The Priestly Blessing – Part One
Numbers 6:22-27
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."’
In a book filled with “numbers”, we find a beautiful gem of scripture, which has been called “the Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testament”:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
As noted in Num 6:22-27, it is the blessing of the Lord with which Aaron and his sons were to bless the children of Israel.... Aaron and his sons made up the priesthood for the nation of Israel. Therefore this passage has often been called “The Priestly Blessing” (also the Aaronic Benediction). In this passage, I believe we learn things about the Lord which are just as true today.... Even though we do not live under the Old Covenant, with its Aaronic priesthood we do have a “High Priest”, who desires to bless us just as richly (if not more so)!
To understand what I mean, let’s first look more closely at the priestly blessing defined. “The LORD bless you and keep you;” The word “bless” means to confer well-being or prosperity. The promise of such blessings was conditional - Deu 28:1-6 ‘"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.” Failure to meet God’s conditions brought curses, not blessings - Deu 28:15-19 “"But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.” The word “keep” means to provide and care, to guard and protect. A beautiful psalm which speaks of God’s care is Psa 121:1-8 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” Like a shepherd guarding and providing his sheep, the benediction calls upon God to keep watch over Israel.
“The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;” To “make His face shine” may be an idiom indicating God’s smile of favor on His people, evidenced by His being “gracious” (Wenham). Note how it is used elsewhere - Psa 31:16 “Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!”; 80:3 “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”; Dan 9:17 “Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.” To “be gracious” means to bestow favor, especially that which is unmerited. The parallelism of this benediction suggests this favor refers to the blessing and keeping by the Lord mentioned previously. Perhaps emphasizing that such blessings are unmerited, even though conditional.
“The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” To “lift up His countenance” may be similar to smile (Believers’ Study Bible). As such it suggests pleasure and affection (Allen), also, approval and recognition (Ryrie). The word “peace” is not just the absence of war, but a positive state of rightness and fullness of well-being (Allen). For the nation of Israel, God had promised peace if they were faithful - Lev 26:6 “I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.” There was also peace for the individual who trusted in God - Isa 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” That God would have Aaron and his sons bless the children of Israel with this benediction indicates that God really wanted to bless and provide for them.
How about today? Does God desire to bless us, and if so, how? We’ll look at some answers to these two questions in Part Two of our lesson next week.
Numbers 6:22-27
“The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."’
In a book filled with “numbers”, we find a beautiful gem of scripture, which has been called “the Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testament”:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
As noted in Num 6:22-27, it is the blessing of the Lord with which Aaron and his sons were to bless the children of Israel.... Aaron and his sons made up the priesthood for the nation of Israel. Therefore this passage has often been called “The Priestly Blessing” (also the Aaronic Benediction). In this passage, I believe we learn things about the Lord which are just as true today.... Even though we do not live under the Old Covenant, with its Aaronic priesthood we do have a “High Priest”, who desires to bless us just as richly (if not more so)!
To understand what I mean, let’s first look more closely at the priestly blessing defined. “The LORD bless you and keep you;” The word “bless” means to confer well-being or prosperity. The promise of such blessings was conditional - Deu 28:1-6 ‘"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.” Failure to meet God’s conditions brought curses, not blessings - Deu 28:15-19 “"But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.” The word “keep” means to provide and care, to guard and protect. A beautiful psalm which speaks of God’s care is Psa 121:1-8 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” Like a shepherd guarding and providing his sheep, the benediction calls upon God to keep watch over Israel.
“The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;” To “make His face shine” may be an idiom indicating God’s smile of favor on His people, evidenced by His being “gracious” (Wenham). Note how it is used elsewhere - Psa 31:16 “Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!”; 80:3 “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”; Dan 9:17 “Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.” To “be gracious” means to bestow favor, especially that which is unmerited. The parallelism of this benediction suggests this favor refers to the blessing and keeping by the Lord mentioned previously. Perhaps emphasizing that such blessings are unmerited, even though conditional.
“The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” To “lift up His countenance” may be similar to smile (Believers’ Study Bible). As such it suggests pleasure and affection (Allen), also, approval and recognition (Ryrie). The word “peace” is not just the absence of war, but a positive state of rightness and fullness of well-being (Allen). For the nation of Israel, God had promised peace if they were faithful - Lev 26:6 “I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.” There was also peace for the individual who trusted in God - Isa 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” That God would have Aaron and his sons bless the children of Israel with this benediction indicates that God really wanted to bless and provide for them.
How about today? Does God desire to bless us, and if so, how? We’ll look at some answers to these two questions in Part Two of our lesson next week.
