Jewish Idioms: Sounding the Trumpet

I am going to start a series of post on some Jewish idioms that Jesus used during his ministry on earth. Jesus was a Jew and he used a lot of rabbinic parables and idioms in his teaching. Understanding these idioms helps a lot of his teaching make more sense.

This one comes from Matthew 6:1-4:

1"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The ancient Jews believed that the three virtues of prayer, charity, and repentance were evidence of a heart which had truly turned from sin. The Temple was divided up into sections or courts and only certain people could go to certain parts. There was the Court of Gentiles, Court of Women, Court of Priest, etc., all the way up to the Holy of Holies. In the Court of Women, there were thirteen boxes or jars that were used to collect charitable gifts, alms, etc. They were wide at the bottom and narrow at the top and resembled trumpets. When coins were dropped into them they made a very recognizable sound. Often, the Pharisees who wanted to draw attention to themselves and boast would drop a large number of coins in at once. This was called “sounding the trumpet”.

It was the practice of “sounding the trumpet” and letting everyone know how much they were giving that Jesus was opposed to in Matthew 6:1-4.