Wind Instruments (Biblical)

Wind instruments are of three general classes: those that use lip vibrations in creating the sound (trumpets and horns); those that use a vibrating reed or reeds (the clarinet and oboe); and those in which the vibrations are created by wind directed across the opening of an air column (flutes, whistles, and pipe organs). The latter two kinds may be classified together as "pipes. " Scripture mentions several varieties of wind instruments. Horns The biblical horn is literally a horn (qeren, 1 Chron. 25:5), usually a hollowed ram's horn with a mouth hole, although horns of certain wild animals were sometimes used. Many English translations create confusion by calling them "trumpets. " The ram's horn is usually called the shofar (Exod. 19:16; Josh. 6:4, 9, 13; 1 Chron. 15:28; Pss. 81:3; 98:6). Another term is yovel (Exod. 19:13; Josh. 6:5). The two words seem to be interchangeable and are sometimes found paired (Josh. 6:4, 6). The ram's horn could play only a restricted number of pitch…