Ram's Horn Trumpet

Biblical Text

In the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong), the term "ram's horn trumpet" (yanggak nappal) appears chiefly in Joshua 6. The word yanggak (羊角) means "sheep's horn." God commands Joshua to have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Ark of the Covenant (Joshua 6:4). For six days Israel marched around the city of Jericho once each day, and on the seventh day they circled it seven times. When the priests made a long blast with the trumpets and the people shouted with a great shout, the wall fell down (Joshua 6:5, 6:20). This event is treated in detail in the article Fall of Jericho.

Background and Original Language

The Hebrew shofar is a wind instrument made by hollowing out the horn of an animal such as a ram. It served less as a musical instrument capable of producing a range of notes than as a signaling device. In Scripture the shofar was sounded on occasions such as the following:

• God's appearing: When God descended on Mount Sinai, the trumpet sounded loudly (Exodus 19:16).
• Warfare: Gideon's three hundred men blew their trumpets and broke their pitchers (Judges 7:20).
• Festivals and the Jubilee: On the Day of Atonement the horn was sounded to proclaim the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–12).

The shofar is distinct from the silver trumpets blown by the priests (Numbers 10:2; Hebrew ḥatsotserah). Korean translations, however, often render both instruments with the same word, nappal ("trumpet").

Significance Across Scripture

In the Old Testament, the sound of the trumpet was a signal announcing God's presence, the start of battle, or the proclamation of liberty. The New Testament associates the "trumpet" (Greek salpinx) mainly with the last days. It speaks of a trumpet sounding at the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead (Matthew 24:30–31; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52), and the Book of Revelation describes the trumpets of seven angels (Seven Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls). The text does not specify whether these New Testament trumpets should be understood as the same instrument as the Old Testament shofar. Hebrews 11:30 remembers the fall of Jericho's walls as something accomplished "by faith."

Interpretation and Issues

• Why the walls fell: The text portrays the collapse of the walls as the work of God. Scientific explanations, such as the idea that vibrations from the trumpet blasts brought down the walls, are later interpretations not found in the text.
• Spiritual application: Many interpreters read the march around Jericho as a model of obedience. Some sermons treat the trumpet as a symbol of gospel proclamation or spiritual warfare, but this is an application rather than the direct meaning of the text.
• Connection with the Isaac narrative: Linking the ram's horn to the ram offered in place of Isaac in the Binding of Isaac on Mount Moriah is an interpretation handed down in Jewish tradition; the Old Testament text does not state it directly.
• Archaeology: Scholars differ on the dating of Jericho's walls and the time of their destruction.

In the Korean Church

In Korean churches, the Jericho narrative is frequently used in sermons and Sunday school lessons on faith and obedience. "Land-treading prayer" (ttangbapgi gido), in which participants walk around a particular place while praying, is sometimes presented as modeled on the march around Jericho. Such prayers, however, have drawn public criticism when carried out at the religious sites of other faiths. Some churches and worship gatherings blow actual shofars, and the shofar is also a well-known souvenir of Holy Land pilgrimages to Israel.