Two Silver Trumpets
The two silver trumpets that God commanded Moses to make (Num. 10:1-10) are identified by Stephen E. Jones as a type of the two resurrections described by John in Rev. 20. Blowing one trumpet assembled only the leaders and heads of the people; blowing both trumpets assembled the whole congregation. In this numerical distinction Jones reads a prophetic blueprint: the first resurrection is for the overcomers/rulers, the second (general) resurrection is for all. The law of the two trumpets establishes the law for the two resurrections.
Biblical Anchoring
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Num. 10:1-10 | God commands two silver trumpets: one trumpet = leaders only; both = the whole congregation |
| Rev. 20:4-6 | First resurrection: only saints who reign with Christ; the second death has no power over them |
| 1 Thess. 4:16 | ”The dead in Christ will rise first” at the last trumpet (singular) |
| John 5:28-29 | ”An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice… resurrection of life or of judgment” |
| 1 Cor. 15:51-52 | ”We will all be changed… at the last trumpet” |
Typological Interpretation per Author
Stephen E. Jones
In The Laws of the Second Coming, Jones works out the typology of the two silver trumpets as one of his core arguments for two distinct resurrections. The starting point is the divine instruction in Num. 10:1-10: Moses was to make exactly two silver trumpets — not one, not three. This number is for Jones no coincidence but a prophetic mandate that establishes the eschatological pattern:1
“God told Moses to make two silver trumpets. When the priest blew only one trumpet, the leaders, the heads of the people, assembled before God. When the priest blew BOTH trumpets, the whole congregation assembled before God.”1
Jones connects this immediately to Rev. 20: John describes two resurrections, not one. The structural parallel is for Jones deliberately intended as prophetic prefiguration: the law of the two trumpets in Num. 10 anticipates the two resurrections of Revelation. One trumpet — the first resurrection — calls the leaders, that is, the overcomers called to reign. Both trumpets — the second resurrection — call the entire congregation, including all unbelievers.
In The Laws of the Second Coming, Jones also establishes the connection through Paul. The apostle speaks in 1 Thess. 4:16 of “the dead in Christ” rising at “the last trumpet” (singular). Jones notes that Paul consistently speaks in the singular about the trumpet of the first resurrection, while in 1 Cor. 15:52 he speaks of the “last trumpet” as the occasion for the atomic bodily transformation. This singular correlates with the one trumpet of Num. 10 that calls only the leaders:
“The first resurrection therefore includes only the heads of the people — that is, those who are called to rule in the Kingdom during the Age of Tabernacles. Therefore Paul speaks of the ‘trumpet’ (singular) that the angel will blow to call them from the graves. This fulfills the prophecy of Moses of the single trumpet that would call only the rulers of the people.”1
The second resurrection — the blowing of both trumpets — follows at the end of the millennial reign:
“In the general resurrection at the end of the thousand-year Age of Tabernacles, the angel will blow BOTH trumpets. This will call the whole congregation from the grave — except the rulers, who were called a thousand years earlier. The congregation as a whole will then rise from death together with all unbelievers. Here the unbelievers will be judged by the ‘lake of fire,’ while the congregation of non-ruling believers will receive life (immortality).”1
Jones adds a third exegetical pillar through the Mahanaim pattern. At Mahanaim (Gen. 32:2), Jacob divided his household into two camps. Jones sees here a prophetic prefiguration of the two resurrections: just as Jacob formed two camps before his encounter with Esau, God formulates the eschatological future plan in two resurrection phases. The numerical coherence of two — two trumpets, two resurrections, two camps — is for Jones characteristic of God’s prophetic architecture throughout Scripture. The typological power of the two silver trumpets thus lies not only in the instructions of Num. 10 itself, but in the pattern visible throughout the whole of Scripture.
Related Types
- Related: feast-of-trumpets (Feast of Trumpets as the feast that inaugurally announces the first resurrection)
- Related: feast-of-tabernacles (the Age of Tabernacles as the millennial reign between the two resurrections)
- Via number symbolism: 2 (two as prophetic pattern of two phases)