Numbers 6:27: “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

January 16th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The priests were instructed to represent in two directions. First, they were to represent the people to and before the Lord when they went into the tabernacle to sacrifice. Second, the priests were to represent God to the people.

Scripture teaches how completely unapproachable the holy, righteous God is by a fallen, spiritually-dead, sinful man. There is no direct way for a sinful man to come to a holy God. A go-between is needed, and a covering is required for the man’s sin. In the Old Covenant a mediator or an advocate, the priest, was always needed. He would literally “stand and plea” on behalf of the people before God. Here God tells the priests to go out and speak to the people about God. God is saying, “Priests, when you give My Word, this is how I want to be represented.”

Today, more often than not, people put God’s name on other people by cursing them, but here God commanded the Old Testament priests to bless others. The word bless carries with it the meaning to give to, endow upon, and to release to something good. Peter reminds us that in the New Covenant we are all priests, “a priesthood of believers.” Therefore, all believers are called to bless—to give to, endow upon, and to release to something good—other believers.

Here is a great blessing for all times and may it be true of your life today: “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.”

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Numbers 6 KJV

¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:  ³ He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. ⁴ All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.   ⁵ All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. ⁶ All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. ⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God isupon his head.  ⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD. ⁹ And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. ¹⁰ And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: ¹¹ And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. ¹² And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.  ¹³ And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: ¹⁴And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, ¹⁵ And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings. ¹⁶ And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering: ¹⁷ And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering. ¹⁸ And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation atthe door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. ¹⁹ And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven: ²⁰ And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine. ²¹ This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the LORD for his separation, beside that that his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation. ²² And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ²³ Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, ²⁴The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: ²⁵ The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: ²⁶ The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. ²⁷ And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.