“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
These are the words Moses was given by the LORD to teach the high priest Aaron and his sons, to speak as the PRIESTLY BLESSING over the children of Israel while in the wilderness!
Nowadays, this is often spoken as the “benediction” over the congregation in many of our church services, but what do the words of this blessing from God actually mean? Let’s take a closer look!
1.The Lord BLESS YOU- the word bless here in the hebrew is the word ‘barak’. Especially as Christians, this is a reminder that we as children of God have access to receiving God’s blessings in Christ as oppose to His curses!! (See Ephesians 1:3, Deuteronomy 28:1-2,15)
2.And KEEP YOU- the word keep here can mean “to hedge about, guard, protect or preserve”. It is the same word used in Psalm 121:7-8 and conveys the idea of protection! This is a timely reminder that THE LORD IS OUR PROTECTOR! May His hedge of protection be around us! (Job 1:10, 2 Thessalonians 3:3)
3.Make His FACE SHINE UPON YOU- this phrase can mean to “enlighten, to give light, to kindle or make cheerful; enlighten with wisdom.”
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:29 after being in GOD’S PRESENCE for 40 days and nights, the result was that His FACE WAS RADIANT because he had spoken with the Lord!! (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) Moses was able to REFLECT THE GLORY OF THE LORD, fading though it was, under the old covenant!! Will not the new covenant ministry of The Holy Spirit be even more glorious? Will we not all the more be able to REFLECT THE LORD’S GLORY and wisdom as we are transformed into Jesus’ likeness with EVER-INCREASING GLORY from spending time in the Lord’s presence through The Holy Spirit? May the Lord enlighten us with His radiance and wisdom!!
4.And be GRACIOUS TO YOU- this word in the hebrew is the word “chanan” and can mean to show “favour, kindness and mercy” to!! God’s grace towards us is always undeserving and unmerited on our part and all dependant on Him!! Grace is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-7)!!
5.The Lord turn HIS FACE TOWARDS YOU- this may suggest the idea of being able to access God’s PRESENCE and have Him HEAR OUR PRAYERS (1 Peter 3:12)! Contrast this with Isaiah 59:2, where it was Israel’s sins that caused them to be SEPARATED FROM GOD and had God’s FACE HIDDEN FROM THEM! (Notice here is Isaiah 59:2 that God’s face being hidden was equated with being separated from Him and Him not hearing their prayers?)
6.And GIVE YOU PEACE- this word is ‘shalowm’ in the Hebrew and can mean wholeness, completeness, welfare, prosperity and peace!! This is the same word used in Isaiah 26:3 where Isaiah says “You will keep in ‘perfect peace’ (shalowm, shalowm), him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Thus, to the one who trusts in the Lord, God promises His PERFECT SHALOM!
MAY THE LORD’S BLESSING, PROTECTION, GLORY, FAVOUR AND MERCY BE UPON YOU! MAY HIS PRESENCE AND PEACE BE WITH YOU AND MAY HE ALWAYS HEAR YOUR PRAYERS!!
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