Psalm 16:1-2 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
At my initial reading of the horn of salvation here, my thoughts were directed to the Hebrew meaning associated with the horn. It was a symbol of strength in the oxen, the animal’s primary defense. Yet the term my strength had already been used earlier in that verse, so I wondered, was there a deeper meaning. Since our salvation is of the Lord in the ministry of the New Testament, I looked for a comparative there.
Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Something that is light is easily thrown off. The horns of an oxen prevent the yoke from being tossed off by the oxen. This imagery here is that because Christ is the head and the horns grow from the head, that Christ prevents us from shedding off the yoke.
We often look at salvation as being set free. We are freed from the pain and penalty of sin, sin no longer holds us in its death grip. Here we get a glimpse of the effect of salvation beyond being set free. That same salvation binds us in the yoke, the symbol of cooperative effort towards good works. The issue of Matthew 11:30 of the easy yoke and the light burden is one of comfort. One might say it is a comfort fit.
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Abide with us forever, yet another confirmation that the horn of salvation keeps us from shedding the yoke of comfort, the Comforter.
I wonder if it doesn’t point to the shofar being used to usher in the Ten Days of Repentance. (Rosh Hashanah) The shofar blast marks the beginning of a period of amnesty which is known as The Ten Days of Repentance. Repentance is based on the fact that since humanity has been given free-will, and our actions are not pre-determined, we must take responsiblity for our actions. The ability to repent teaches us that our future is not bound by our past and that by changing our behaviour we have the ability to change our past.
Leviticus 23:24 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”
A shofar is a squeaky instrument to play. I bored the small end of mine and fitted in a trumpet mouthpiece. We use it in our church when we have special occasions to “rally around”, etc.