The Blessing: Numbers 6:22-27

The Blessing

Num 6:22-27

Thesis: It has already been argued and demonstrated that everything that God does he does out of a zeal for His own glory.  This may lead to the conclusion that God is selfish.  However, one of the many ways that He displays His glory is in the unmerited love and affection he steadfastly lavishes on His people. All aspects of the Godhead play a role in this steadfast love which He maintains for His elect.

1. Introduction
1. Irish Blessing:

“May the road rise up to meet you.  May the wind be always at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.”

2. People in the past were much more concerned with receiving blessings and avoiding curses than contemporary westerners today. 
1. The fictionalization of these kinds of things.
2. Our reliance upon the material and empirical has made such spiritual realities seem less real, but scripture assumes that blessings and curses are in fact things that have a place in reality.

a)    God blessed Adam and Eve (Gen 1)

b)    God cursed creation, the serpent, Adam, and Eve (Gen 3)

c)     God cursed Cain (Gen 4)

d)    God cursed the ground in the flood (Gen 7)

e)    God Blesses Abraham to be a blessing and promised to bless everyone who would bless him (Gen 12)

f)     Melchizedek blesses Abraham & God (Gen 14)

g)    Rebekah’s family blesses her upon her marriage to Isaac (Gen 24)

h)    Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau (Gen 27, 28)

i)      Jacob blesses Pharaoh (Gen 47)

j)      Jacob blesses his sons (Gen 48)

k)    Jacob curses the anger of Levi and Simeon (Gen 48)

3. God desires to bless his people (Leviticus 26:3-13; Deut 28:1-14)
4. God commands the priests, from the very beginning of the ordination of the Levites, to bless His people in His name.
1. [Deu 10:8 ESV] 8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.
2. [Deu 21:5 ESV] 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.

2. Numbers 6

[Num 6:22-23 ESV] 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,

1. Vs 22-23: The commanded blessing
1. God told Aaron and Moses, and the priests which would follow after them, to use this blessing upon the people.
2. Recited over the people with outstretched arms, after the conclusion of the morning and evening sacrifices.
3. Rote prayer in the Bible is unusual, but appropriate in this case.  God did not want any failings in Aaron’s faith toward God or love for the people to get in the way of the blessings He intended for Israel (Spurgeon).
4. Three-fold blessing.  The name of God is given 3x, as a prefiguring of the trinity.

a)    In the original Hebrew, each iteration of the name of God has different accents written, as if they are slightly different names (Matthew Henry and John Gill’s commentaries). 

b)    Each line corresponds to an activity of a person of the Godhead in blessing His people.

c)     [2Co 13:14 ESV] 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

5. Jesus passed this blessing to his disciples as the last thing he did on earth.

[Luk 24:50 ESV] 50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.

[Num 6:24 ESV] 24 The LORD bless you and keep you;

2. Vs 24: God the Father, the physical blessing
1. Bless, Provision

a)    Barek, To kneel down.

(1)  From lesser to greater: to worship or praise.

(2) From greater to lesser: A father or king lowering himself to the level of a child or subject and looking them in the eye to give a gift (blessing).

b)    When we Barek God, we glorify Him and make Him great.

c)     When he “Bareks” us, he gives us gifts, which Include material wealth and physical provision, above.

d)    Only in a right relationship with God can true blessing be known (Gen 22:17-18).

2. Keep, Guarding

a)    Semir, To guard or protect.

b)    God Keeps his people in a covenant relationship with Himself.

(1)  OT Israel kept safe by the Lord (Deut 7:12; 1 Sam 2:9)

(2) In the New Covenant, God Keeps us safe in his salvation

[Jer 31:10-11, 27-28, 31-34 ESV]

c)     God keeps them safe from the assaults of the enemy

(1)  [Psa 121:7-8 ESV] 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

(2) [Heb 13:6 ESV] 6 So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

d)    Jesus ultimately does what God told Him to do in keeping his disciples.  This is the action of the Father delegated out to the Son

[Jhn 17:12, 15 ESV] 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ... 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

[Num 6:25 ESV] 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

3. Vs 25: God the Son, the revealed blessing
1. Make His face shine, revelation.

a)    Only one of the Godhead whose face has been seen.

(1)  No man can see God’s face and live (Ex 33:20)

(2) Even in the cases when OT saints “see” God, they are seeing “The Angel of the Lord,” Jesus (Ex 3:4; 40:34-38)

(3) God has revealed himself in the visible Christ (John 1:18)

(4) To see Jesus is to “see” the Father

(a)  Jesus’ teaching John 5:37; 6:36

(b) Philip: show us the Father (John 14:8-9).

b)    [2Co 4:6 ESV] 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

c)     The shining face of God is tied to his salvation

[Psa 80:3, 7, 19 ESV] 3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! ... 7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! ... 19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

2. Be gracious, unmerited favor

a)    The root idea is unmerited favor.  God does not act lovingly and savingly toward us because of anything we are or do, but because of his own choice to love and be merciful.

(1)  [Deu 7:7-8 ESV] 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you…

(2) [Isa 30:18 ESV] 18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

(3) [Joe 2:13 ESV] 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

b)    This is readily observed in the character of Christ.

(1)  [Luk 4:22 ESV] 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

(2) [1Pe 1:13 ESV] 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[Num 6:26 ESV] 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

4. Vs 26: God the Holy Spirit, the joyful blessing

1. Lift up His countenance upon you, smile.

a)    A lifted-up countenance means a happy face.  A downcast countenance speaks of anger or sorrow, depression (Psa 42; 43)

b)    Also speaks of attention.  God is said to turn his face away in judgment (Psa 30:7; 44:24; 104:29).

c)     The Holy Spirit, as the comforter, communicates God’s love and pleasure to His people.  We go from a sense of foreboding His judgment to knowing that we are His children.

2. Give you peace. Shalom, wholeness.

a)    The main idea is that life is complex and multi-faceted, but God seeks wholeness, completion, balance.  No cracks, nothing missing.

b)    To “bring Shalom” means to restore wholeness where something was stolen, broken, or lacking. Completing a wall, paying a debt.

c)     When Jesus is called the “prince of shalom,” He is the one who sets right what was broken in us.

d)    The Holy Spirit is frequently seen as the one who brings peace, as the “comforter.”

(1)  [Jhn 14:26-27 ESV] 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

(2) [Gal 5:22-23 ESV] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(3) [Rom 8:6 ESV] For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

[Num 6:27 ESV] 27 "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

5. Vs 27: The effect of the blessing
1. God will put his name on them, Ownership

a)    Note of interest: This is the passage of scripture which is represented on the oldest manuscript fragment we have. Silver scroll 700 BC. “put my name on them.”

b)    [Deu 28:10 ESV] 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.

c)     [Rev 22:4 ESV] 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

2. God Himself will bless them, Authority.

a)    Not a request or a conditional statement.  This is a statement of fact.

b)    God is not telling the Priests to bless.  The blessing does not originate in the priests. It originates in God.

3. Application
1. One of the many things God does to magnify His glory is to express His steadfast love to thousands.

[Exo 34:6-7 ESV] 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

2. This love and blessing is for His people, not everyone.  Is He for you?

but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

3. If You are among His people, then stop trying to bless yourself and receive the blessing that He has for you.
1. [Exo 14:14 ESV] 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
2. [Deu 31:6 ESV] 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."