Numbers 10:9 - Exposition

If ye go to war. בּוֹא מִלחָמָה , "come into war," or "be engaged," denoting actual hostilities. In your land. The practical use of the trumpets ceased with the years of wandering; the ceremonial use was continued as long as the people dwelt in "their land;" the spiritual use remains an "ordinance for ever," as long as the Church is militant here on earth. That the use of the two silver trumpets was ceremonial, and not practical, after the conquest of Canaan is evident from the purpose and effect ascribed to that use. Whether in war or in worship, that purpose was not to convoke the people, nor to give signals to the host, but to put God in mind of his promises, and to invoke his covenanted grace. Indeed, two trumpets, as here prescribed, could not be otherwise than ceremonially used after the nation was spread abroad over the whole face of Canaan; and there is no direction to make more than two such trumpets. The use of trumpets in subsequent times is indeed often mentioned both in war and in holy festivities, and it was undoubtedly founded upon this Divine ordinance; but it was not in literal compliance with it, for the obvious reason that many trumpets were used instead of two only (see 1 Chronicles 15:24 ; 2 Chronicles 5:12 ; Nehemiah 12:35 ). In these passages (and probably in 2 Chronicles 13:12 ) we have abundant evidence of one of those expansions and adaptations of the Mosaic ritual which were so freely made under the house of David. Numbers 31:6 , and (perhaps) 1 Chronicles 16:6 , and Psalms 81:3 may be quoted as pointing to the strict fulfillment of the law as it stands.