The Blessing: Numbers 6:22-27
A young pastor agreed to perform the funeral of an indigent transient who had no family or friends. The man was to be the first person buried in the new potter's field deep in the back country. As misfortune would have it, the pastor got lost and drove around until finally, more than an hour late, the pastor spotted a backhoe and crew in the middle of a field. The hearse was nowhere to be seen, the county officials were gone, but he drove up to the site and peering into the grave. He realized how late he really was because they had already put the concrete vault lid in place, capping the grave.
Without delay the pastor went into his funeral service, saying prayers and giving the backhoe crew an inspired talk about the fragility of life and the power of the resurrection and then turning to the two men standing by with shovels said, “Gentleman I want to say bless you for what you do. I know you must not get recognized very often, but just know that God knows what you are doing is important and a part of kingdom work.”
When the pastor was driving away, one of the workers turned to the other and said, "Well, That was really nice.” The other man said, “You know it really was. I’ve never felt so good about installing septic tanks in 20 years on the job.”
Outline
The Old Generation Set Aside (1–20)
Counted (1–4)
Counseled (5–10)
Chastised (11–12)
Condemned (13–20)
The New Generation Set Apart (21–36)
Their journeying (21–25, 33)
Their numbering (26–27)
Their offerings (28–30)
Their dividing of the inheritance (31–36) - Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament
Blessed by God
We, as Christians, often talk about feeling blessed, we speak of the blessings that come from God, like our family, our church, certainly our salvation and eternal home. You can go to Hobby Lobby or even Home Depot and buy a nice sign that say. “I am blessed.” And speaking for myself, I have been and am truly blessed but what does the Bible mean when it talks about a blessing? What exactly does it mean to me as God applies it to me life, my family or my church today.
Look at our text Numbers 6:22-27 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
This is the law of The blessing, instructions for the High Priest to convey God’s blessing upon God’s People.
“The High Priest according to the Jewish writers would stand upon a hill or a rise, raise his hands, spread his fingers and lift his voice with the blessing of God.” – Gill
The name of God, Jehovah, is three times repeated in this blessing. The Jews believed this indicated something of the mystery of God. We know that anytime something is repeated in the Bible it is saying, “this is important, pay attention to what is being stated.” To be blessed by the high priest, who was the voice of God, was to be thrice blessed, a triple touch of God.
Isn’t this a beautiful blessing? I want us today to dig a bit deeper and in that search, to learn more of God’s love and care. I want us to learn not just what it is being so eloquently said but also to better know the truth of the words and the promises they give to all those who know God.
Let me begin with some scholars I found in my research. The authors, Jamieson, Fawcett and Brown state, “This passage records the solemn benediction which God appointed for dismissing the people at the close of the daily service. The repetition of the name "Lord" or "Jehovah" three times, expresses the great mystery of the Godhead—three persons, and yet one God. – JFB
The blessing with which this chapter ends gives a precious revelation of the triune God. Three times the Name of Jehovah was put upon the children of Israel; the Father-God, who keeps; Jehovah the Son, who is gracious; Jehovah the Holy Spirit, who gives peace. - Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible.
…the threefold repetition of a word or sentence serves to express the thought as strongly as possible, the triple blessing expressed in the most unconditional manner the thought, that God would bestow upon His congregation the whole fulness of the blessing enfolded in His Divine Being which was manifested as Jehovah. - Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
Transition: So lets breakdown The Blessing into those three repetitions of the Lord’s name.
Blessed In His Protection - Numbers 6:24
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord’s Protection
All the letters of the word LORD are all capitalized and of course you know that means it is God’s personal name, the name He gave Moses at the burning bush.
Let’s sneak some theology in here. There is actually a word that describes this use of the word Lord. It is labeled the sacred tetragrammaton. (I know that sounds like something from a sci-fi novel) but it comes from the Greek and it means four “tetra” and letter “grammaton”. These four Hebrew consonants, יהוה YHWH stands as a symbol for the personal name of God because the ancient Jews would not pronounce or even writing the full name that contained both the vowels and the consonants. The vowels were removed to make it unpronounceable. The actual pronunciation of the word has been lost. Over time the vowels from the Hebrew word for Lord (Adonai) were place over the consonants to remind people to say “the Lord” but to realize it was the personal name of God. We really don’t know how it was originally pronounced but we say Jehovah, or more and more Yahweh today.
Sot this first of three uses of God’s personal name conveys His power and protection. It is the Heavenly Father protecting His children.
