Tucked away in Numbers 6, we find a remarkable blessing. Indeed, this blessing is to blessings, what the prayer that begins, “Our Father who art in heaven,” is to prayers.

I grew up calling that prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus teaches his people to pray it in Matthew 6:9-13. Similarly, we might call this, the Lord’s Blessing, for God told his priests to bless his people with these words:

The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. (Num. 6:24-26)

Like the Lord’s Prayer, this blessing is short – and boundless. Poetic – and profound. Easy to remember – and impossible to fully grasp.

Both the Lord’s Prayer and the Lord’s Blessing are intended for his covenant people. Both are overarching and all-encompassing. Every prayer our Lord calls forth is included within the one, and every blessing he gives is encompassed by the other.

One more thing: We may read, or hear, or quote either of them, count it lovely, sense its importance. And we may completely miss the depth and breadth that English translations struggle to capture and familiarity can mask.

Oh Lord, our Lord, you commanded this blessing to be spoken, because you want to give it. How we need it! Breathe your blessing into us in a new and deeper way.

Three in one: A rich mosaic of blessings

Three phrases in the Lord’s Blessing sum up a multitude of blessings that he stands ready to pour out. Within each phrase lies a key Hebrew word, so filled with meaning that no one English word can fully convey it.

As we look at these key words and phrases, would you seek to do so spirit first? Instead of working to grasp their fullness mentally, would you pause and ask, “Lord, help me inhale what you are breathing out.”

The Lord KEEP you

The Hebrew word translated “keep” is shamar. It appears 469 times in the Old Testament. Its basic meaning is “to hedge about (as with thorns).”

This phrase in the Lord’s Blessing looks to the One who protects, preserves and watches over his people. It calls on him to keep us from sin, deliver us from evil and defend us from harm. It speaks over us the many-layered blessings of his protection.

Psalm 121 celebrates the fullness of this blessing. In its eight verses, shamar appears six times. With the psalmist, we too can look to and rest in the Lord our Keeper.

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. (vv. 2-8 NLT)

The Lord BE GRACIOUS to you

The Hebrew word translated “be gracious” is chanan. It calls on the God of all grace to do two things he delights to do: bestow his favor, release his grace.

Repeatedly, Scripture shows us how high and wide and deep God’s favor and grace are. They more than superabound! This phrase in the Lord’s Blessing invites him to pour them out on us.

For years, the Lord has been teaching me how it can look to receive this blessing, to live in the flow of his grace. All that living and learning has found its way into my book, The Esther Blessing: Grace to Reign in Life. Here’s a taste of the wonder of grace:

When life discourages or distresses us, God offers grace. Whether we’ve lived boldly and honorably or we’ve gotten ourselves into a royal mess, God offers grace. (p. 51)

Grace is what continually flows from the Father in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, empowering everything of eternal value that anyone ever becomes and does. (p. 58)

Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:17 NKJV)

The Lord give you PEACE

Shalom is the Hebrew word translated “peace.” This key word offers a safe haven from anxiety, strife, war. But there’s more.

In place of the brokenness and devastation that such conflicts cause, shalom calls forth soundness, safety, wellness, wellbeing, friendship and harmony, fulfillment and flourishing.

Implicit in shalom is the idea of unimpaired relationships with others and fulfillment in one’s undertakings.¹

Shalom ushers in wholeness.

In the New Testament, Paul spoke of this blessing when he wrote:

Don’t worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua. (Phil. 4:6-7 CJB)

Shalom speaks of a rich mosaic of blessings that spring from and culminate in peace. This phrase in the Lord’s Blessing looks to the God of peace, from whom all these priceless gifts flow.

The Lord of the blessing

This may seem to go without saying. Yet God didn’t go without saying it. Rather, he emphasized it:

The Lord’s Blessing flows from HIM.

Because Aaron and his sons originally spoke this blessing, it has been called the Aaronic blessing. Yet it’s more than that.

God commanded the blessing. He dictated the wording of it. And the blessing itself makes clear: This is the Lord’s Blessing. It is from him and through him and to him.

What flows from him reveals and reflects him  

The more we recognize, receive, and faithfully steward, the fullness of his blessings:

• The better we know him.
• The more we become who he created us to be.
• The more fully we live.
• And also: The more we reflect the holy, gracious, just, loving, life-giving God he is.

What flows from him flows into humble hearts

In a few words, the Lord’s Blessing offers us a myriad of blessings. But it does not give us permission to try to twist God’s arm or force his hand, to get what we want from him. It does not teach us to demand that he bless us at the times and in the ways we may expect.

In an all-encompassing sweep, the Lord’s Blessing offers us profound blessings that truly, deeply bless. And yet, God’s protection, grace and peace may not look at all as we have thought. At times, we may even think our Lord is withholding his blessings when, in fact, he is pouring them into our lives.

