The Arronic Blessing; Numbers 6: 24-26

Numbers chapter 6

22 And the L-RD spoke unto Moses, saying: 23 ‘Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying: On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel; ye shall say unto them:

24 The L-RD bless thee, and keep thee;

25 The L-RD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;

26 The L-RD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

27 So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

This will be a refresher for those who attend the study, with a tidbit or two I didn’t cover during the study. I noticed you guys don’t take many notes! For those getting this only on the information superhighway it’ll be fresh (I hope).

You have probably heard this verse before and I wanted to have a little midrash ( midrash = investigation) for you in this post.

I believe these verses  contain a powerful present blessing as well as a prophetic one when we pronounce them over our families / congregations. Now some of my readers may ask was this blessing not the job of the Priest to pronounce? Yes it was and is! If you are a follower / disciple of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) I believe you qualify.

1Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,

Ok that seems clear enough but doesn’t the text say this blessing is for the children of Israel? Yep sure does. Read Romans chapter 11 you’ll see a grafting taking place. without going down this trail atm let me just say I believe us to be part of the cultivated branch that is biblical Israel. Notice I did not say we are all Jewish….there is a difference. One will also notice that the L-rd is not finished with the nation of Israel just yet. The “church” has not replaced anyone, we’ve been grafted into something. There are still some promises that the L-rd intends on keeping! On a side note I read somewhere that 2 cylinders were found in Israel with the Arronic blessing on them that predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by 400 years.

Now back to our text Numbers 6: 24-26…. As is usual with Hebrew, these 15 Hebrew words contain a lot more meaning than the English translation conveys. Let go verse by verse.

24The L-rd bless you and keep you

The L-rd, easy enough for us to understand. Almighty and Holy G-d, creator of all. The one that placed every star in it’s place and made man from the dust and then breathed life into His creation…..AWESOME! He is also called Abba, meaning daddy. This term is still used by Hebrew speakers and when spoken in many other languages sounds somewhat the same. A mentor of mine explains it a way I that drives this idea home. Daddy not in the sense of wearing a three piece suit working on the 12th floor of some high rise, but daddy that tucks you in at night and nd rides you on his shoulders and tells you he loves you and is proud of you. Many people today don’t have a figure like this in their lives or daddy may have passed. Abba wants to fulfill this role as no earthly father ever could.

24The L-rd bless you keep you

The Hebrew word for bless is Baruch ( to fill the palm, bet, resh and a kaph) and we get the following  idea from the spelling. Endued by G-d with power for success, prosperity, long life and fruit that remains. Awesome yes?

“and keep you”

The Hebrew word used here is Shomer / Shomar. A Shomer is a watchman, usually on a high place. The watchman has many duties. He sees what others do not or can not see. He sees danger coming in time to warn the people. He watches though the night and announces the coming of the light as the darkness recedes. The watchman can look into the enemy’s camp and know what they are planning then warn the people before it ever takes place. Also the watchman would proclaim the coming of the Messiah.

The L-RD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.  The L-RD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

The L-rds glory will not be hidden from you, much in the same way Moses experienced it. After meeting with Adonai Moses’s face shone brightly reflecting that glory. Also Adonai will give you favor. Basically giving or bestowing on you grace and mercy. Grace being goodness you don’t deserve and Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. The L-rd lift up His face / countenance. A great picture of this is from the book of Ester when she approaches the king announced. In ancient times appearing before a king unannounced usually ended in death. However in this example the king lifts up his face to Ester and extends his scepter toward her inviting her in. When we imagine Adonai doing this, it’s a powerful image!!

and give thee peace

The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom. Today it’s used by Hebrew speakers to say hello and goodbye. Once again the English does not do this word justice. Shalom in the large sense of the word is nothing broken, nothing missing and nothing out of place.

As you can see these 15 words in Hebrew have so much more to offer us in the way of  blessing than we might have taken from the English. Fathers, single moms, parents everywhere, I encourage you to pray this blessing over your families. Pastors and leaders pray this over your congregations. Lets speak these words of power and trust Adonai for the results!

May the L-rd endue you with power for success, prosperity, long life and fruit that remains and may the L-rd be the watchmen over your life and guard you. May the glory of the L-rd shine on you so much that it reflects to those around you. May the L-rd extend His scepter toward you, invite you in and give you grace and mercy. May the L-rd restore your life so that nothing is broken, nothing is missing and nothing is out of place!

blessings to you,      mark

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