The Priestly Blessing

Numbers 6:22-27

22 Then the Lord said to Moses,

23 “Tell Aaron to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you.

25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’

27 Whenever Aaron bless the people of Israel  in my name, I myself will bless them.”

The context: Before this blessing is given, the children of Israel are assembled, getting ready to leave on a dangerous journey across the desert.  

What will the people of God doubt in the wilderness?

Many of them were going to die in the wilderness.

assaulted by enemies. face thirst and starvation.

 to face division and dissension.

God’s presence, His blessing, his purpose, his direction

And  before they begin this a dangerous & adventurous journey,

God goes before them with a blessing, and nothing would have been more comforting to them than the guarantee of God’s sovereign blessing.

But how kind of God to give them these kinds of assurances before they ever set out.

1.The SOURCE of Blessings! (22,27)

22 Then the Lord said to Moses…27 Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”

Who is this blessing from?  Aaron? Moses?... Nope!

This is Not man made! But 100% God made !

There’s nothing contingent on the “ blesser” Or the “blessee”! “who am I to call down a blessing upon someone?”

But from “Him from whom all blessings flow”!

3X  in this passage it is stressed: “The Lord…..

And notice in verse 27 what God says again: “So they shall put My name on the sons of Israel…” and then the emphatic “I then will bless them.”

5X  in this tiny little passage God makes it amply clear that He like to bless and He alone is the one who is capable of blessing His people.

God is the giver; He’s the source of blessing;

We go through life so often thinking, you know, life and satisfaction will come from this pleasure. Life and satisfaction will come from this job.

Life and satisfaction will come from these possessions.

Life and satisfaction will come from this popularity.

Life and satisfaction will come…fill in the blank!

We are running around constantly trying to stuff our hearts full of life and satisfaction somewhere else other than from the blessing of Almighty God, and if we could simply understand that God is the giver, He is the source, He is the author of the only blessing worth having, and so only God can fill us up.

And no one else can undo the Lord’s blessing. No one can take the Lord’s blessing off of His people. that story  in Numbers. (Balaam in Deut.23:5) You remember a man is going to come to Balaam and try and pay him to do what? To take the Lord’s blessing off His people. Do you think he was able to do that? No! No one can take the Lord’s blessing off His people.

Nothing that He doesn’t give do we need; what He gives is all we need.

If we would just understand that, it would radically change our lives.

This blessing is corporate and personal.

It’s so easy, isn’t it, to become centered upon ourselves, especially in the middle of difficult trials and to forget that there is a bigger story going on, and that God is concerned for the total well-being of all His people.

Yes, thank God, He’s concerned for us individually; but we must remember that there’s always a big picture going on as well. God’s blessing is corporate, but personal.

2.The COMMAND to Bless! (23)

23 “Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:

This was a divinely appointed liturgy of worship!

This blessing was to the common man

Let us not cheapen this blessing to only material blessings.  it includes that, but pales in comparison to the spiritual blessings here!

- His relationship; His favor; His smile; His grace!

3.The VEHICLE of Blessings! (23)

1.OT Priests/ NT Priests  – Rev.1:5,6 “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests (a kingdom of priests).

- It thus becomes our business to pronounce this benediction on men

wherever we go! (Morgan, Westminster Pulpit; pg.140)

4.The SUBSTANCE of Blessings! (24-26).  His 3-Fold Blessing:

24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect (keep)you.

 [1] Means that all the benefit & protection comes from God.

This is God’s giving and protecting character being displayed.

The Lord’s blessing entails children and property and a safe land to live in, promised by God; and health and well-being, and the nearness of God in all of life and in time of trouble.

“The Lord…keep you.” That is a reminder of God’s guarding and His protecting. It’s a pledge, it’s a promise, that He will guard and protect you.

-how relevant that was with the children of Israel heading out into the dangerous wilderness,

-and how relevant it is for us living life in a fallen world, surrounded by innumerable enemies; and powers and principalities, and rulers, world forces of darkness seeking to sift us like wheat, crouching at our door, waiting to devour us.

And here is the Lord saying, “I will keep you.”

-If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses, and even our disappointments are blessed.

-The best wish we can have for our dearest friend is not “May prosperity attend thee,” but “The Lord bless thee.”

25 May the Lord smile (make his face shine) on you and be gracious to you.

 [2]  The thought here is the face radiant upon you! It’s an indication of His pleasure in His people. It’s an indication of His presence and His communion and His approval of His people.

Prov.16:15 “When a king’s face brightens, it means life;  his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.”

       This is a picture of the delight of the Lord in His people. It’s an indication of His pleasure His communion and His approval of His people. Think of a grandchild coming to visit a grandparent, and the delight that that child experiences in seeing the delight of that grandparent in that child, and you get a feel for what’s being said here.

 - This was a personal experience of Moses, when he came down from the mountain his own face was shining –, because he had experienced the favor and the approval and the affirmation and the encouragement and the pleasure and the communion with the living God. God delighted in him.

     

“The Lord be gracious to you.” This is a pronouncement; it’s a promise of forgiveness. How He drives home His grace, because Satan wants to tempt us that He is not gracious and He will not forgive us.

Well, a guy named Aaron had built a golden calf, and the children of Israel had worshiped a false god. Now God is telling Moses that through Aaron it was going to be pronounced that He is gracious.

You think the children of Israel believed that?

 Aaron should have been a greasy spot on the desert floor, and now he is being told: ‘Before the children of Israel leave out in the desert, Aaron, I want you to tell them something. I forgive. I want that coming from your mouth, Aaron. That blessing, that promise, I want it coming from your mouth to the people of God, because you are Exhibit A.

26 May the Lord show you his favor(life up His countenance) & give you his peace.’

[3] It’s the Opposite of God “looking away” in displeasure. God is going to pay attention to you. “

 God saying to Aaron, ‘Tell them, ‘My eyes are right on you, children.

 I’m lifting up my countenance on you. I know what you need, I know what you are doing, I’m there for you. My mind is on you. I’m watching over you. My eyes are on you.

Just promise them that.’’ Just like a parent pays attention to a child, the Lord is going to watch over us.

Peace/Shalom :“The Lord give you peace”—total well-being, the sum total of all God’s good gifts to His people. Not just cessation of hostility, not just cessation of warfare on this earth, but sum total of God’s gifts…total well-being, total blessing (“completeness, security, health, tranquility, & peace w/God & man).”

-No matter how trying your circumstances may be, you can have God’s peace as you live under the blessing of His smile!

-When Jesus came the song was, “Peace on earth”;

& When He Left His farewell speech was, “Peace, I leave w/you.”

Conclusion:

 This is not a petition. It’s a blessing. It’s a pronouncement of God’s favor.

before God’s people’s needs are ever laid forth, God precedes those needs with blessing.

v.27 God puts His name on His people and marks us as His own.

“So then they shall invoke My name…” or, literally, “They shall put My name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.” Isn’t it interesting?

The way that God is going to mark His people is with a blessing—not with a brand, not with a bond, but with a blessing.

That’s going to be His mark of ownership. How do you know that these are My people? I’ve put My name and My blessing on them, that’s how you’re going to know that they’re My people.

This blessing shows us God as a bountiful giver, and a strong protector, and a faithful friend, and a forgiving Father, and a reliable partner, and a generous provider, and a unique owner.

And if we would just understand this, it would change everything.