Numbers 6:24 The Lord Bless You

A few months ago, I shared a verse in the Bible that I believed has a little more significance than most of the others, if I may put it like that.

That verse is: O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness endures forever.  That verse is found maybe 30 times in the Bible with slight variations, and it is linked with some significant acts of God.  In 2 Chronicles 5:13, when the priests praised God with these words, “the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”  And in 2 Chronicles 20:21, when the singers began saying: “Give thanks to the Lord,” the Lord delivered them from their enemies.

We are told to give thanks always (Ephesians 5:20), and I think it is wise to express that thanks in this way much of the time when we do that.

I have also taught about the Lord’s Prayer.  Words that many of us have memorized, that in our daily prayers, I believe it is wise for us to use those words in those prayers.

I would like to introduce another important phrase or verse.  It’s actually a blessing that God gave to Moses to give to Israel’s first high priest wherewith he would bless the people of Israel:

Numbers 6:22–27 ²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: ²⁴ The Lord bless you, and keep you; ²⁵ The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; ²⁶ The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.’ ²⁷ “So they shall invoke [Lit. put] My name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Some people will protest and say: wait.  That was given to Moses to give to Aaron the high priest to bless the people of Israel under the Old Covenant.

First of all, we are a kingdom of priests ourselves (I Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6).  We used to be strangers of the covenants of promise, but now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. God has made the two (Jew and Gentile) into one, creating the two into one new man, and now through Christ, we both have access to God in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:12-21).

And, secondly, we live under a new covenant which doesn’t erase the old but builds on it:  Hebrews 8:10–12 (NASB95) ¹⁰ “for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ¹¹ “and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. ¹² “for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

I know it says that God made this covenant with Israel, but that is the covenant under which we live.

This is a blessing by which we bless other people.  I would suggest we start with our own families.  It doesn’t say how often Aaron was to bless the people, but if the Lord’s Prayer was intended to be prayed at least once a day, I would say blessing other people with this blessing once a day wouldn’t be too much.

A few notes on the blessing itself:  Hebrew, like a lot of languages, has a singular and plural form of the word YOU.  In this blessing, the words YOU are all singular.  Aaron blesses all the people, but the blessings are individual.  The words ‘face’ and ‘countenance’ are the same words in Hebrew.  The word ‘peace’ is ‘shalom,’ which is not merely the absence of hostility, but wholeness, fullness, completeness, welfare, contentment, and tranquility. And the word ‘invoke’ in verse 27 is simply the word ‘put’.  We put the name of God on other people, and God will bless them.

Some will argue: are we telling God what to do? 

God told Moses to tell Aaron to bless the people, and God said He would bless them if he did. 

There is an expression in logic, a fallacy: post hoc ergo propter hoc.  (Lit. after this, because of this)

The point it that, because one event follows another, you can’t assume that the first caused the second.  If God says that He will bless people on whom we have put His Name, don’t quibble about whether you are telling God what to do.  If God chooses to bless people that you have blessed, just be thankful.  Think of it more as: your words of blessing on other people are not mere words.  They have power.  So use them.

Pray for other people.  Everyone you can.  And say it out loud.  Pray God’s blessing, and let God take care of the details.