt watching over them in a special way so that this obedience should be there and that He might show the perfection of what He had set up; and if then, why not now? God has reached a standard for all time. Now chapter 10 is the counterpart of that; there is liberty in that state of things for ministry, for testimony on God’s part, and liberty on the part of the people to do that which, although not exactly according to what was required earlier, was what spiritual liberty admits of. Spiritual liberty is seen in the variations in the marching position of the tabernacle; then there is liberty for the ark, for Christ, as I might say, to vary too from the appointed manner. Love is really better than literal appointment. Christ has liberty to move out of the appointed place, to act in love; this is seen in the ark going before, and then Moses speaks to God in liberty. No direction for this had been given. It is a wonderful picture of what God has effected through [p. 318] Christ. He has liberty on His own side through the obedience of His people to continue in ministry and testimony, as seen in the blowing of the trumpets, and the people on their side are free to carry on according to liberty — according to principle, of course, but in liberty; and Christ has liberty also to move out according to love: that is, you cannot restrict love in Him. Then the mediator has liberty to invite God Himself to do something: “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thy face”. And when the ark rested, he said, “Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel”. I think we have foreshadowed here a ground inaugurated, not only in Christ, but in His people down here through their obedience, on which there is liberty for the rights of love to be asserted in the testimony, and movement accordingly.
Ques Would you attach importance to the apprehension of the truth of the position as it is in the mind of God, as the standard by which movements would be made?
JT Quite so, “the firm foundation of God” (2 Timothy 2:19); that what He began with.
PHH Do you mean that, whatever may be the departure, we are to keep the truth of this in the abstract in our minds?
JT Yes, that is what I thought. The abstract thought — the foundation of God is sure. “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). As we hold to this we are safe; there may be great variation in detail, but the general principle remains. Brethren have returned to this, to what God has established, and as we hold to that there is room for activity, not only in the testimony — in the blowing of the trumpets asserting God’s rights in love — but in the movements of the saints; there may be outward variation, but it is in the liberty of love. The Kohathites with the ark do not go first, Gershon and [p. 319] Merari go first, after the camp of Judah, so that the tabernacle is set up before the ark comes; provision is made for it in love. We make provision for Christ; He makes provision for us. If we give Him His place, having everything ready for Him at the next encampment, so to speak, He will move out in love for us. That is the idea. The ark goes before and then Moses has opportunity of speaking to Jehovah.
Ques Reverting again to the end of chapter 9, would you say a little more as to what is involved in this movement of the cloud and of the camp?
JT The cloud is the symbol of the divine presence. What is our position save as there is room for God? God has to suffer in the journeying, so to speak, travelling along with them. He is there cloudwise by day and firewise by night, assuring every Israelite that he is protected, and then obedience in them made way for all this. According to the account here, there is no discrepancy at all; it is the triumph of God, if only for a day, it is what He can do. What He can accomplish, He could make it last till the millennium, but in perfect wisdom allows human failure. Man in responsibility is allowed to expose himself in all the dispensations.
ESB Would you say that the eye and ear are both necessary on the part of the people?
JT They go together. These verses in chapter 9 are a general setting out of what God had accomplished; God is calling attention to what He had effected.
Ques You are thinking that the trumpets suggest ministry?
JT Yes. Chapter 9 is the general setting out of what God had reached and it must have continued a good while; in principle it continued to the end, to Jordan, for the testimony at the end of the wilderness journey was, “What hath God wrought!” (Numbers 23:23). He had wrought something and there it was. There was thus liberty for the trumpets, which would be the assertion [p. 320] of His rights through redemption; today that would come out in ministry.
Ques What is the difference between the setting of this and Exodus 40? It seems to revert back to that, but would you say that what has preceded in the book of Numbers fills out what was involved in the tabernacle being set up — the persons secured in various ways, for military service, and the securing of the Levites, the allotment of their duties, and so on, the offerings of the princes and various other matters? Does that all fill out what is involved in the tabernacle being set up?