His people, the Hebrews, the Israelites, were in the midst of the wilderness, surrounded by harsh desert and even harsher enemies and they needed to know they had the protection of God. Everything they had depended on back in Egypt was gone, everything they now were experiencing was alien and dangerous, everything they would face in the future was a risk.
Everything was uncertain, but this one thing, they could be certain of the blessing of Jehovah. When they needed something to cling to, something to believe in, someone to protect them, they would remember as Aaron stood before them and raised his hands toward heaven and blessed them and they could know, “Our Heavenly Father watches over us.”
Still Needing God’s Protection
Nor are we in any less need of our Heavenly Father’s protection today.
I think we can relate, as God’s people today, with God’s people back then. Look what is going on around us.
Today we also stand in the midst of enemies. We better realize that we are fighting daily against ignorance, apathy, sinfulness and hatred. We are being attacked by ridicule, lies, and outright violence.
Just this week I read a story in my newsfeeds, “Attacks on churches have increased nearly 800 percent in less than six years, indicating that “hostility against U.S. churches is not only on the rise but also accelerating,” a Family Research Council (FRC) report found. Between 2018 and 2023, FRC identified 915 acts of hostility against churches in the United States by analyzing open-source documents, reports, and media outlets. In just the last year alone (between January and November of 2023), 436 acts of hostility against churches occurred, according to the report.”
Whether it affects us directly or not we still need to realize that each day brings more hostility and violence to our communities, to the Lord’s churches, to families and possibly to ourselves. Beliefs, traditions and practices we thought were solid ground are now just dust in the wind. From here the future is dark and uncertain.
Nor is it just the physical attacks that we need God’s protection, but also the spiritual attacks that God’s word warns us of. Peter warns us in 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
What we need today, as God’s people needed then, is to believe in our Heavenly Father’s power and protection.
Jesus made this the central theme of his pray in the Garden.
John 17:15-23
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not
of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And
for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in
them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world
may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
This prayer is our blessing from the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Just look at what He prays and then place yourself under the protection of that blessing. I need to know that I am in this world, but I am not of this world. I need to know that by the word of the Son of God, I have been sanctified, chosen by the word of truth for His purpose. I need to exult in the reality of the glory of God which has been given to me at all times and in all circumstances. I have eternal protection, protection of my soul by the power of my Father in Heaven.
Here it is again in John
10:27-29
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than
all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
This is the protection of God. Jesus says, “No man is able to pluck them out of my father’s hands.” No man! I need to hear that, I need to believe that and I need to act in that belief. I am a child of God, ransomed by Jesus’ shed blood, protected by His sacred promise, kept eternally safe by His power, and cradled in the palm His own hand! Could any place be safer? Could any promise be more unbreakable?
Transition: Let’s look at the second time God’s name is used in the blessing. Vs 25
Blessed In His Presence - Numbers 6:25
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord’s Presence
Now we come to second time the name of God is used to bless His people. There is a Hebrew saying, “When a man’s face shines it is filled with happiness and joy.”
This blessing states that God’s face, as it looks toward Israel, will be filled with happiness and joy for them. This is a happiness that flows from the face of God, the presence of God to the hearts of His people. It is an outward expression of that inward grace that will be given to them. It is a revealing of God’s true heart of love and grace toward the Israelites people he had bought and kept by the promise of His covenant with Abraham.
Psalm 80:1-7 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Needing to See His Face
Moses pleaded to see the face of God, but God told him, “no man can see my face and live.” Instead, God placed Moses in a cleft in the rock, covered him with His hand and then passed before him. He then removed His hand and Moses just glimpsed the back of God after he had passed by. So powerful was even this glimpse that Moses face shone when He came back to camp.
God’s face could not be seen in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament His face was seen in the face of Jesus, God the Son. John the last living apostle boldly declared this in his first epistle, 1 John 1:1-2, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)”
John and all the apostle and disciple who walked with Jesus, saw the face of God. They knew the blessing of God’s face shining upon them. And that blessing did not cease when Jesus ascended back to heaven. His face still shines on us through His word and through the work of the Holy Spirit.
And yes, just as we need the Father’s protection, we need the presence of the Son. We need to see the face of God shining on us in his Son, Jesus Christ. We can only read of the glory Moses saw at Mt. Sinai, but we can experience the glory that is ours at Mt. Calvary.
Jesus has promised us His presence, John 14:18-20 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Matthew 28:20 I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Let me share a hymn I found in my preparation, don’t know how it sounds but thought the words captured the wonder of Jesus presence, of His shining face.
