9/22/2023 0 Comments The lord bless you and keep you![]() ![]() ![]() Why was God faithful to His blessing even when His people were unfaithful? Because the Aaronic blessing carried the weight of Yahweh’s name. But they had the assurance, through the blessing, that their sin would not cost them God’s love and care. Their transgressions would cost them forty years of wandering ( Numbers 13:34). The Israelites sinned against God shortly after that. The blessing couldn’t have come at a better time. So one of the purposes of the blessing was to affirm God’s faithful love and care to His chosen people, Israel. It’s important to remember that when the Aaronic blessing was first pronounced in Numbers 6, the Israelites only had access to the Lord through Moses. What Is the Biblical Context of 'May the Lord Bless You and Keep You' “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” ( Romans 5:1). Through Him we are made complete-whole and without deficiency. However, the Hebrew word shalom (Strong's #7965) has the more literal meaning of completeness or soundness-a state of whole or without deficiency. “may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace” Most people associate the word peace with the absence of conflict or war. “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people” ( Titus 2:11). God’s ultimate grace was fulfilled through Christ. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ” ( 2 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus becomes the embodiment of God’s promise and the only Way we can see God face to face. And chanan, the Hebrew word for “gracious,” refers to the kind of favor granted in the bestowal of redemption from enemies, evils, and sins ( chanan, Strong's #2603).ģ000 years after Aaron first pronounced the priestly blessing upon Israel, God sent to Earth His Son, the Great High Priest. The Hebrew word for the verb “shine” means to be or become light. Interestingly, this word is always written in plural form. “may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you” The Hebrew word paniym means “face”. These were the same thorns brought about by the sin-curse man inflicted upon himself in the Garden of Eden ( Genesis 3:17-18) Jesus bore that curse for us, and took our iniquity because “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” ( Isaiah 53:6).īecause our Good Shepherd has redeemed us with His own blood, He is able to keep our feet from stumbling and present us to Himself faultless and with joy ( Jude 1:24). On the day of His crucifixion, a crown of thorns was mockingly placed upon Jesus’s head. Shepherds constructed makeshift guard rails from thorny briers- shamiyr-to protect the flock from predators. The Hebrew word shamiyr, which means thorn, is a derivative of shamar. ![]() The original word describes the same level of care that a shepherd provides to his sheep. The Hebrew word shamar translates to “keep” in this blessing. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” ( Ephesians 1:3). It’s difficult, even today, for people of the Jewish faith to comprehend that their Holy God could, or would, bless them by condescending Himself to mere man.īut believers in Christ know that our Lord did just that-through Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” ( Philippians 2:6-7). The Hebrew verb for “bless” here is barak, which means to kneel. “May the LORD bless and keep you” This kind of blessing goes far beyond any material provision. But when we inspect the three parts of this priestly benediction from the original Hebrew perspective, the theme and relevancy of the passage come alive in a powerful way that points us to Christ. Each Hebrew word is filled with culturally significant images that make a one-to-one English translation tricky. The first verse has three words, the second five, and the third seven. In the original Hebrew, this blessing is written in clear poetic form. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |