Numbers 6:22–27
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.’ 27 So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Have you ever noticed how the apostle Paul opens every one of his letters by wishing his readers “grace and peace”? We find the same greeting in both of Peter’s letters, one of John’s and Revelation.
When they said, “grace and peace” these Biblical writers were not merely using a polite form of words to start a letter. In fact, they are very special words. To wish someone “grace” and “peace” is to desire for them something wonderful – it is to pray that they will be as close as possible to the heart of God.
When they said, “grace and peace”, Peter, John and Paul were also carrying on a tradition that dated back almost 1500 years; a tradition that started during the time of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, the 40 years of wandering in the desert and entering the Promised Land. God used this time to prepare Israel for life as His people in His land. One of the important things He did was to establish the role and ministry of the priests, who were to offer the sacrifices and lead the people in worship.
And an important part of their ministry was to “bless” the people. In Numbers 6 we read God’s instruction for the priests to say these words:
“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.”
And it adds that in this way “they will put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them”. The essence of God putting His name on His people is this: Pronouncing this blessing affirmed the people of their special relationship with God and of the special place they had in His world.
We also know from reading Leviticus that the priests were to say these words with their hands held up above their heads. This was to signify that the words weren’t just being spoken by the priests, but they were coming from God Himself to the people. The priest was the mediator, not the initiator. When the people gathered for worship, the priest would offer the sacrifices to establish them in fellowship with God, then he would raise his arms and pronounce the blessing.
Numbers chapter 6 gives many instructions to Israel’s priests. There were strict rules governing how the people were to worship, and the priests had the task of teaching the people and leading them in worship.
In verses 22–27, they are told how to bless their people.
We call this the Priestly Blessing, or the Aaronic Blessing or Benediction. Aaron, Israel’s chief priest, was to pronounce it on ancient Israel.
It is one of the most meaningful passages of Scripture, and it speaks so clearly of God’s love for His people.
It’s an ancient blessing, and young Jewish children grew up hearing it repeated constantly, but in a special way, it’s for you and me too.
What we need to remember is that the number one purpose of our existence, the very meaning of our lives, is to have fellowship with God. He created us to be with Him, both in this life and in eternity. Even when we chose to reject that plan, God sent His Son to die for us. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His plan for us has never changed, and His deepest desire for us is that we accept the forgiveness He offers us through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Once we do that, we are brought back into line with God’s original purpose for us. That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel. It really is as simple as that!
And blessings like the one we read today serve as both a reminder of God’s love, and as a preparation of our hearts to spend eternity with Him.
There are a number of lessons we can take from the Aaronic blessing as we read through it.
1. A Blessing in Triplicate.
If you look carefully, you’ll see the threefold use of God’s name: The Lord… the Lord… the Lord… This is no coincidence, and it represents the fullness of God’s blessing. He was blessing and blessing and blessing again. It also reminds us of the three-fold angelic song in Isaiah 6: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.’ The three-fold use of the word intensifies the reality to an infinite degree, but there may be an even deeper significance to this triplicate blessing. The Israelites at that time had no concept of the doctrine of the Trinity, but the book of Numbers wasn’t written just for them. These passages were written for God’s people of all ages. And with the benefit of the knowledge we now have, as we look back at these words, there are clear indications of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in the Aaronic blessing.
In most modern Churches, including ours, we tend to use the Apostolic Benediction from the last verse of 2 Corinthians: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Some commentators have suggested combining the two like this: “God the Father bless you and keep you. God the Son make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. God the Spirit lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
The Aaronic blessing points us to the Trinity.
2. A Blessing from Christ.
While the blessings are from the Triune God, the Blesser Himself is Jesus. The Aaronic blessing was a priestly blessing, given to Aaron as the high priest of Israel who represented God to them. In the book of Hebrews we are told that Aaron was a foreshadowing of Christ, our Great High Priest. Jesus’ last act of ministry before ascending to heaven was to bless His people.
Luke 24:50–51 says “He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.”
Jesus Christ is the source of all blessings. A Biblical commentator from yesteryear puts it far more eloquently than I can: “It is the Lord Jesus Christ who pronounces on His children the richest gifts of the Trinity. He constantly holds His nail-scarred hands over our heads saying, ‘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.’ If we could realise that, what a difference it would make every day. That’s why we say, ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.’ That’s why we say, ‘This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’”
You see, without the sacrifice of Jesus, we are in no position to be blessed by God. Without Jesus there are no blessings – only curses.
3. A Blessing According to Our Needs.
The six components of this blessing speak directly to our deepest needs:
A. The Lord Bless You. “Bless” is a common Biblical word, occurring more than 400 times. It implied life, health, and prosperity. These blessings are spelled out for Israel in Deuteronomy 28, and for the Christian in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians. 1:3 says “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” He then goes on to list some of those many blessings.
