Introduction
Many
of you have seen the images on the news or in your national newspapers of the
flood-ravaged areas here in Colorado. Well, for those of us who live here, we
didn’t have to tune into the evening news or pick up a newspaper to understand
the devastation, it was all around us. Countless people; family, friends, and
neighbors, were impacted by the destructive flooding that some climatologists
suggest occurs just once every thousand years. I had the opportunity to visit
with a number of clients and friends affected by the flooding and I was honored
to have had the opportunity to serve them and pray for them. Even as I prayed
for them in the midst of the destruction they were enduring, the idea of “blessing”
seemed necessary for the circumstances. Normally, we wouldn’t associate God’s Blessing with devastation and
destruction but I want to suggest that it is in just such circumstances that God’s Blessing is most important and efficacious.
It seems antithetical to the tragic events we must endure but I think that’s
because we have a distorted understanding of what it means to receive God’s Blessing, especially here in
America. We equate God’s Blessing
with health, wealth and happiness and the absence of blessing if any of those
things are removed from our lives. I would like to suggest a different
perspective for God’s Blessing. Being
blessed by God is how God’s character is worked into us; how we become more
like Christ—And nothing builds Godly character quite like trials and
tribulations. It is an ongoing process whereby God uses us to bless those
around us and ultimately finds its culmination in our lives through our
experiential knowledge of God as co-heirs of the Kingdom. That’s not to say
that God’s Blessing doesn’t involve
His provision as one of His names is Jehovah Jireh—“God will provide.” However,
this is not the primary function or biblical understanding of God’s Blessing. In Matthew 5 we find
that those who are blessed are poor, meek, merciful and persecuted. Elsewhere, we
see that those who invite the lame and the poor to their banquets are blessed
(Lk 14:13). We learn that those who don’t fall away from the faith are blessed
(Lk 7:23); children are blessed (Mk 10:16); those who hear and obey the Word of
God are blessed (Lk 11:28); those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb are
blessed (Rev 19:9). Ultimately, those who trust in Christ and grow to become
like Him are blessed. This was true in the Old Testament as well. The character
and behavior of Israel was to be a reflection of God to all the other nations. As
such the priests were instructed to pray God’s
Blessing over the people as part of their formal duties. It wasn’t just
praying for the people, there was a specific blessing provided by God for the
people that we will study in this week’s lesson.
Subject
Text
Numbers 6:22-27
22The LORD said to Moses, 23“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This
is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24The LORD bless you
and keep you; 25the LORD make his face shine
upon you and be gracious to you; 26the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.’” 27“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Context
In
our subject text, Israel has still not taken possession of the Promised Land. At
this particular point in the Book of Numbers, God is still providing Moses with
instructions for the way the people are to live in relationship to one another going
forward generally but specifically when they take possession of the Land. More importantly,
however, God is providing Moses with detailed instructions for the religious
leadership. The religious leaders; the priests, would be the touch-point for
God and God’s people. The priests would be the vehicle God would use to lead
the people to experience Him, know Him and worship Him. God would also use
these same priests to bless the people with God’s Blessing.
Text
Analysis
Some Pastors
are sincerely trying to develop new ways to communicate the Gospel more clearly
and edify the people sitting in their church pews while others burn the candle
at both ends developing new and ever-better ways to entertain the people
watching from more comfortable auditorium seating. I have no way of knowing if
their motivation is God-centered or self-centered. However, I’m going to assume,
perhaps naively, that most of them are looking for ways to bless the people who
have been given to their care. The question is: How? Vv. 22-23 introduce the Aaronic
Priesthood, “Aaron and his sons,” to the precise model for that blessing. Note
that the text doesn’t specifically say that it is the only way for the priests
to bless the people. However, it is a specific blessing given by God and the
means to insure that the blessing remains God-centered and doesn’t become
priest-centered. In other words, God is making sure that the people know that
He is the one blessing them not the priests—the priests were mediators; the
vehicle through which God will bless the people. “The Aaronic benediction shows
God ready to bless (empower, make productive), to favor his people with his presence,
and to give them peace…Behind the description of the mediatorial role lies the
understanding of a significant distance between people and deity, but also of
Yahweh’s desire for contact and involvement.”[1]
God’s Blessing is always, always,
always about God and should never be confused with the role of any religious
leader no matter how popular, prominent, influential or charismatic that
religious leader might be. Religious leaders are only mediators of God’s Blessing. Unfortunately, the
history of Israel’s leadership makes it clear that the focus became less and
less about God’s Blessing and more
and more about the blessing from the religious leadership. In other words, it
eventually became more important for the people to seek the blessing and
approval of the religious leadership than the approval of God and God’s Blessing. Sound familiar?
