Dr. Quahana
- Oct 5, 2023
- 7 min read

"The BLESSING"

Numbers‬ ‭6:24-26‬ ‭CSB‬‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“May the LORD bless you and protect you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD look with favor on you and give you peace.”

[emphasis mine]

In Numbers 6, the nation of Israel is receiving a blessing from God via His appointed priests. A mouthpiece of God by calling, these priests operated in the office of intercessor [standing in the gap] for the people and that sometimes included pronouncing blessings over them at God's request. In the name of the LORD, this prayer doubled as a promise that commanded blessings. Hands lifted high while facing the people, the priests authoritatively pronounced the blessing in a posture that actually mimicked and foreshadowed Jesus in Luke 24:50-51 as He blesses His Apostles.

‬‬‬This blessing was done as the Israelites were consecrating themselves unto the Lord and in effect were being set apart in what was called the Vow of a Nazarite, seen in such figures as Samson, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul and even Hannah, mother of Samuel the Prophet [so it was not gender specific]. The Vow of the Nazirite was to express one’s special desire to draw close to God and to separate oneself from the comforts and pleasures of this world. It was a very detailed and very strict vow reserved for that time and for those people either by birth or by vow. God first gives Moses the priestly blessing. He then tells Moses to give it to Aaron and Aaron’s sons [the priests], who in turn are to give it to the Israelites on behalf of God. Now, even though we as Christians can lift certain general principles from their vow, like consecration and drawing near to God, we are not ancient Israelites, and we are not taking this vow. However, as born-again Believers we are recipients of this Priestly blessing, given to us by our eternal High Priest Jesus, who fulfilled all the foreshadows, prophesies and laws in the Old Testament and forged a New Covenant by His shed Blood; thereby securing our position as children of God, who are privy to all God’s promises and blessings as His heirs. Romans 10:11-13 CSB reads, “For the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved'” and Hebrews 4:14-16, "So then, since we have a great High Priest Who has entered Heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin." [emphasis mine]

If we dissect this passage a bit, we will see seven demonstrations of God's blessed love upon His children, you might even call it extraordinary [seen in this past blog]. Again, this is what was classified as the Priestly Blessing given to the Israelites via Moses --> Aaron & his sons --> the Israelites. The prayer is cast in melodic poetic form, a frequent practice, which helped the people to remember and is thought to be one of the oldest poems in Scripture. Aaron was commanded to pronounce this blessing over the people of Israel only – not over the other nations. Though God blesses all humankind, there is a definite and powerful sense in which He has blessings only for His chosen people [all true modern-day Believers included]; very personal and very specific. Blessing can be thought of as God's favor, sanction or support and it should be something for which we are grateful, irrespective of whether we asked for it or not. We must join ourselves to Him to gain that blessing. We join to Him by professing, believing and accepting Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior. Now, let's see the seven aforementioned interwoven blessing components that spring forth from God’s love for His beloved and chosen children.

1. Bless You.

a. This simple desire begins everything. God loves to bless His people, and in turn He wants leaders who long for the people to be blessed. This also recognizes that all blessing really comes from God; and without His blessing, nothing really works right.

b. God’s blessing always has our greatest and highest good in mind.

c. God knows how we need to be blessed, even if we do not.

d. True blessing from God is higher than happiness, wealth or comfort.

e. His blessing us is doing well for us; those whom He blesses are most assuredly blessed.

2. Protect You.

a. Protection from evil, the Enemy and his demonic forces, schemes and plans, etc.

b. To be kept [another word for protect] by the Lord is blessing indeed. To be kept by the Lord ensures life, peace and success; the opposite of which is being kept by sin & desire, idolatry & greed, bitterness & anger and the usual suspects.

3. Make His Face Shine on You.

a. To have the glorious, pleased face of God shining upon us is the greatest gift one could have [remember BASKing?]. To know that as God looks upon you, He is well pleased – not because of who you are, or what you have done, but because you are in Jesus Christ – there is no greater source of peace and power in life. "A look of approval from God creates a deep, delightful calm within the soul," said Theologian Charles H. Spurgeon.

b. We cannot but be happy if we have God's love; and we cannot but be easy if we know that we have it.

4. Be Gracious to You.

a. The idea here is that God would show tender mercy, grace and care for His people.

b. Mercy is God not giving us what our sins do deserve. His mercies are new every morning! Hallelujah!!!

d. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve simply because He loves us. Amen, Amen and Amen!!!

5. Look With Favor on You.

a. God would look upon His people; when He blesses, keeps, shines and is gracious towards His people. Any look that God directs toward His people is filled with nothing but blessing. His loving attention is on the Believer.

b. Other versions read "To lift up His eyes/face/countenance upon you". That means to pay attention to and to look favorably towards, assuring a graciousness for the Believer that precedes deliverance from troubles & enemies, while experiencing answered prayer.

c. This is the smile of a Father upon His child or on a friend whom He takes pleasure in. If God gives us the assurances of His special favor and His acceptance of us, this will put gladness into our hearts.

6. Give You Peace.

a. The Hebrew word used here is shalom, which is more than the end of aggression. This peace, this shalom, is God’s word for wholeness and goodness and total satisfaction in life. This is the abundant life Jesus promised in John 10:10 NASB. 360-degree wholeness.

b. The Good News is that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross reconciled us to God. He made peace and we have received that peace as a gift. Acts 10:36 reads, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” [emphasis mine]

7. "Pronounce His Name Over You." --> [The overall fruit implied in the Priestly Blessing].

a. To be blessed by God is to have His Name on you – to be identified with Who He is and by His nature.

I. God's Name upon the Israelites was their honor, their comfort, their safety, their plea. In effect saying, “Lord, we are called by Thy name, leave us not.”

b. The sacred repetition of "LORD" illustrates the Trinity and shadows the Triune God even though Jesus [the promised Messiah] was yet to be on the scene.

I. God the Father blesses and keeps His children.

II. God the Son makes God’s face to shine on us and brings us grace.

III. God the Holy Spirit communicates God’s attention to us and gives us peace.

IV. Said another way “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit.”

c. "You" is repeated six times for emphasis – God wants to bless you, God is speaking to you, God loves you!!!

In summary: God promised to bless the Israelites according to these words spoken via the priests. The Good News? Every born-again Believer under the Grace of the New Covenant should remember that we too are recipients of the Blessing, are a royal priesthood and also have Jesus, our High Priest, seated on the Throne at the right hand of the Father. And He lives forever to pray for us, to mediate for us and to bless us. Theologian Charles H. Spurgeon said two very powerful things in one of his timeless sermons:

• “When God says, ‘I will,’ all the devils in hell cannot turn aside the blessing, and all the ages of eternity cannot change the King’s Word.”

• “The Lord has blessed His people, and He would have them know it. He has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and it is His wish that they should experience the fullness of this blessedness. Are any of the Lord’s people without a sense of this blessing? It is not the will of God that you should continue in a low condition.”

Your takeaways to remember [and blessings!] are spoken over you below.

Yours in Christ!

Dr. Quahana