JT Yes. Obedience is the main thought. In Exodus 24 there is the suggestion on the part of Jehovah that Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel should go up. Moses, setting out the instinct of the true minister, brings up the question of obedience to what God had said, because there could be no thought at all of going up without that; it would be an insult to God. Moses is acting instinctively in answer to the divine gracious thought that he should go up, and no true minister would undertake this save on the principle of obedience. So Moses states what Jehovah had said, and the people say that they will keep every word. Then Moses builds an altar and twelve pillars, so that the foundation is laid there for all that follows, and in the next chapter the command is for a heave-offering from the people, that is God testing their love, for obedience and love go together; no one should profess love without obedience. If you say you will obey, God takes the ground that you love, so He looks for a heave-offering. A heave-offering, He would say, according to what I need. The need would cover what He would require as with them in the wilderness. There was a wonderful pavement under His feet according to chapter 24, but He required nothing for flooring in the tabernacle, for He was ready to journey as they were, to sacrifice to be with them. God is not asking anything from us that He has not done, or is not ready to do,
[p. 321] Himself. So that the giving would bring out that there was love there. All being finished, Moses surveys everything; nothing is allowed to go into the tabernacle without the surveillance of the mediator. Bit by bit it is all there, and all is functioning, meaning that all is in obedience. There is nothing more important than that in Exodus. The stress is on obedience; typically, no one questions where he is placed, and he is functioning in it; “so Moses finished the work. And the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:33,34). God is so pleased that He fills it. That is the position in Exodus, and this portion in Numbers is the filling out of that, in view of all that the book of Numbers has in mind. I think these trumpets mean that God has liberty to testify to us of His rights in redemption. There is no such liberty found in merely human organisations, for it is only where we have these conditions that the trumpets can be employed.
PL Would 2 Corinthians 3:17 bring in the trumpets, and the liberty of love in the ministry of the Spirit? “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. Would the first epistle answer more to divine appointment and subjection and obedience?
JT Just so. The first epistle specially calls for obedience. We have to revert back to what the apostle found in Corinth, always remembering that by the time he left, the brethren were only eighteen months old as christians. The Lord had told him in a vision that He had much people in that city, so Paul remained there eighteen months teaching the word of God. He had peculiar material to work with, as He has in this city, or in any other. Difficulty with material today is very great. In working in Corinth for those months the apostle said he was determined to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He gauged the conditions and ministered accordingly; an important point to notice. In the second epistle the apostle says,
“[p. 322] Having in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience shall have been fulfilled” (chapter 10:6). That makes way for this kind of ministry — trumpets for gathering the assembly, for gathering the princes together, for journeying, for war, and for set feasts. The use of these trumpets, it seems to me, requires that the conditions indicated in chapter 9 must be found, not lawless conditions, for which the rod is needed. That is what the apostle threatens in the first epistle; and while it had its effect, yet there were many there who had not been subdued, but withal there is room made for much more extensive ministry. The mystery is not developed, but we come on to the new covenant, reconciliation, and new creation.
AJG Does the fact that the trumpets were blown by priests secure that the movements of the saints would be of a right character, considering for God and what God will have in them?
JT Quite so, it is not Levites simply, but priests who blow the trumpets; we can see it is not literal, it has testimony in mind. After that is stated we have a remarkable statement: “they shall be to you for an everlasting statute throughout your generations”, which I think we ought to cherish now, because they have come down to us.
Rem The trumpets involve that, on account of obedience in the people, God has absolute liberty to make His mind known and His voice heard in relation to whatever He has in mind.
JT Yes, it is not here a question of correction, but for the calling together of the assembly, our convocations, which would mean the part God has now in special occasions among the brethren. God has a special part Himself. Then for the journeyings of the camps, of which details follow in this chapter. These camps, two of them only mentioned, one towards the east and one towards the south, (from which I suppose we have to learn something) were to set forward. Then [p. 323] when the congregation itself is to be gathered together, “ye shall blow”, it says, “but ye shall not blow an alarm”; that is, there is no evil occurrent. The word in verse 2 would allude to a convocation, which would mean that God had a special part in it. He would say, ‘I like to have you together, I want to have a part in what you are going on with’. God would have us together for Himself, to have part with us. What privilege! We come together actuated by love and God has His part with us. If God comes in, what can He not do for us, even in the prayer meeting? He would have us to be joyful in His house of prayer. He specially stresses that He will make us glad in it.
Rem This particularly has in mind the wilderness position. The convocations are not looked at as outside that sphere, but whilst the wilderness journey is still on.
JT They go on to the land, but it is the wilderness position here.
HP Would you connect these chapters also with 2 Timothy? The testimony is in view especially in 2 Timothy.
