Memory / Meditation Numbers 6.24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
The emphasis of this benediction is the Lord’s threefold blessing. Each “blessing” has a strong emphasis using the name of the LORD (YHWH – Yahweh) as its preface. Foremost is his promise of protection and provision. This is the root of God’s steadfast love (covenantal love). It is a prominent theme throughout the Old Testament (cf. Psalm 121).
Second, the glory of his face will shine upon you. In biblical antiquity when a king’s face shown upon his subjects it was an indication of his favor. So, the imagery here symbolizes God’s divine approval and the warmth of his love.
The third aspect of this benediction again suggests his favor. His countenance (face) rests upon you with the assurance of an abiding peace (cf. John 14.27 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.). This threefold repetition reinforces the covenantal relationship with his people. Moreover, for added emphasis God told Aaron that his name would be associated with Israel.
Israel’s identity as God’s covenant people foreshadows the New Testament reality of believers being adopted as God’s children (1 John 3.1-3). This Old Testament type of relationship is fulfilled in the New Testament antitype as believers are adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus’ redemptive work. The apostle Paul paints a beautiful word picture of the Christian’s relationship with God in Christ in his letter to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1.3-6).
As you mature in your faith there will be, as no doubt there have been, times when you feel warmly drawn to God and you want to renew or strengthen your resolve to serve and please him. That is precisely what some Israelites did when they took a Nazarite vow to fulfill some covenant promise made to the Lord. The instructions governing these vows immediately preceded God’s instruction to Aaron to pronounce His blessing on Israel. The rules included a period of devotion involving abstaining from strong drink, including all grape products like wine (including vinegar); not cutting your hair and not becoming ritually impure through contact with corpses, graves, or even deceased family members. Of course, the problem with vows is the difficulty of faithfully fulfilling them. Knowing our limitations God bestows the assurance of his abiding presence. Just as the Israelites were assured of God’s blessings, so, too, Christians may be confident that what God has promised he is faithful to do. Similar in spirit to the Aaronic blessing is the close of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it (1 Thessalonians 5.23-24).
The blessing may be a comfort for you as you seek to follow the Lord with your whole heart. It is a matter of remembering that your entire life is lived out in the face of God’s holy presence. It is what Martin Luther, and many others have called Coram Deo (before the face of God). The truth of the matter is a simple: you either live coram mundo (before the face of the world) or coram Deo. King David wrote of the balance between the vow and the assurance of God’s presence and provision: I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life (Psalm 56.12-13).
Second, the glory of his face will shine upon you. In biblical antiquity when a king’s face shown upon his subjects it was an indication of his favor. So, the imagery here symbolizes God’s divine approval and the warmth of his love.
The third aspect of this benediction again suggests his favor. His countenance (face) rests upon you with the assurance of an abiding peace (cf. John 14.27 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.). This threefold repetition reinforces the covenantal relationship with his people. Moreover, for added emphasis God told Aaron that his name would be associated with Israel.
Israel’s identity as God’s covenant people foreshadows the New Testament reality of believers being adopted as God’s children (1 John 3.1-3). This Old Testament type of relationship is fulfilled in the New Testament antitype as believers are adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus’ redemptive work. The apostle Paul paints a beautiful word picture of the Christian’s relationship with God in Christ in his letter to the Ephesians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1.3-6).
As you mature in your faith there will be, as no doubt there have been, times when you feel warmly drawn to God and you want to renew or strengthen your resolve to serve and please him. That is precisely what some Israelites did when they took a Nazarite vow to fulfill some covenant promise made to the Lord. The instructions governing these vows immediately preceded God’s instruction to Aaron to pronounce His blessing on Israel. The rules included a period of devotion involving abstaining from strong drink, including all grape products like wine (including vinegar); not cutting your hair and not becoming ritually impure through contact with corpses, graves, or even deceased family members. Of course, the problem with vows is the difficulty of faithfully fulfilling them. Knowing our limitations God bestows the assurance of his abiding presence. Just as the Israelites were assured of God’s blessings, so, too, Christians may be confident that what God has promised he is faithful to do. Similar in spirit to the Aaronic blessing is the close of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it (1 Thessalonians 5.23-24).
The blessing may be a comfort for you as you seek to follow the Lord with your whole heart. It is a matter of remembering that your entire life is lived out in the face of God’s holy presence. It is what Martin Luther, and many others have called Coram Deo (before the face of God). The truth of the matter is a simple: you either live coram mundo (before the face of the world) or coram Deo. King David wrote of the balance between the vow and the assurance of God’s presence and provision: I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life (Psalm 56.12-13).
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