So how do we know what is blessing and what is not? How do we open ourselves to the blessings he is pouring out?

“This is what the Lord says” in Isaiah 66:

I will bless those who have
humble and contrite hearts,
who tremble at my word.
(vv. 1, 2 NLT)

In the very next verse, the Lord tells us what blocks his blessings: Choosing our own ways. Even and especially when we’re practicing Christians.

When our lives seem less than blessed:

→ Humility asks God what is going on, and why. It listens for his answer. It doesn’t quit listening if God says, “You have done what you wanted, instead of what I have told you to do.

→ A contrite heart, convicted by the Holy Spirit, turns and goes the other way.

→ And trembling at his word? That’s the holy awe that Proverbs 9:10 calls “the beginning of wisdom.”

We need God’s wisdom to see what is blessing and what is not. For when we look with human eyes, we may get the two reversed.

What flows from him identifies us with him

Repeatedly, the Lord’s Blessing points us to the two aspects of God that we most associate with identity – his name, and his face.

Repeatedly, it prompts us to look to HIM – seeking boldly, yet humbly and patiently – to recognize and receive every blessing that is flowing to us, from him.

The Blessing in his face

The Lord make his face shine on you …
The Lord turn his face toward you

The face says it all. It’s the one feature that most readily reveals who a person is. What’s more, the face can vividly show the state of a person’s relationship with someone else.

When God hides his face

When God is deeply distressed with someone, he does not hide that fact. Rather, he shows it – sometimes by getting in our face, sometimes by hiding his.

[The Lord] said, “I will hide my face from them and see what will become of them; for they are a perverse generation, untrustworthy children.” (Deut. 32:20 CJB)

Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.” (Mic. 3:4)

The Lord may turn his face away when he is running out of options to get our attention, when words have not worked to call us back from the brink. He may turn his face away to make very clear: The path you are choosing is deadly and wrong.

Yet he has no desire to hide his face from his own. Quite the opposite!

When we seek his face

He has poured himself out for us, in order to be able to turn his face toward us. He has called us to himself, in order to make his face shine on us. He continually urges us, “Seek my face.”

If my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14 CJB)

As we seek God’s face and seek to bring honor to his name, we learn true humility. We own and turn from any sins he pinpoints. As our hearts cry to know our Lord and our lives can be seen to be his, a wellspring of blessings flows from him to us.

Yet the blessed of the Lord do still experience pain. When that happens, it may sometimes seem God is hiding his face from us, when instead he is right there with us, guiding us through a very dark place.

As we continue on with him – questioning, crying out, honestly expressing how we feel, yet still pressing in to him by faith – one day when we least expect it, we will open a shuttered window … to the dawn. Again, we will see his face turned toward us and shining on us.

The Blessing in his Name

The LORD bless you …
The LORD …
The LORD …

Twice, the Lord’s Blessing speaks of his face.

Three times, the Lord’s Blessing speaks his Name. Three times, what is usually translated “the LORD” (in all caps) is actually:

• The Name God used when entering covenant with his people. The Jews counted it so sacred they would not say it aloud or write it in full. Instead, they wrote only the four Hebrew consonants transliterated YHVH.
• The Name God calls himself throughout the Old Testament when he is most intent on revealing different facets of himself to his people.
• The Name that appears again in the New Testament, given by the Father to the Son. The name we know as Jesus is “YHVH saves.”

Again and again in Scripture, God makes known some aspect of his character or his ways, and links it to the Name. In so doing, he says:

If you believe this of me – if you truly, deeply embrace it and live in light of it – you know a little more fully my identity, my ways, me.

Repeatedly, emphatically, the Lord’s Blessing shows all his blessings flowing from this Name.

All God’s names reflect some aspect of his nature. This Name reflects the whole, including his profound commitment to his people, and the profound mystery of his threefold Being.

The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

When God first called for this blessing to be spoken, he said only one thing in explanation:

They will place my name on
the People of Israel –
I will confirm it by blessing them.
(Num. 6:27 MSG)

Fount of every blessing

All this brings to my mind an old hymn, and I find myself singing it.

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

Robert Robinson, the hymn writer, saw clearly: The Lord himself is the fountainhead of every true blessing in our lives.

Intent on blessing his own,
he imparts his Name,
his identity, himself, to us.

And as we receive him,
he smiles on us.
In fact, his face beams with delight.

Out of this greatest blessing, all his other good gifts flow.

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This renovated repost was originally published March 5, 2022, and titled, “The blessing of the Lord.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

See also

• Blessings are not sweet little things
• God of the covenant Name
• I AM the one you seek
• Jesus taught us to pray for God
  
  
• Recovering and treasuring the forgotten prayer
• The blessing of mourning
• The blessing of rest

Footnotes

1. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Bruce K. Waltke (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1980), p. 931. ↩︎