I’ve Seen The Face of Jesus by W. Spencer Walton
I’ve seen the face of Jesus—
He smiled in love on me;
It filled my heart with rapture,
My soul with ecstasy.
The scars of deepest anguish
Were lost in glory bright;
I’ve seen the face of Jesus—
It was a wondrous sight!
And since I’ve seen His beauty
All else I count but loss;
The world, its fame and pleasure,
Is now to me but dross;
His light dispelled my darkness,
His smile was, oh, so sweet!
I’ve seen the face of Jesus—
I can but fall at His feet.
Oh! glorious face of beauty,
Oh, gentle touch of care;
If here it is so blessed,
What will it be up there?
Blessed In His Peace - Numbers 6:26
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
The Lord’s Peace
This third evocation of God’s name is used in the blessing of God’s presence in the midst of His people. When the Hebrew Children were wandering for those 40 years in the wilderness wherever they might be they could look above the tabernacle where they would see the Shekinah Glory of God, a cloud by day and a flame by night and they would know that God was with them. In that knowledge of the protection and the presence of God, they would also find the peace of God. If God was with them what had they to fear?
Centuries later when the God’s nation had forsaken him and been driven into captivity, they were given a promise and an assurance that still God had not abandoned them. The old Covenant of the law had failed because it depended on them but God had is never unprepared, never surprised and He never can fail. Already He had prophesied a new covenant dependent only upon Himself. It was prophesied by God’s prophets during the exile in Babylon
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: … But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
The people of God no longer would need a tabernacle or a temple with God’s presence dwelling between the cherubim of the mercy seat. That glory, that peace they lost, but this future promise of God’s Spirit in them, meant God would never forsake them. He would be with them, dwelling through His Spirit in their heart. What a promise. What an assurance of peace. But it could not be fulfilled until Messiah had come, given His life and then ascended back to the father. Once that happened then on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the Holy Spirit came and indwelt the people of God.
His Presence in the Holy Spirit.
The fulfillment of the promise from Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Joel was begun in
Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I believe this was the same Shekinah Glory that once filled the sky over the tabernacle, the same Shekinah Glory that filled the Temple and now filled God’s new house of witness, the church. But there is a difference, for now it would fill the life of every individual believer, we as believers were the new tabernacle for the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit to dwell in.
Jesus had promised the gift of the Holy Spirit the night before He was taken and crucified
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Now on the Day of Pentecost, that promise was fulfilled. The Jewish people of Jesus time looked for this as a confirmation of the coming of the Messiah, the New Covenant written in the heart of God’s people and the gift of His Spirit to be with them.
Just as God gave a sign, a proof, of his presence to the Israelites in the Shekinah Glory, He has also given a proof of His presence to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Just as the blessing in Numbers 6:26 states, The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. It is His presence in the Holy Spirit that will give us peace.
The last half of Romans 8 is all about the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me just read a few verses.
Romans 8:14-16 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Vss. 26-28 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
When Paul wrote Timothy he reminded him of God’s gift of the spirit and what it meant in him. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
This is the undeniable, unassailable peace, that comes from being blessed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are His and He has bound us to him eternally by the anchor of His Spirit in us. That no matter what may happen, that bond of adoption can never be broken. We are His, blessed by the Father’s protection, bought by the blood of Christ and bound by the gift of the Comforter.
We have peace through the triple blessing of the Father the Son and the Spirit.
Prayer for a beet.
I heard a story about a man who was going through a tough time. He couldn’t find a job and the last of his food had finally run out. He sat down one day to a very meager meal. In fact, upon his plate was just one thing a very small beet. Some might wonder how you can say be thankful to God when there is so little to be thankful for, some might doubt God blessings, but not this man. He bowed his head and prayed, “Dear Lord… that beets all. Amen.”
And what we have in The Blessings of God, really does Beat All! Aren’t you glad?
Conclusion:
His Name On His Children:
The blessing concludes with vs. 27 and it will be our conclusion as well. Numbers 6: 27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
God is saying that it is His name that would be put upon them. The blessing was not a wish, but it was to be seen in the people themselves. When others would see them, they would absolutely know, “They are the people of God, because they are blessed by God.”
I wonder if we also exhibit the name of God on us to the world around us. Can they see the blessing of God through us? Aren’t we truly blessed? Don’t we believe God’s watches over us, that Jesus is with us and that the Holy Spirit gives us peace? Then shouldn’t is show. Shouldn’t the world know, our lost friends, our lost family, even unsaved strangers once we meet them, shouldn’t they all know that we are truly blessed because we belong to God.