Although
God’s people, specifically the Priesthood, had the authority to pronounce
blessings and curses, the power underlying all blessings and curses came
directly from God. This is reflected in v. 24 seeking God’s favor and provision
in general. “This pericope relates to blessing not in terms of particular
benefits such as fertility or prosperity, but to a continuing harmonious
relationship with the Lord in which he protected them, was gracious to them,
endowed them with his presence, and favor and granted them peace.”[2]
V. 24 reiterates that blessings, although communicated by people in this case
the priests, come from “the Lord.” Again, we have a tendency to lose sight of
this because of the celebrity status of our present-day religious leaders. This
is part of the reason behind the specific language of our subject text. The
focus is always God, God’s will and God’s love for his people.
The
text becomes more personal in v. 25 describing God as a light that shines into
the darkness of our lives. Furthermore, in the midst of the biblical text
beginning in Leviticus, continuing in Numbers and culminating in Deuteronomy we
see chapter after chapter of laws, rules, regulations, principles and practices
for Israel’s life in relationship with God, each other and those of neighboring
nations. However, we see something else; something the people will always need
if they have any hope of being consistently obedient to God’s instructions—God’s
grace. “Likening God to light, is characteristic of the biblical picture of God
(cf. Pss. 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19). When God smiles on his people, they can be
sure that he will be gracious to
them, that is, he will deliver them from their enemies, sickness and sin.”[3]
If we could just take a step back, we’ll see something in this verse and the
next one that points straight to Jesus. Jesus describes himself as the Light of
the world (Jn 8:12) and the cross of salvation is the stark symbol of God’s
ultimate act of grace toward humanity. In Jesus Christ we see the reality of
God’s face shining upon us as He makes his physical presence known to us and we
are blessed by His graciousness in allowing us to be in His presence through
Christ.
There
is a very specific trajectory to our subject text, what began as a general
request for blessing in v. 24, continued on a more personal level in v. 25 as
we seek God’s light to shine on our lives and his graciousness to uphold and
sustain us, now moves to describe an intimate relationship in v. 26 as the text
asks specifically for God to move toward us relationally. The text should
probably be translated as: “the Lord lift up His face toward you…”. This
translation is probably more accurate and provides a picture of God holding you
up in His arms much like a loving father might lift his child over his head. God
“lifts up His face” as He holds you up with divine joy. Can I just say that the
thought of this nearly brings me to tears. This was not my experience with my
own father who was more likely to crack me over the head with something and
look down on me then he ever would have been to lift me up over his head and
lift his face with joy toward me. As a result, this image places a longing in
my heart after God that is difficult to express and even harder to explain. This
is my favorite image of God—a loving, doting, caring and compassion father who
will stop at nothing to demonstrate His love for me; and someone I affectionately
refer to as “Papi.” There is a deep peace that comes with this relationship; a
healing peace. A peace that reaches deep into our hearts and souls; a peace
that says everything will be alright; a peace that says we are now safe in the
arms of someone who will do anything and everything necessary to take care of
us. This is like the father who comes home early from work just so he can meet
you at the bus stop after school; the father who lies awake at night trying to
balance all aspects of life in order to be fully present to his children; the
father who in one moment will have a game of catch with his son and the next
moment play dress-up with his daughter; the father who will spend time and money
to do what his child wants before insisting on doing what he wants; the father
who disciplines in love not anger; the father who earns love and respect from
his children through his personal sacrifice and love for them; the father who
never stops being a father even when his child believes he is unnecessary; the
father who will give his own life if it means life for his child. This is my
image of God in v. 26 of our subject text. As with our last verse, this verse
also points to Christ. Through Jesus Christ, God literally came face-to-face with
his children (Col 1:15). Furthermore, Jesus brought peace that was disrupted in
our hearts and souls as a result of sin and a way back from our separation from
God because of that sin. Our sinful nature is at war with God’s holiness and
Jesus is the instrument of peace in that war (Eph 2:13-18). It is for this
reason that he is called the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6-7). “The Old Testament
anticipated, and the New Testament confirmed, that God’s peace would be
mediated through a messiah. Peace with God came through the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.”[4]
V. 27
can be difficult to understand at first but it is important to remember that
the purpose of our subject text is that the priests are conveying God’s Blessing and placing his name on
the Israelites; His name stamps the blessing with His authority. “The point is
that by pronouncing the divine name in the statements of the benediction, the
priests opened the door to the granting of blessing by God. God must be invoked
by name; the request of God must call upon him by name.”[5]
This principle continues in the New Testament as well as Peter makes clear that
there is only one way to salvation—Jesus Christ—there is no other “name” under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). For a better
understanding about the significance of God’s name in Jesus Christ, you can access
a previous lesson titled, What’s In A
Name? at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2013/04/whats-in-name.html.
Ultimately, the priests were required to pray God’s Blessing over the people and sign it with His name.
Application
Unless
you attend a synagogue you may never have had your priest or pastor pray this
blessing over you. Therefore, I would like to introduce you to this very
beautiful ceremony.
Traditionally,
the priest recited the blessing every morning after the sacrifice in the
Temple. Today, many synagogues use the blessing as a service-ending
benediction. When the priest recites the blessing, his hands are raised with his
palms facing the people and his fingers forming the Hebrew letter Shin which is
a symbol for Shaddai (“All-Mighty One”). The illustration above is a rough
representation of what that would look like.
Technically,
the people were not supposed to look at anything specifically during the
blessing. They were supposed to bow their heads and look at the ground to avoid
being distracted by the priest. Jewish tradition records that during the days
when the blessing was recited in the Temple, God’s light (v. 25) would shine on
the fingers of the priests as they blessed the people. No one was permitted to
look out of respect for God’s divine presence.
Below
is the Hebrew transliteration of the Birkat
Kohanim (Hb. “Priestly Blessing”) as well as the English translation. Also
included is the recitation of the blessing in song by Evan Levine. I would love
for you to learn this in the Hebrew as well. I realize that this is now two
weeks in a row that I am challenging you to learn a portion of the original
Hebrew text but it is really beautiful. Nevertheless, that was not the primary purpose
of this lesson. What I hoped for out of this lesson was the opportunity to pray
God’s Blessing over you. However,
since that is difficult to do in this forum, I want to use the priestly
blessing as sung by Evan Levine to do it for me. Please take a moment to prepare
your heart, mind and soul to receive God’s
Blessing with all the love that is intended. Please be blessed in the name
of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
V. 24
ye
va re khe kha Adonai ve yish me re kha
The Lord bless you and keep you;
v. 25
ya ’
er Adonai pa nav e ley kha vi chun
ne ka
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious
to you;
v. 26
yi
sa Adonai pa nav e ley kha
ve ya sem le kha sha lom
The Lord lift his face toward you and give you peace.
[1] Willem
A. VanGemeren, New International
Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 4, (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), pp. 986; 988.
[2] T.
Desmond Alexander & David W. Baker, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch, (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2003), p. 85.
[3] Gordon
J. Wenham, Numbers—Tyndale Old Testament
Commentaries, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), p. 102.
[4] Walter
A. Elwell, ed., Baker Theological
Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), p. 597.
[5] Baruch
A. Levine, Numbers 1-20—The Anchor Bible,
(New York, NY: Doubleday, 1993), p. 228.
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