The Aaronic Blessing

The Aaronic Blessing is embedded into my childhood memories.  When I was just a little girl my family belonged to a conservative Jewish congregation.  We were not religious by any stretch of the imagination.  My sister and I attended Sunday school, we occasionally attended Shabbat services on Friday night or Saturday mornings, and of course the whole family showed up dressed in their finest on the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  That is roughly equivalent to Christians who show up on Christmas and Easter.

Even with little to no personal relationship with God, my family was fiercely proud of our Jewish heritage and did what they could to keep us in Jewish community rather than mixing with gentiles.  I learned what I was taught about our history and the meanings of the various holidays, however I always felt there was a great deal of hypocrisy going on, and had little trust in the religion, because I saw very little devotion to the doctrine that I was being taught in my immediate family.  My grandfather and his generation had that devotion, but my parents, the ones I took my cues from, did not.

Still, there were a few things that stuck with me, that called out to my very spirit and made me feel connected to something far greater than myself when I heard them.  Looking back, I can identify God’s prevenient grace letting me know in those moments that no matter what the people around me said or did, He was real as real could be.

That is probably why I always desired to know more about Jesus, and understand why so many people were so devoted to Him.  That is probably also why when someone finally addressed the questions I had from a Jewish perspective, that I understood so completely that the gospel message was indeed Truth.

יברכך יהוה וישמרך

יאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך

ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם שלום

One of those things was the Aaronic Blessing, sometimes referred to as the priestly blessing.  In my childhood, I heard it used as the benediction after services, and though I did not understand it, I could not deny its power.  I was never taught what it was, or why it was sung with such reverence and spoken in such a ritual manner, with upwardly stretched arms and the fingers separated in the same manner as Mr. Spock when he used the traditional Vulcan greeting on Star Trek.

In more recent years, I have heard that blessing in the Messianic congregations I have visited, and this past Sunday afternoon, upon hearing it again, and feeling its power again, I suddenly needed to know more.  What I learned was so moving and so absolutely beautiful, that I could not wait to share it with everyone near me.

It is found in the book of Numbers, the law that God gave to Moses.  It follows the passages that detail how one takes the vow of a Nazirite to separate himself to the Lord.   The Nazirite vows were specific and sacrificial, and according to the law, “…until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy.” Numbers 6:5 (NKJV)

That should give us a clue about just how serious this portion of scripture is, and just as the law concerning the Nazirite vows ends, God gives instruction on how the people are to be blessed by the priesthood.

Numbers 6:22-23 (NKJV) “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:”

And here comes the powerful blessing God commanded to be spoken to the children of Israel.

Numbers 6:24-26 (NKJV)
²⁴ “The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵ The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
²⁶ The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Finally, verse 27 tells us why.

Numbers 6:27 (NKJV)
²⁷ “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

When we receive this blessing, the name of God is on us and He will bless us!  That sounds like some pretty good news to me, but it gets a lot better.  The blessing itself is a threefold blessing that foreshadows our understanding of the Holy Trinity.

²⁴ “The LORD bless you and keep you;

(as a Father would do)

²⁵ The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;

(Jesus, the Son, came to offer us grace)

²⁶ The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

(peace as we receive from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit)

I did a little more digging because I know that the English language seldom captures the full meaning of the words that have been translated first to Greek and then to other languages.  I found those expanded meanings on a research site I sometimes visit, ancient-hebrew.org.

“The Hebrew word for “bless” is “barak” which literally means “to kneel”. A berakah is a “blessing” but more literally, the bringing of a gift to another on a bended “knee”. When we bless God or others, we are in essence, bringing a gift on bended “knee”. A true king is one who serves his people, one who will humble himself and come to his people on a bended knee.

The Hebrew word for “keep” is “shamar” which literally means “to guard”. A related word is “shamiyr” which means “thorn”. When the shepherd was out in the wilderness with his flock, he would construct a corral of thorn bushes to protect the sheep from predators, a guarding over of the sheep.

With this more Hebraic concept of Hebrew words we can now read the beginning of the Aaronic blessing as, “Yahweh will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection“. The remaining portions of the Aaronic blessing can also be examined for its original Hebraic meaning revealing the following:

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The Lord will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection;

The Lord will illuminate the wholeness of His being toward you bringing order and He will provide you with love, sustenance, and friendship;

The Lord will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and He will set in place all you need to be whole and complete.

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In this expanded translation I see the blessing God intended all along, Jesus, the Suffering Servant, The Light of the world, the Lamb of God who brings us peace!  Not just any peace, but Shalom, which encompasses freedom from all disaster, health, tranquility, and serenity, the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” from Philippians 4:7 (NKJV)

When I was a brand new baby Christian, my first teacher, Dr. Al Anderson used to say “The Old Testament is Jesus concealed, the New Testament is Jesus revealed.”   It is humbling to reflect on the truth of this statement, and on how God was nudging me right into the arms of Jesus, using the very people that believed Jesus was not the Son of God, to bless me with such a powerful benediction.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios