I happen to have two shofars in my home. A shofar, if you are not familiar with it, is a ram's horn. It is a natural trumpet used especially by the Jews to commence biblical holidays or feast days.
The first shofar I picked up on my trip to Israel, right from one of the shops in the old walled city of Jerusalem. I thought I was very clever to have bargained my way down from $125 to $75...only to find out upon my return home that I could have gotten the same item for $25 on the internet! I comforted myself that it would mean more to me having hand-carried it (practically) all the way from Jerusalem to the U.S.
And what an ordeal that was!
Getting it on the plane in Israel where EVERYONE knows what a shofar is, was no problem. It was simply a horn and it could go easily into the overhead bin above my seat.
The folks checking us onto the second plane leaving Amsterdam had to be convinced it was just an animal's horn and decided it should not go on the overhead bin, but could be put up front in the steward's closet. (It seemed that the further from Israel we traveled, the more suspicious the thing became!)
Until finally the ticket attendant checking us onto the third plane leaving Chicago, I think it was, saw only a potentially lethal weapon. It could not even go inside the cabin of the plane...it had to go underneath the plane for "safety" reasons. This particular shofar came from Yemen and is about 4 feet long and I had no suitcase that could fit it. But a very helpful ticket agent scrambled to find a box to place it in, providing some protection as it was about to be tossed into the baggage area of the plane. Thankfully, my shofar and I arrived home safe and sound!
It will always be my most treasured shofar, even though I have since purchased a smaller shofar, a ram's horn that is only about 1 foot long (from the internet, of course). I have tried both horns and I prefer the longer Yemen type horn. It makes a beautiful sound, when I can get up enough air for it! And blowing it always reminds me that one day we believers in Jesus Christ will hear the sound of a trumpet and will be caught up into the air in the twinkling of an eye to be with our LORD forever!
"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
"For the LORD Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
How wonderful it will be! Paul thought it would happen in his day, but it didn't...because the LORD is merciful and wants us all to have time to receive Jesus as their Savior...and so He lingers:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16-18)
But that trumpet could sound this year, couldn't it? If so, it might be helpful for you to know what a shofar sounds like, so you will recognize the 'trump' when it comes! (Although I think being caught up into the air might sufficiently confirm that it is indeed the "trump of God" that you hear!)
Still, somewhere I have a video that I took in Jerusalem of a Hassidic Jew who offered to show me how my shofar was played. I will try to dig it up for the next posting. If you have never heard a shofar blown, you are in for a treat. There is no sound quite like it, I think.
Turns out that Jewish folks will be sounding the shofar in their synagogues soon on their holiday called Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Jewish New Year, or "The Day of the Shofar Blast."
Therefore, I would like to dedicate the next few postings to the shofar and its biblical usage.
And we might look once more, as we have done before, at the next biblical Feast that Jesus will be prophetically fulfilling Himself, during which we will hear that shofar sound!
The first shofar I picked up on my trip to Israel, right from one of the shops in the old walled city of Jerusalem. I thought I was very clever to have bargained my way down from $125 to $75...only to find out upon my return home that I could have gotten the same item for $25 on the internet! I comforted myself that it would mean more to me having hand-carried it (practically) all the way from Jerusalem to the U.S.
And what an ordeal that was!
Getting it on the plane in Israel where EVERYONE knows what a shofar is, was no problem. It was simply a horn and it could go easily into the overhead bin above my seat.
The folks checking us onto the second plane leaving Amsterdam had to be convinced it was just an animal's horn and decided it should not go on the overhead bin, but could be put up front in the steward's closet. (It seemed that the further from Israel we traveled, the more suspicious the thing became!)
Until finally the ticket attendant checking us onto the third plane leaving Chicago, I think it was, saw only a potentially lethal weapon. It could not even go inside the cabin of the plane...it had to go underneath the plane for "safety" reasons. This particular shofar came from Yemen and is about 4 feet long and I had no suitcase that could fit it. But a very helpful ticket agent scrambled to find a box to place it in, providing some protection as it was about to be tossed into the baggage area of the plane. Thankfully, my shofar and I arrived home safe and sound!
It will always be my most treasured shofar, even though I have since purchased a smaller shofar, a ram's horn that is only about 1 foot long (from the internet, of course). I have tried both horns and I prefer the longer Yemen type horn. It makes a beautiful sound, when I can get up enough air for it! And blowing it always reminds me that one day we believers in Jesus Christ will hear the sound of a trumpet and will be caught up into the air in the twinkling of an eye to be with our LORD forever!
"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
"For the LORD Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
How wonderful it will be! Paul thought it would happen in his day, but it didn't...because the LORD is merciful and wants us all to have time to receive Jesus as their Savior...and so He lingers:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16-18)
But that trumpet could sound this year, couldn't it? If so, it might be helpful for you to know what a shofar sounds like, so you will recognize the 'trump' when it comes! (Although I think being caught up into the air might sufficiently confirm that it is indeed the "trump of God" that you hear!)
Still, somewhere I have a video that I took in Jerusalem of a Hassidic Jew who offered to show me how my shofar was played. I will try to dig it up for the next posting. If you have never heard a shofar blown, you are in for a treat. There is no sound quite like it, I think.
Turns out that Jewish folks will be sounding the shofar in their synagogues soon on their holiday called Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Jewish New Year, or "The Day of the Shofar Blast."
Therefore, I would like to dedicate the next few postings to the shofar and its biblical usage.
And we might look once more, as we have done before, at the next biblical Feast that Jesus will be prophetically fulfilling Himself, during which we will hear that shofar sound!
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