JT Yes, “the testimony of our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:8). This is active testimony. “The firm foundation of God” (2 Timothy 2:19) is in mind.
PHH I would like to ask about the term “sanctuary” in the early chapters of this book. Does that give the corresponding thought to what you have suggested in Corinthians, that God would love to be among the people, following on from Exodus? God never has any lower standard before Him than that He should be constantly amongst them and move with them. It says here the Kohathites set forward bearing the sanctuary.
JT Yes. In chapter 5:2,3 we have, “Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper ... that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell”. It is a great matter to keep in mind that God is in His sanctuary; it enters [p. 324] into all our gatherings. The sanctuary means what is inward, what belongs to the holy places. In verse 17 the sons of Gershon and Merari set forward bearing the tabernacle, that is, the dwelling, but the other is the sanctuary — the inner part. “And the others set up the tabernacle whilst they came”. The first two went ahead, which is not the prescribed order, according to chapter 2:17. It is the liberty, the latitude of love. It is really consideration for Christ, that we might be ready for Him, ready for the ark and all the inner utensils.
Ques Does the Lord convey that thought in Luke 22:8, when He says, “Go and prepare”?
JT Quite so, He sent two of them. In another gospel they thought of it themselves, and that was happy. Then in Luke 10:1, He “sent them two and two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come”; this involves the same principle.
W Following the preparing and partaking of the passover they went up to the mount of Olives. Does this suggest that the journeyings have the land in view?
JT That is the idea of going into Canaan, that is, the spiritual and heavenly position. He had made a way for them before, but now they go. That would fit in to our assembly meetings, alluding to what we have on Lord’s day; a mutual state of things. They sang a hymn, and went to the mount of Olives. The Lord would have more liberty, from their moving in mutual feeling, to develop further and greater things, heavenly things.
The general use of the trumpets is seen in verse 2, then the detail, “When they shall blow with them, the whole assembly shall gather to thee”. We are not to gather aimlessly, we gather to the Mediator, not Jehovah. Then in verse 4, “if they blow with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel,
shall gather unto thee” — that might include our care meetings in the principle of it, those who have care of things set up by God to lead His people. Following on that you must have the idea of an alarm and movement; there must be movement after these facts. “And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie eastward shall set forward. And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie southward shall set forward; they shall blow an alarm on their setting forward”. When moving we have to be particularly on our guard because the enemy would be set to attack us. We all have to be on the alert if there is any particular phase of the truth asserted, because the enemy would suggest counter-thoughts.
WC Why are there two trumpets here? In Sinai there was one.
JT I suppose it suggests the principle of witness, adequate testimony, two or three.
Ques Is it significant that Moses makes these trumpets? Jehovah says, “Make thee two trumpets of silver”.
JT It is an allusion to Christ as in authority; it is through Him all this service is carried out.
AJG I think you said we should notice verses 5 and 6. What had you in mind in drawing special attention to them?
JT It is the positive side of our position. The camps of Ephraim and Dan would suggest what is more negative. In movement it is important to keep positive things before the brethren. Often you get arguments and counter-thoughts in a meeting or reading. I believe this would remind us to pursue things in a positive way. The position of Judah’s camp was eastward — full of hope. Brethren ought to leave a meeting like this with hope in their hearts, and favour too; the south is favourable. I should like to be in the camp of Judah in that sense, there is something very hopeful [p. 326] about it — divine sovereignty placing him there although he is not the firstborn.
PL Is this seen at Ephesus, “I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God”; is that the eastward side? Then the way they kissed the apostle, would that bring in the southern atmosphere?
JT Just so, the most positive things came out at Ephesus, as Acts 20 shows. The camp, including three tribes, moved, it says, and the tabernacle was taken down, then the sons of Gershon and Merari set forward bearing the tabernacle. This first movement in response to the trumpet leads to the tabernacle coming into view — the positive side of things.
Ques Is not spiritual leadership in its finest sense seen in Judah?
JT Yes. It is expressed in David; that is, typically, Christ.
Rem We have limited the thought of alarm to conflict. In movement forward everyone needs to be on the alert, so that we may not miss it.
JT If the Lord is giving an inkling of light, and stressing a new feature of the truth, the enemy is watching that; we have had experience of it, so it is very important to be on the alert. Questions arise and Satan would lead people astray. They say something different has been taught before; but the point is, what Scripture teaches. It seems as if the alarm would call attention to the danger of missing what the Lord is saying.
