Numbers 5-6

February 11

Numbers 5-6

The reading from Leviticus 1 to Numbers 6 primarily deals with legal materials; instructions on how to live as the people of God. This is concluded with God’s instructions on how Aaron and the priests are to bless Israel. God is the author, Moses the mediator and the priest invokes the blessing.

“The Lord bless you and keep you” Bless here means “to prosper.” The prayer is that God will give the faithful community, those who are living as the people of God, abundance in all areas of life. That He will preserve and protect His people no matter where their path may take them.

“The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” This is a prayer that God will smile upon his people. That He look to them with the satisfied eyes of a loving Father. But it also asks for God’s grace, God’s undeserved favor. That Almighty God, who owes the Israelites nothing, will be gracious to them even when they disobey the laws given to them over the preceding chapters.

“The Lord turn His face toward you.” This is slightly different in that God is turning his face toward the people. When God is angry with His people we are told he hides his face from them. Here in the blessing the priest is asking God to turn His face that may be turned away in anger due to disobedience, toward His people to show His favor toward them again.

When we receive God’s grace, when we are walking in obedience and He is smiling upon us, we have peace, a peace that transcends all understanding. The word for peace is shalom, meaning fullness of life and wholeness in all areas of life: material, family, society, and religious. God’s blessing brings wholeness and fulfillment to life.

This blessing is still relevant today. We still need God’s grace and his blessings upon us. This blessing reveals God’s desire to bless us. He is the author of the blessing and He closes saying; “I will bless them.” God wants to bless us today. He came and died on a cross to enable us to receive the fullness of His blessings and to live a life of wholeness and fulfillment. God blesses us and makes us holy for Him.