‘Adonai bless you and keep you!
Adonai make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you!
Adonai turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!’ Numbers 6:24-26, TLV
Ever wonder about the origins of this blessing? A blessing that has been spoken by Jewish priests and rabbis for thousands of years? The blessing is sometimes called the Aaronic Benediction. Later, many churches adopted the benediction hundreds of years ago. As you can see by the Scriptural reference, this was given to the Jewish people through what we know as the Torah or Old Testament.
If you wonder why I stress the importance of context, here is one reason:
Again Adonai [The LORD] spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons saying: Thus you are to bless Bnei-Yisrael [the Children of Israel], by saying to them: ‘Adonai bless you and keep you! Adonai make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you! Adonai turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!’ In this way they are to place My Name over Bnei-Yisrael, and so I will bless them.”
GOD TO MOSES, NUMBERS 6:22-27, TLV [EMPHASIS MINE]
In this case, God’s Name was placed over Israel. Not because they are perfect, that’s for sure. But, we can take comfort in knowing that as followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and His Son our Messiah Jesus, we are His children — by birth or by adoption.
As adopted we carry His Name. His children by birth carry His Name, until the set time when all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25-32).
The beauty of understanding this context is the realization that God saw us — in the future — carrying His Name. That these words spoken over us are our peace in these troubled times.
