Numbers 10:2

10:2 “Make ¹  two trumpets of silver; you are to make ²  them from a single hammered piece. ³  You will use them ⁴  for assembling the community and for directing the traveling of the camps.

Numbers 21:16

21:16 And from there they traveled ⁵  to Beer; ⁶  that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.”

Numbers 25:7

25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, ⁷  he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand,

[10:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses what is called the “ethical dative” – “make [for] you two trumpets.” It need not be translated, but can simply be taken to underscore the direct imperative.

[10:2]  ² tn The imperfect tense is again instruction or legislation.

[10:2]  ³ sn The instructions are not clearly spelled out here. But the trumpets were to be made of silver ingots beaten out into a sheet of silver and then bent to form a trumpet. There is archaeological evidence of silver smelting as early as 3000 b.c. Making silver trumpets would have been a fairly easy thing for the Israelites to do. The trumpet would have been straight, with a tapered form, very unlike the “ram’s horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar). The trumpets were used by the priests in Israel from the outset, but later were used more widely. The sound would be sharp and piercing, but limited in scope to a few notes. See further C. Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments.

[10:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they shall be for you for assembling,” which is the way of expressing possession. Here the intent concerns how Moses was to use them.

[21:16]  ⁵ tn The words “they traveled” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied here because of English style. The same phrase is supplied at the end of v. 18.

[21:16]  ⁶ sn Isa 15:8 mentions a Moabite Beerelim, which Simons suggests is Wadi Ettemed.

[25:7]  ⁹ tn The first clause is subordinated to the second because both begin with the preterite verbal form, and there is clearly a logical and/or chronological sequence involved.