Rem We should be on the line of furthering God’s dispensation, which is in faith; that is positive, instead of bringing questionings.
JT Exactly. Here the tabernacle comes in after the first alarm is blown, and Judah has moved. God is there — the tabernacle is there — the place for the divine dwelling. God is at our meetings as we move on, however much people may [p. 327] raise questions.
PHH Paul stresses the thought of vigilance in 1 Corinthians — would that come in a little on the line of sounding the alarm?
JT Scripture says so; “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for war?” (1 Corinthians 14:8). God is there, God is among you; whatever others may say, that is what you observe. Room is made for Christ, the full thought of God’s dwelling is being developed, for the movement of the second camp brings in the sanctuary. “And the Kohathites set forward bearing the sanctuary: and the others set up the tabernacle whilst they came”. This shows that love is active. As love is thus among the brethren they think for God and for Christ.
In verse 22, the camp of Ephraim is moving; verse 25, the camp of Dan is moving. In principle the brethren are all moving, and that speaks for itself. Then the next thing is this suggestion of Moses to Hobab, and while it does not seem to end in anything, it makes room for Christ to say, I am going to find a way. Love never fails. “Yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence” (1 Corinthians 12:31). So the ark takes a place that had not been prescribed for it. It is the Lord acting in love to make a way for us. Moses talked about Hobab being eyes, but the Lord makes a way for us. Moses’ suggestion did not help. How could Hobab know a way in? A child of the wilderness cannot lead into Canaan. The point was, “We are journeying to the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it unto you: come with us, and we will do thee good”. Well, that is the position. Hobab is not ready to go. I should not like to discredit Moses, but if I heard him talking to Hobab in that way I would be a bit beclouded in my mind; for that is what enters into the human organisations around us. The Lord steps in, and the position is cleared up, as the brethren want the truth (see verse 33). “And they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah and went three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant [p. 328] of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them”. I think that is beautiful; Christ in love showing the way.
PL Is He unique in that three days’ journey of love? I was thinking of His own personal journey into death, that keeps Him supreme among the saints.
JT I think the three days is full testimony to love. He shows the length to which love would go — “yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence”.
Ques Do the priests and the trumpets become one in ministry?
JT Quite so. The trumpets are made of beaten work. Verse 2 says, “Make thee two trumpets of silver; of beaten work shalt thou make them”. I suppose it would be a little like the Lord saying to Peter, ‘I will make thee’. The Lord makes His ministers, so that they are under His hand for the assertion of the rights of love — every one of the apostles was in this, especially Paul.
AJG Does the fact that the name of the leader of each of the tribes is mentioned in connection with movement, emphasise the importance of leadership in local gatherings, in relation to what the Lord is saying? Men that would move, and influence others to move in keeping with the lead given by the trumpets.
JT Very good, according to the principle of what came out in chapter 7. There the princely thought is stressed: they are men of means acting in unity, not rivals, all offering the same at the dedication of the altar, so that they are safe men.
The positive suggestion in the two camps mentioned first, Judah and Reuben, is very suggestive as to how we are to move on positive lines in our gatherings. No arguments or abstract suggestions; not, ‘Is it this, or that?’ — but, ‘What it is to you’. If a question is raised, let it be a constructive question, that makes room for God, the tabernacle and the sanctuary.
[p. 329] Rem Abstractly from this point of view the whole movement was definitely eastward. The journey would have this in view; the main line of ministry would never deviate from that aspect.
JT In ministry that is positive there is hope, it stimulates the saints and makes room for God and for the sanctuary, the inner thing. Many do not go so far as the Kohathites. The trumpets refer to ministry that leads in the direction of the divine movement. God is there and there is no question about it, whatever criticism there may be.
Ques Would you say a word about the use of the word “trumpet” in verse 9? “And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies”.
JT That is a great matter. That is, when an attack is made, keep on with the truth. This is the alarm, you are warning the saints of the enemy, the danger, but still you are keeping on with the truth. They are still the silver trumpets. This is seen in the epistles to the Corinthians.
Ques “Your loins girt about with truth”. I suppose the warnings did not come in until after the testimony of the spies was refused?
JT After this chapter we come to the side of unbelief among the brethren, but thank God, there is this side and this stands — it stands in principle. If only one man is holding it, it stands.
