Thoughts for the Day

The Priestly Benediction

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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

It might seem a little insensitive today to quote a passage from the fourth book of the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) about blessing Israel, but nevertheless it is an important passage and has a much bigger implication than asking God to bless a war that is destroying another nation. God is surely appalled at all that is taking place in Israel and Gaza after all.

I, like many priests and ministers, have used the words from the book of Numbers as a blessing upon congregations thousands of times without noticing from where the words originated. The poem, one of the oldest in the Old Testament is known as the Aaronic Blessing - a blessing upon the people said by Aaron the brother of Moses who was the first Levitical priest. It would have been used at times of morning and evening prayer. If you look at the words of the poem that is also a prayer, you will see how it builds in strength. Each line is addressed to God and each line asks two things for the people, that He:

• bless, and keep them: (meaning that God will give them the good things of life, and protect them),
• shine his face, and be gracious to them: (meaning that God will smile on them, and answer their prayers).
• lift His countenance, and give peace to them: (meaning that God will pay attention to them, and grant them peace).

An important thing to notice when we use this Blessing at the end of a Service is that the priest always says "May the Lord bless you!" It's not a given. God expects us to honour our part of the bargain and to have faith in Him.

May the Lord bless us this day;
May the Lord protect us this day;
May the Lord smile on us this day;
May the Lord answer our prayers this day;
May the Lord give us his attention this day;
May the Lord grant us peace this day,
and so may we respond to Him in faith each day.
Amen.