Hello, John and Doves,The Call to War
The shofar was commonly used as a battle horn, not unlike the bulls' horns of medieval Europe, or the trumpet in America's own Civil War.
"And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets (Joshua 6:4)."
From this point on, the shofar became God's battle call. With the shofar often tucked into your belt, you can see why the smaller, more traditional ram's horn would prove more battle-ready than the longer, twisted Yemenite Shofar.
As mentioned above, according to the rabbis, the shofar sends the demonic realm into confusion. Maybe yes, maybe no. But, when we as the body of Messiah come together to worship and to pray to enter into spiritual warfare I believe blowing the shofar is very appropriate. According to Nehemiah: "Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet [shofar], rally to us there. Our God will fight for us (Nehemiah 4:20)."
The shofars were a very effective communications tool in Israel. Within minutes, from the sound of the first shofar, a network of watchmen set on hills could hear, and sound their shofar off into the next community or mountain. Men would drop their winnowing forks and shepherd's staffs to pick up their battle gear and gather into the Lord's army.
What a wonderful picture for us! Would that we, as a community, could be signaled from anyplace in the country to gather together into God's spiritual army. Would we drop everything to enter into battle against the encroaching enemy of our souls?
______________________________________________________________Baruch HaShem Adon Adonai Tsevaot,Mike C.