Numbers 5–8: Yahweh Bless You & Keep You

Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 34: Monday

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying,

–

‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

–

Yahweh bless you, and keep you;

–

Yahweh make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;

–

Yahweh lift up His face on you,
And give you peace.’

–

So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22–27 LSB

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Monday’s Bible reading is Numbers 5–8. Numbers began with the census of the twelve tribes of Israel, the arrangement of the encampment of those twelve tribes, and the division of labor among the Levites and Aaron and his sons in the service of the tabernacle.

As you continue reading through Numbers, Gleason Archer’s division of the book into five main sections is a helpful overview.¹

OUTLINE OF NUMBERS

I. Preparation for the journey from Sinai, 1:1–10:10

II. From Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, 10:11–14:45

III. From Kadesh-barnes to the plains of Moab, 15:1–21:35

IV. Encounter with the Moabites and Balaam, 22:1–25:18

V. Preparation for entering Canaan, 26:1–36:13

Archer further divides the first division, Preparation for the journey from Sinai, into these sections:²

A. Numbering the army and assigning positions for the march, 1:1–2:34

B. Levites numbered and duties described, 3:1–4:49

C. Excluding defilement from the camp: laws of leprosy; restitution for damages; trial of accused adulteress, 5:1–31

D. Nazarites (type of wholly dedicated life); the benediction, 6:1–27

E. Treasures dedicated to the tabernacle by the twelve tribes, 7:1–89

F. The Levites sanctified and installed in office, 8:1–26

G. The first annual Passover observed, 9:1–14

H. Following the pillar of cloud; the trumpet signals, 9:15–10:10

At the end of Numbers 6 is God gives Aaron a beautiful blessing for Israel. I opened this post with the Legacy Standard Bible translation of this blessing. You may have heard it sung with words that are closer to the NASB 95 translation:

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying,

–

‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel.
You shall say to them:

–

The LORD bless you, and keep you;

–

The LORD make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;

–

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’

–

So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel,
and I then will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22–27

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Gordon Wenham writes:

“This short and beautiful prayer is so familiar that its meaning may be easily taken for granted and not appreciated. Its strange context after the Nazirite law and before the offerings of the princes [tribal leaders] (ch. ), forces the reader to consider why is is placed here. Its introduction (verse 22) links it with regulations designed to purify the camp (5:1ff., 5ff., 11ff., 6:1ff.), and thereby to prepare the people for the great act of worship, the march towards the promised land. The blessing which invokes God’s protection comes at a very apposite moment. It also serves to show that God’s permanent purpose is to bless all his people, not merely those who undertake the Nazirite vow… The proclamation of this prayer by the priests was a guarantee that God would indeed bless the people of Israel (verse 27)…

“As the lines of the blessing lengthen, their content becomes richer, producing a crescendo that culminates in the word peace (26). Each line has the LORD as its subject and is followed by two verbs, the second of which expands on the first: bless, keep; shine, be gracious; lift up, give peace. ‘The first clause of each line (invokes) God’s movement towards his people, the second clause, his activity on their behalf.’”³

When I was growing up our choir would sing Aaron’s blessing at the close of the Sunday evening worship service. It’s a beautiful benediction. There is applause that starts about 1:42 in case you want to stop the video at the end of the music.

Yahweh bless you and keep you.

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Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Numbers 6:24, Hebrew text “Yahweh bless you and keep you”: Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 08 August 2024.
^1,2Gleason L. Archer, Jr., “Leviticus and Numbers,” A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Moody Press, Chicago IL: 1974) 245–246, 245.
³Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary (Inter-Varsity Press; Leicester, England; Downers Grove IL: 1981) 89–90.

I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/aaronic-blessing