446 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



ground, and keepeth not quiet when the shofar's voice (is heard)." 

 (Job, xxxix, 24.) 



OTHER VSES. 



From the Talmud we learn that the use of the shofar as a note of 

 alarm of war was transferred to other seasons of danger and -distress. 

 Famine, plague of locusts, and drought (Mishna Taanith, 1, 6) occasioned 

 the blowing of the shofar. 



The shofar was employed at the public ceremony of excommunica- 

 tion.* (Wetzstein, p. 07.) 



A very curious use of the shofar in later times was in funeral cere- 

 monies (Wetzstein, p. 07). I agree with Wetzstein that this use of 

 the instrument is quite apart from the usual Semitic custom and was 

 probably borrowed. 



As a signal instrument of war it had various uses, possibly accord- 

 ing to the note that was blown. It was the signal for going out to 

 battle, for the announcement of a victory, and for a recall of the troops. 



It was with the shofar that Ehud assembled the people. "And it 

 came to pass, when he was come, that he blew the shofar on the moun- 

 tain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from 

 the mountain and he before them." (Judges, in, 27.) 



"And again there happened to be a worthless man, whose name was 

 Sheba, the son of Biehri, a Beiijamite, and he blew the shofar and 

 said, 'We have no part in David, nor have we any inheritance in the 

 son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel.'" (II Samuel, xx, 1.) 



Isaiah refers to this use (xvin, 3) :t "All ye inhabitants of the world, 

 and dwellers on the earth, when the ensign is lifted upon the moun- 

 tains, see ye; and when the shofar is blown, hear ye." 



When Jonathan had defeated the Philistines in Geba, " Saul blew 

 the shofar throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear," 

 (I Samuel xin, 3,), and thus become acquainted with the victory. 



It announced the end of the struggle between Abner and Joab which 

 succeeded the death of Saul. (II Samuel, n, 28.) 



After the death of Absalom, which really ended the revolt against 

 David, Joab blew the shofar and the people returned from pursuing 

 after Israel. (II Samuel, xvni, 16, of. also II Samuel, xx, 22.) 



The shofar was employed to announce the coronation of a king. 

 This may be considered but a feature of its use for military purposes, 

 since, as some of the passages about to be quoted show, the coronation 



Tn Sanhedrin, 7 !>.. we read : "Rah Huna when about to hold court was accustomed 

 to ask for the implements of his trade : a rod, a strap, a shofar, and a sandal." The 

 shofar, remarks Rashi, was for use at an excommunication. 



tNakarek Khaneh, a rock near Bandamir, in Persia, is so called (according to tra- 

 dition) because at the sound of drums and trumpets the workmen engaged on the 

 walls and dikes in the neighborhood assembled there to receive their wages and 

 provision. (Qusely, n, 186.) 



