Prayer: Father, may I be about blessing others and not cursing. May I use today’s passage as an example or Your instructions to Moses. Amen.
Reading: Numbers 7 key vs. chapter 6:24-27
24 ‘Adonai bless you and keep you!
25 Adonai make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you!
26 Adonai turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!’
27 In this way they are to place My Name over Bnei-Yisrael, and so I will bless them.”
Attention: Many of us have heard this blessing pronounced over you as a benediction at the end of a worship service but you may not have known exactly where it came from. I chose to write on the Nazarite vow yesterday, but I wanted to address the popular blessing which is recited world over. This is Aaron’s blessing he recited to the Hebrew nation as declared by Adonai to Moses.
In the past couple of years, the blessing Aaron gave in Numbers 6:24-27 has been popularized in a contemporary song called The Blessing. I have provided a link to the popular song version below as our music video.
You may not be aware, but the original manuscripts do not have chapters and verses. Modern translations began making chapter and verse delineations, to make it easier to give an address (book, chapter, and verse) in order to direct us to a specific location in scripture.
I hope that you give me the latitude to address a scripture of interest from yesterday which I wasn’t able to mention.
What is the purpose of blessing? The act of blessing is calling upon Adonai to interact on behalf of the requestor to the requested. God is the recognized agent of blessing. The adversary is recognized as the agent of cursing. Do we want to act as an agent of God or our common adversary?
Just as a point of interest. According to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (HIBD), there are “544 uses of various forms of the word ‘bless’ and 282 occurrences of various forms of the word ‘curse’ in the bible (ESV).”
Scriptural references of Aaron performing blessings as commanded by Adonai are found in Leviticus 9:22 and Deuteronomy 10:8 and 21:5.
May we be a people who blesses others.
Action: I choose to be a ‘blesser’ of people, reflecting Yeshua to the world.
Yield: I give myself over to the blessing of others in Yeshua’s name.
Engage: I am engaging with the Holy Spirit when I bless others.
Relationship: I am in relationship with the Holy, when I bless others.
Prayer: Father, I long to be transformed into being a blessing to You and a blesser of others. Amen.
Memory Verse: Numbers 6:24-27
24 ‘Adonai bless you and keep you!
25 Adonai make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you!
26 Adonai turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!’
27 In this way they are to place My Name over Bnei-Yisrael, and so I will bless them.”
Music Video: Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes—The Blessing https://youtu.be/tNk_xCa7zaQ
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”