Notes
The Priestly Blessing
The Blessing is said by the Priest, but it comes directly from God.
Num. 6:23-27 CSB “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. You should say to them, 24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”‘ 27 In this way they will pronounce my name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Kehot Chumash: God spoke to Moses, saying: 23 “I have already promised the people that if they obey My commandments I will reward them with material prosperity in order to make it easier for them to continue to do what I require of them. In addition to this, however, My presence in their midst—ensured by the Tabernacle—will make them abundantly prosperous, beyond their minimal needs. The vehicle for this beneficence will be the priestly blessing. Therefore, speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: ‘This is how you shall bless the Israelites after you offer the daily morning sacrifice (and on certain other occasions). You must address them in the singular, intending to bless each person individually, but you must also pronounce the blessings loud enough for them all to hear, intending to bless them all collectively, as well. Nonetheless, do not let this confuse you; bless them with full concentration and bless each individual wholeheartedly. Say the following words to them: 24 “May God bless you with wealth, making you extraordinarily prosperous, and watch over you, protecting this wealth entirely from theft. 25 May God shine His face to you in friendship and endow you with grace so that you will be liked and esteemed by others. 26 As for your shortcomings, may God raise His face toward you, i.e., show you discriminatory favor by overlooking them, and thereby grant you peace.” 27 When reciting this blessing, the priests shall bestow My Name upon the Israelites, i.e., pronounce My proper Name (the Name Havayah) as it is written, and I will bless the Israelites through the priests’ benediction and also bless the priests themselves.”
Verse by verse through The Blessing
23: We are promised blessing through obedience. Thus, our focus only needs to be on our walking in the commands – God will take care of the blessings.
24: To watch over you (“protect you” in the CSB) in Hebrew means to hedge about (as with thorns); to guard or attend to. (Strong’s H#8104)
- Think of the 91st Psalm, where this promise is enumerated:
- Living under the protection of the Most High.
- Rescued from the trap and the destructive plague.
- God’s faithfulness is a protective shield (see Psa. 3).
- We have no reason to fear.
25: The Lord will make His face shine on us and be gracious to us.
- Prov. 6:23 ESV ” For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,”
- Look at the entire Bible as a map of how the Torah Works in our lives (Jos. 1:8; Psa. 119; Prov. 3-4; Matt. 5-7; 1 Cor. 10; Rev. 2-3).
- Num 6:23 KH “I have already promised the people that if they obey My commandments I will reward them with material prosperity in order to make it easier for them to continue to do what I require of them.”
- Prov. 11:24-31 CSB
- When we know that God is our source:
- Fear is defeated (Matt. 6:19-34)
- Giving becomes easy (2 Cor. 9)
- We know hard times will eventually turn around (Job, Joseph, David, Rom. 8:28).
- The Blessing of God is not the absence of hardship or trials (Js. 1:2-4; Heb. 11:36-40)
- Prov. 6:23b CSB “corrective discipline is the way to life.”
- Heb. 5:1-10 CSB – Jesus learned obedience through suffering. (see also Heb. 12).
- God isn’t going to wait for us to be captive in great sin before he enacts discipline.
- Psalm 119:71 CSB
- Not every affliction is a demonic attack. Some attacks may be the use of the gentle rod of God to get us back on the path of righteousness.
26: “May the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
- 1 Jn. 1:5-2:3
- Js. 4:3
- Psa. 1
Further Study:
“On the Shabbos following Shavuos [Shavuot/Pentecost], the portion of Naso is read from the Torah. Naso is the longest parashah in the entire Torah, with 176 verses, the same number in the Book of Tehillim [Psalms], chapter 119. Interestingly, the largest tractate in the Talmud, Bava Basra, has 176 folios. The commentaries of the Midrash and the Zohar on parashas Naso are more extensive than those of any other parashah. This would seem to be an allusion to Israel’s great love for the Torah which she expresses on this, the first Shabbos after Shavuos – the Festival that celebrates the giving of the Torah.” – The Book of Our Heritage, Vol. III, pg. 889, by Eliyahu Kitov, Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem | New York.
Kehot Commentary: 23 This is how you shall bless the Israelites: Our sages teach us that each person’s fate for the coming year is decided on the Rosh Hashanah of that year. Why, then, do we pray each day? And what can the blessings of the priests help if our fate has been decided?
The answer can be found in another saying of our sages: “each person is judged every day.” Even though our yearly allotment of Divine beneficence has been determined on Rosh Hashanah, this beneficence must descend through the many levels of spiritual reality before it reaches the physical plane. At each “station” on the way “down,” we are judged anew as to whether we deserve to have the beneficence “processed” to the next level.
In contrast, the priestly blessing causes each Jew’s allotted measure of Divine kindness to descend swiftly through the myriad levels of reality, bypassing the roadblocks of judgment. We will see later on that after Korach’s revolt, God demonstrated His choice of the tribe of Levi for the Temple service by causing Aaron’s staff to sprout almonds. The significance of almonds is that they blossom swiftly, alluding to this property of the priestly blessing.
24 May God bless you with abundance and watch over you so that no one steals your wealth: Allegorically, this means: May God bless and grant success to our efforts to refine ourselves and serve Him wholeheartedly. And may He guard our successes so that the forces of evil not hijack the spiritual excitement we generate in prayer and transform it afterwards into righteous indignation or an awakening of physical desire. By doing so, they “steal” our ecstasy and appropriate it for their own purposes. Instead, it should be properly focused and channeled into pure and wholesome directions.”
Casey D. Bell 