Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 1

Ancient Musical Accuracy-part 1

1Cointhians 14:8, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”

           The Greek word adelos connotes an indistinct or uncertain sound.  Why did the writer use a word in this passage that means an unclear, indiscriminate, uncertain sounding of the trumpet?  Salpigx (4536) is a Greek word that refers to the quavering or reverberation of a trumpet.  So, the writer is referring to the music part of the blowing of the shofar (7782) instead of some spiritualization of its sound.  St Paul was most probably referring to the ancient blowing of the shofar in the presence of the soldiers in ancient Israel.  

           The reverberations that produced sounds that produced the limited amount of pitches that the shofar (7782) needed to be distinct or obviously the wrong signal would be given to the soldiers.  This mention of the trumpet was given in a discussion of the right use of spiritual gifts.  However, Paul used a reference to the technique of blowing the trumpet.  Furthermore, he referred to the he made reference to the accurate articulation of “sound” (phone 5456).