Numbers 10:9

9. 2Ch_13:12-16 relates an occasion on which the clarions brought success in battle.

9, 10. In Canaan the clarions are to be used in war (Num_10:9) and in peace (Num_10:10); and their purpose, in both, is to remind Jehovah of His people; see Num_5:26.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 10:9 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 the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Ver. 9. Ye shall be remembered before the Lord.] Who will arise, as it were, awakened by this sound of the trumpet. See 2Ch 13:12 Isa 51:9. That is, by the prayer of faith; such as were the prayers of the ministers of Angrogna, in France, wherewith their enemies cried out, they were so bewitched that they could not fight. It was the custom of these poor persecuted Protestants, so soon as they saw the enemy approach, to cry all together for aid and help to the Lord: and when the combat was ended, constantly to give him thanks for the good success he had sent them. {a} So, at the siege of Montauban, the people of God, using daily humiliation, as their service would permit, did sing a psalm after it, immediately before their sallying forth: with this practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever upon the singing of the psalm, after which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, saying, They come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them.

{a} Act. and Mon., fol. 883.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 10:9. Ye shall be saved — If you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependance upon God for help.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:9-10 The trumpets marked holy events that might not readily be recognized as such. Trumpets that sounded a call to arms (Hos 5:8; Joel 2:1) would remind . . . the Lord to rescue the Hebrews from their enemies.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

If ye go to war--In the land of Canaan, either when attacked by foreign invaders or when they went to take possession according to the divine promise, "ye [that is, the priests] shall blow an alarm." This advice was accordingly acted upon (Num 31:6; Ch2 13:12); and in the circumstances it was an act of devout confidence in God. A solemn and religious act on the eve of a battle has often animated the hearts of those who felt they were engaged in a good and just cause; and so the blowing of the trumpet, being an ordinance of God, produced that effect on the minds of the Israelites. But more is meant by the words--namely, that God would, as it were, be aroused by the trumpet to bless with His presence and aid.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. If ye go to war] These trumpets shall be sounded for the purpose of collecting the people together, to deliberate about the war, and to implore the protection of God against their enemies.

Ye shall be remembered before the Lord] When ye decamp, encamp, make war, and hold religious festivals, according to his appointment, which appointment shall be signified to you by the priests, who at the command of God, for such purposes, shall blow the trumpets, then ye may expect both the presence and blessing of Jehovah in all that ye undertake.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) And if ye go to war.—Better, And when ye shall go to war. In Num_31:6 we read that in the war against the Midianites, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, had these trumpets of alarm (hazozeroth) in his hand. So also Abijah, in his address to Jeroboam, previously to the battle, lays great stress upon the fact that Judah had on their side the priests with the trumpets of alarm (2Ch_13:12; 2Ch_13:14). On the other hand, the seven priests who compassed the city of Jericho carried the shophar, or keren—i.e., rams’ horn—not the hazozerah, or silver trumpet.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you,.... That enters in to invade it, to besiege cities, and distress the inhabitants of it:

then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets: a "tara-tan-tara" with both of them, to call the several tribes together to join against the enemy; or to call them to fasting and humiliation, to repentance and prayer, to seek the Lord in the exercise of these, and cry for help and assistance, for victory and salvation; for, as Ben Gersom observes, by this alarm their hearts would be broken and become contrite, and they would return to the Lord, and he would have mercy on them when they pray unto him; for such a sound makes a man's heart shake and tremble, according to Amo 3:6; see Jer 4:19; this is a third use of the trumpets, and in a mystical sense it may be observed, that saints are in a militant state, and have many enemies that come in to them to oppress them, sin, Satan, and the world; and the Gospel calls and encourages them to fight, furnishes them with armour, and assures them of victory, and directs them where to fight and with whom, and bids them endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ:

and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God; for a book of remembrance is written for them that fear God, humble themselves before him, and pray unto him:

and ye shall be saved from your enemies; as Israel from their temporal, so the people of God from their spiritual enemies, being made more than conquerors through him that loved them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For examples of the employment of trumpets in war compare marginal references and 2Ch 20:28. By employment of them was signified the dependence of God’s people on His aid.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Your God, who will reward your obedience with victory.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Which was practised accordingly. See Num 31:6; 2Ch 13:12.

Ye shall be saved from your enemies, if you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependence upon God for help, which condition is necessarily to be understood from divers others scriptures, where it is expressed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. If ye go to war — The most virtuous and God-fearing nation may in defense of its life be compelled to engage in war. Until the conquest of the Canaanites Israel was commanded to wage an offensive war.

And ye shall be remembered — “The blast of these trumpets,” says Keil, “was to call Israel to remembrance before Jehovah in time of war and on their feast days.” This anthropomorphic conception of Jehovah would be avoided by saying that Israel, in obeying this law, would be remembered or favored by him. We have intimation elsewhere that the divine regards were bestowed on moral and spiritual conditions accompanying the trumpet alarms. See Joe_1:14; Joe_2:1-16.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If ye go to war. hmjlmi awOB, "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 1Ch_15:24 2Ch_5:12 Neh_12:35) In these passages (and probably in 2Ch_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. Num_31:6, and (perhaps) 1Ch_16:6, and Psa_81:3 may be quoted as pointing to the strict fulfillment of the law as it stands.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall be saved - If you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependance upon God for help.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

When you go to war ... oppresses you

Yahweh is speaking to Moses and uses the word "you," but he is actually referring the people of Israel going to war. AT: "When the people of Israel to war ... oppresses Israel" (See: Synecdoche)

then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets

Here Yahweh again speaks to Moses using the word "you" but actually wants Moses to have the priests blow the trumpets. AT: "then you must command the priests to sound an alarm with the trumpets" (See: Metonymy)

call you to mind

This phrase "call to mind" means to remember. AT: "remember you" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

adversary

oppress

alarm

trumpet

Yahweh

God

mind

save

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And you will be remembered because you did as Hashem commanded you. Additionally, the teruah is a reminder to cry out to Hashem.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.