Ques Is that the construction of the book? — the abstract thought is set out first, and then the various exercises are gone through in which the flesh is weakened down, until the brethren arrive at the thought of the Spirit collectively, and then the journey is resumed from chapter 21 onwards.
JT The flesh in its features is developed from chapter 11 onwards and then dealt with in chapter 21 [p. 330] in type in the brazen serpent, but here we have the abstract thought. The Lord in Luke 24 came into the midst of a gathered company, which is really what you might see here — the gathering of the assembly. The first thing they were saying was that “the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon”, that was grace. Secondly, He was made known to others in the breaking of bread; that is the public position. Now, is everybody there right? No: but John (no doubt giving an account of the same thing) does not record a single discrepancy. That is the abstract thought. Luke gives the concrete, actual state of things; these two sides of our position ought to be taken in by all the brethren. The abstract thought, that is what God has reached, the sure foundation of God, as we may call it; and it includes the saints: if only one, it stands if there is something in us that answers to it. Luke 24 shows the state of perturbation that began when the Lord was in the midst; it was humbling that His presence should bring about distress; that is a wrong state, but John 20 gives you the other side. “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord”; and the Lord says, “Peace be unto you” twice — He confirms the position.
HAH Would verse 10 be like a word at the Supper?
JT You mean the blowing of the trumpets? Quite so. “In the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in your new moons, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt-offerings and over your sacrifices of peace-offering; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am Jehovah your God”. That would mean that a word at that time is not on the line of correction, or even teaching; it is something that comes in from God that makes our hearts glad and confirms us in our joy.
Ques Does it suggest the thought of bringing everyone in? If one thinks of the mention of the trumpets in Abijah’s day, we read that the men of Judah shouted, but the priests sounded first (2 Chronicles 13:14,15).
[p. 331] It seems to imply that it is not a matter of a few, but rather a word of ministry that brings all into it, the stimulus that the Lord would give in this way.
JT I feel encouraged in that. I think the Lord has helped us in recent years. As we have proceeded in service rightly, a word of this kind seems to stimulate us, and enhance our joy. I find that frequently among the brethren.
W Would you say that a word on Lord’s day morning should not be exhortation?
JT It ought not to be, but, of course, it might be needed, but it is a word that is priestly. It is here the priests, not the levites. I think a word of exhortation would be the levites’ work, but the priests can add to what is there by a word from the Lord; it should be brief and pungent, marked by spiritual power and feeling, and I often notice the brethren get stirred up by it.
PHH It liberates for further movement and confirms us where we are.
MP There are no trumpets in verse 33 in connection with the movement of the ark. Does that suggest something that is beyond the thought of ministry? Should we make room for that?
JT The Lord does not need a trumpet; it is love in Him acting of itself there. It says they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah — an excellent start — and they went three days’ journey, “and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey to search out a resting place for them”. That is very beautiful, it is love in Christ acting of itself — no stimulation was needed there. It is the Lord acting Himself, really coming out of His place to lead us. In verse 34 it says, “And the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day when they set forward out of the camp. And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee [p. 332] flee before thy face. And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel”. He could not have said that if Hobab had led them forward! It is a movement of love. There is no stimulation needed there. The Lord’s love for the saints would come before us in the three days’ journey to search out a resting place for us; and now Moses is able to say, “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thy face. And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel”. I think that is most beautiful — the Lord scattering our enemies and then returning to His own place. I suppose it was in the death of Jesus — He scattered His enemies, the enemies of God, and then returned to the thousands of Israel; this, in principle, is seen in John 20:19.
Rem This chapter leaves you with a sense of the greatness and glory of Christ.
JT The glory of Christ in His actings of love, the way of surpassing excellence.
Ques Why is it to search out a resting place?
JT It reminds us of the Lord’s place amongst His own. “I am among you as he that serveth”. He deserves everything in the way of honour, but He is in this attitude of service. The Lord going into death was the way by which the enemies were really scattered. In John it says, they went backward and fell to the ground. Searching would show the extreme interest of love to reach the end in view.
Ques Would the cloud of Jehovah over them give the thought of divine protection in relation to what is pleasing to God?
JT You can see that more fully when you come to Numbers 16:42, where the whole position is attacked. God comes in in power and the cloud covers the whole tabernacle. He says, as it were, I am protecting this, I am standing by it, and it is thus inviolate.