Ronald Allen notes that the powerful words of Aaron’s prayer were not his own creation but were given to him by God. Allen refers to this as the “Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testament.”
In this instance, priests were instructed by God on how to pray for His blessing upon the people, much like Jesus later taught his followers to pray for God’s blessings in their own lives.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to 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 Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22-27)
Allen reminds his readers that the blessing of this prayer originates with God. It is His purpose to bless people. Blessings are not something for God’s people to beg for; rather, they are an outpouring of God’s grace from His heart of love.
The Lord’s Name
Jesus instructs us to pray for God’s name to be set apart as holy, reflecting His desire for God’s reputation to be given the respect it is due.
“Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy (Matthew 6:9).
In the prayer given by God on Mount Sinai, God’s name takes center stage. The holy name of God, “Yahweh/Jehovah,” begins each sentence of the blessing.
God told Moses that the purpose of the blessing was, “So they shall put my name on the Israelites”.
The prominence of God’s name in Aaron’s benediction and the Lord’s Prayer should prompt us to reflect on how we use it.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we should not rush through the first petition to hallow God’s name. Similarly, as we pray Aaron’s benediction in Numbers, let’s focus on the Lord’s presence.
How can our prayers and lives demonstrate the reverence God’s name deserves?
Pray in Faith
When we pray this prayer, we expect God to respond by drawing near and enfolding us in His grace.
In the prayer’s opening line, the singular pronouns refer to the entire community. God blesses the entire community by blessing its individuals, and He blesses individuals by blessing the whole.
The Lord bless you and keep you (Verse 24).
It is worth remembering that this request is God’s idea. Just as Jesus gave us the gift of the Lord’s Prayer, where we can ask for our daily bread needs to be met (Matthew 6:11), God gives the people a prayer to pray, which says, “May the Lord bless you.”
The next phrase, The Lord make his face to shine upon you (Verse 25), takes us back to Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai.
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God (Exodus 34:29).
As God’s glory caused Moses’ face to shine, so the Lord desired to make His presence known to all people.
Do we dare pray for God’s face to shine upon us, enabling us to shine upon the world?
Returning to the Lord’s Prayer, as we live in God’s presence, we will hallow His name by reflecting His character to those around us through our lives.
The climax of the prayer is, “The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Verse 26).
Ronald Allen has this to say about peace. He writes, “The Hebrew word shalom is seen in its most expressive fullness, not just as an absence of war, but also as a positive state of rightness and the fullness of well-being. This peace comes only from the Lord.
The expression, turn his face, suggests pleasure and affection. The terminology has a fundamental equivalent of the word smile. Here, the people are led to pray that the Lord will turn his face to them in a gracious smile.
Reflections
I hope this prayer from Numbers and the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer will remind us to pray and reflect on God’s name, which speaks of His presence, character, nature, and reputation.
When we pray the prayer of Numbers, we are asking that our interactions with God will reveal all that is involved with His name.
When we pray for the Lord’s name to be hallowed, we are praying that we will live our lives in a way that reflects His character to the world.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 