Prayer of Aaron (Num 6:22-27)
The Aaronic/Priestly Blessing - 16 Feb 2025
Aaron’s Blessing for the People (
Blessing is the overarching category within this theologically dense benediction. This can be seen from the initial position of the word “bless” in the prayer itself (v. 24) and in the use of this verb for the speaking of the priests (v. 23) as they recite the prayer. Blessing in Hebrew tradition has to do with God’s working for the good of all creation, and especially for human beings. Through divine blessing, the possibility of human flourishing is brought about. God’s blessing provides the underlying and sustaining conditions for a full and satisfying earthly existence. Thus Israel understands blessing not just in some abstracted spiritual sense, and not just as a personal benefit. Offspring, land, possessions, and health are among the concrete expressions of God’s blessing. Thus blessing involves physical well-being and access to adequate material resources; it is also communal, in that it is best expressed when such well-being and resources are available to all, not just to a few. The OT concept of blessing focuses upon the ongoing providence of God more than on special acts of divine intervention.
God “keeps” the Israelite community primarily by protecting it from danger, an ongoing guarding that provides the environment in which the positive features of blessing may flourish. This theme is well expressed in
In this manner shall you bless. Idiomatic kôh tebārekû indicates that the words immediately to follow were the actual words of blessing. Very often, kôh introduces a direct quotation.
24. The priest expresses the wish or request that God grant blessings to a second-person addressee, “you,” which is a way of identifying the Israelite people, collectively.
bless. No satisfactory etymology for the verb bērēk has been proposed. It is possible that the verb and the participial forms (most frequently bārûk ‘blessed’, the passive qal participle) are all denominative of berākāh ‘gift, blessing’. In other words, “to bless” is to grant berākāh, or to request that it be granted. In any case, the point to be made about the verb bērēk and nominal berākāh ‘gift, blessing’ is that they are not to be understood as abstractions, nor do they refer primarily to a state of mind or express some spiritual condition. God’s blessings would come in the form of substantial gifts and material benefits, of progeny and prosperity, of well-being and peace in the land. In
25. The second statement expresses the request of God that he look upon his people favorably and be kind and generous to them. The concept of light, more precisely, the light of the countenance, is clarified by several biblical statements. In
