Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Numbers 6:22-27 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: "The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."' "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."
THE AARONIC BENEDICTION: A BLESSING OF THE TRIUNE GOD (II)
The words of our reading are the words that we are accustomed to hearing as a blessing that is given at the end of our church services, but originally, as our reading says, these words were given to Moses by God as a blessing to be used to bless the people of Israel. These words were to be given to the priests for the priestly blessings of the people. God said that as they did this, these would be more than just mere words; through them God was really, actually coming to the people of Israel to actively protect and bless them.
In the English translations that we are accustomed to using, we commonly see this blessing translated from the original Old Testament Hebrew with the word "LORD" in all capital letters. When we see the word "LORD" printed in all capital letters in our English translations, this is an indication that in the original Hebrew text the personal name of God is being used, which is pronounced something like "Jehovah" or "Yahweh."
Notice that as God gave this special blessing to His Old Testament people of Israel using His own personal name, He indicated that in this blessing His name should be used three times. And why do we suppose that this would be the case? Is it just coincidence that the one true God, who has carefully revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures as three separate and distinct persons, would have His name be used exactly three times in this important blessing? Probably not; rather, it would seem that the one true God of Israel would intentionally have His name mentioned in this blessing three times as an indication of His wonderful, triune nature.