B. The Lord Keep You. “Keep” conveys the idea of protection. It was used for a shepherd’s keeping watch over his flock. Its root meant “to hedge about.” There is safety and protection when we are in Christ. Proverbs 18:10 says “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”
We are safe in Him, because He keeps us.
C. The Lord Make His Face Shine Upon You. We’re in the middle of summer now, but picture yourself on a cold winter’s morning, closing your eyes and facing the early morning sun, trying to soak up a bit of warmth. We are to soak up the light, joy, radiance, and enthusiasm of God. We need to be close to Him, in His Word, worshiping and loving Him. Jesus called us the light of the world. As we live in Him, we are able to reflect His light in a dark world.
D. The Lord Be Gracious to You. Grace is God’s undeserved favour and forgiveness. These words remind us of the amazing grace of God.
E. The Lord Lift Up His Countenance Upon You. Countenance is a bit of an old fashioned word which is not used much these days, but in the Bible, relationships were often expressed in terms of facial expressions. When Cain became angry with Abel, his countenance fell. The Lord’s lifting up His countenance implies His fellowship and smile. Matthew Henry wrote “The idea of lifting up His countenance is that of sensing God’s smile. When a person had an audience in an ancient Middle Eastern court, the monarch might not even look in his direction. Or he might look at the claimant with an expression of wrath. But how pleasant when the monarch looked with pleasure on the one who had come to his throne.”
F. The Lord Give You Peace. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and shalom implies much more than simple absence of war or conflict. Shalom speaks about living in a relationship with God in perfect peace, in total harmony. Now of course, in ourselves this is not possible, for the simple reason that sin cripples our relationship with God. But when our relationship with Him is built on the righteousness of Jesus, perfect peace, shalom, is possible.
It is only in Christ and through Christ that we are acceptable to God. The only righteousness which is good enough for God is His own, and this is exactly what we have through Jesus.
In a few moments we will be celebrating Holy Communion. This most Holy of Sacraments, a place where only the righteous even dare approach. In our own strength we are unworthy and have no right to come here. But because of Jesus, everything has changed. Everything is different because of the peace, the shalom we now have in Christ.
The blessings of Christ means He has put His name on us, we are called by His name.
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.’ 27 So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Have you ever noticed how the apostle Paul opens every one of his letters by wishing his readers “grace and peace”? We find the same greeting in both of Peter’s letters, one of John’s and Revelation.
When they said, “grace and peace” these Biblical writers were not merely using a polite form of words to start a letter. In fact, they are very special words. To wish someone “grace” and “peace” is to desire for them something wonderful – it is to pray that they will be as close as possible to the heart of God.
When they said, “grace and peace”, Peter, John and Paul were also carrying on a tradition that dated back almost 1500 years; a tradition that started during the time of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, the 40 years of wandering in the desert and entering the Promised Land. God used this time to prepare Israel for life as His people in His land. One of the important things He did was to establish the role and ministry of the priests, who were to offer the sacrifices and lead the people in worship.
And an important part of their ministry was to “bless” the people. In Numbers 6 we read God’s instruction for the priests to say these words:
“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.”
And it adds that in this way “they will put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them”. The essence of God putting His name on His people is this: Pronouncing this blessing affirmed the people of their special relationship with God and of the special place they had in His world.
We also know from reading Leviticus that the priests were to say these words with their hands held up above their heads. This was to signify that the words weren’t just being spoken by the priests, but they were coming from God Himself to the people. The priest was the mediator, not the initiator. When the people gathered for worship, the priest would offer the sacrifices to establish them in fellowship with God, then he would raise his arms and pronounce the blessing.
Numbers chapter 6 gives many instructions to Israel’s priests. There were strict rules governing how the people were to worship, and the priests had the task of teaching the people and leading them in worship.
In verses 22–27, they are told how to bless their people.
We call this the Priestly Blessing, or the Aaronic Blessing or Benediction. Aaron, Israel’s chief priest, was to pronounce it on ancient Israel.
It is one of the most meaningful passages of Scripture, and it speaks so clearly of God’s love for His people.
It’s an ancient blessing, and young Jewish children grew up hearing it repeated constantly, but in a special way, it’s for you and me too.
What we need to remember is that the number one purpose of our existence, the very meaning of our lives, is to have fellowship with God. He created us to be with Him, both in this life and in eternity. Even when we chose to reject that plan, God sent His Son to die for us. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His plan for us has never changed, and His deepest desire for us is that we accept the forgiveness He offers us through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Once we do that, we are brought back into line with God’s original purpose for us. That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel. It really is as simple as that!
And blessings like the one we read today serve as both a reminder of God’s love, and as a preparation of our hearts to spend eternity with Him.
There are a number of lessons we can take from the Aaronic blessing as we read through it.
1. A Blessing in Triplicate.
If you look carefully, you’ll see the threefold use of God’s name: The Lord… the Lord… the Lord… This is no coincidence, and it represents the fullness of God’s blessing. He was blessing and blessing and blessing again. It also reminds us of the three-fold angelic song in Isaiah 6: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.’ The three-fold use of the word intensifies the reality to an infinite degree, but there may be an even deeper significance to this triplicate blessing. The Israelites at that time had no concept of the doctrine of the Trinity, but the book of Numbers wasn’t written just for them. These passages were written for God’s people of all ages. And with the benefit of the knowledge we now have, as we look back at these words, there are clear indications of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in the Aaronic blessing.
In most modern Churches, including ours, we tend to use the Apostolic Benediction from the last verse of 2 Corinthians: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Some commentators have suggested combining the two like this: “God the Father bless you and keep you. God the Son make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. God the Spirit lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
The Aaronic blessing points us to the Trinity.
2. A Blessing from Christ.
While the blessings are from the Triune God, the Blesser Himself is Jesus. The Aaronic blessing was a priestly blessing, given to Aaron as the high priest of Israel who represented God to them. In the book of Hebrews we are told that Aaron was a foreshadowing of Christ, our Great High Priest. Jesus’ last act of ministry before ascending to heaven was to bless His people.
Luke 24:50–51 says “He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.”
Jesus Christ is the source of all blessings. A Biblical commentator from yesteryear puts it far more eloquently than I can: “It is the Lord Jesus Christ who pronounces on His children the richest gifts of the Trinity. He constantly holds His nail-scarred hands over our heads saying, ‘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.’ If we could realise that, what a difference it would make every day. That’s why we say, ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.’ That’s why we say, ‘This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’”
You see, without the sacrifice of Jesus, we are in no position to be blessed by God. Without Jesus there are no blessings – only curses.
3. A Blessing According to Our Needs.
The six components of this blessing speak directly to our deepest needs:
A. The Lord Bless You. “Bless” is a common Biblical word, occurring more than 400 times. It implied life, health, and prosperity. These blessings are spelled out for Israel in Deuteronomy 28, and for the Christian in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians. 1:3 says “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” He then goes on to list some of those many blessings.
B. The Lord Keep You. “Keep” conveys the idea of protection. It was used for a shepherd’s keeping watch over his flock. Its root meant “to hedge about.” There is safety and protection when we are in Christ. Proverbs 18:10 says “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”
We are safe in Him, because He keeps us.
C. The Lord Make His Face Shine Upon You. We’re in the middle of summer now, but picture yourself on a cold winter’s morning, closing your eyes and facing the early morning sun, trying to soak up a bit of warmth. We are to soak up the light, joy, radiance, and enthusiasm of God. We need to be close to Him, in His Word, worshiping and loving Him. Jesus called us the light of the world. As we live in Him, we are able to reflect His light in a dark world.
D. The Lord Be Gracious to You. Grace is God’s undeserved favour and forgiveness. These words remind us of the amazing grace of God.
E. The Lord Lift Up His Countenance Upon You. Countenance is a bit of an old fashioned word which is not used much these days, but in the Bible, relationships were often expressed in terms of facial expressions. When Cain became angry with Abel, his countenance fell. The Lord’s lifting up His countenance implies His fellowship and smile. Matthew Henry wrote “The idea of lifting up His countenance is that of sensing God’s smile. When a person had an audience in an ancient Middle Eastern court, the monarch might not even look in his direction. Or he might look at the claimant with an expression of wrath. But how pleasant when the monarch looked with pleasure on the one who had come to his throne.”
F. The Lord Give You Peace. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, and shalom implies much more than simple absence of war or conflict. Shalom speaks about living in a relationship with God in perfect peace, in total harmony. Now of course, in ourselves this is not possible, for the simple reason that sin cripples our relationship with God. But when our relationship with Him is built on the righteousness of Jesus, perfect peace, shalom, is possible.
It is only in Christ and through Christ that we are acceptable to God. The only righteousness which is good enough for God is His own, and this is exactly what we have through Jesus.
In a few moments we will be celebrating Holy Communion. This most Holy of Sacraments, a place where only the righteous even dare approach. In our own strength we are unworthy and have no right to come here. But because of Jesus, everything has changed. Everything is different because of the peace, the shalom we now have in Christ.
The blessings of Christ means He has put His name on us, we are called by His name.