7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
With the word trumpets
our thoughts go to the musical instrument that accompanies a band or an orchestra, capable of making many pitches of sound. That thought, however, is incorrect in this context. The instrument mentioned here was fashioned from the horn of a ram and could produce two or at most three different sounds. In a world without phones or loudspeakers, this horn or trumpet was an effective way to communicate an urgent message over considerable distance. So it was used primarily to sound an alarm. God would use a trumpet blast to summon Moses up Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:13 Exodus 19:16, Exodus 19:19) as well as to summon the people together and to break up camp (Numbers 10:2). As the Lord led Israel in battle at Jericho, he instructed seven priests to blow seven trumpets (Joshua 6:4, Joshua 6:8, Joshua 6:13).
The sounding of the seven trumpets by these seven angels would sound the alarm indicating the approach of the God of great majesty as he goes to war in the face of evil opposition on earth.
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.