THE SHOFAR OR TRUMPET AT JERICHO 

A modern photograph by Roie Golitz - 'Shofar'

The shofar was an ancient musical instrument made from a ram's horn - ideal for a nomadic people who depended on their flocks.

Its original use was to summon people, or warn them, or communicate over a distance. Gradually it was seen as an identifying symbol for the Jewish people. It was used in religious ceremonies, especially at the Temple in Jerusalem.

A Jewish boy once told me what the shofar meant to him. He said that when it sounded, he heard the voices of all Jewish people:

• those who had gone before him
• those who were alive today
• all the generations who were yet to be born.

For him, the haunting sound summoned up the Jewish past, present and future.

Shofars play a major part in the story of Joshua at Jericho. When reading the Bible text, note that 

• the Hebrew word for 'earthquake' is ra'ash, literally a 'great noise'.
• the 'great noise' of the shofars made the walls of Jericho fall.

So what did the Bible writer mean? Was it the shofar that began destruction at Jericho? Or an earthquake?

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