Jesus taught us to pray, giving us what we call the Lord’s prayer. In the Old Testament, we see a model of giving a blessing when the priests were ordered to pray for the Israelites. The Aaronic blessing is not specifically addressed to us but we can learn from the example and discover the heart of God for His people.
The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-25
We are to speak blessing over one another, asking for the Lord to bless us as He wants to do. The Hebrew word bless here is barak and it encompasses a broad range of ideas. It comes from a root word to kneel. I think of kneeling down as an act of praise or worship. But since that is backwards in this context, God blesses us, maybe there is a suggestion of God bending down to be with us. Kneeling or leaning down in comfort is consistent with His loving character.
Barak can also mean giving something material or financial or it can be a greeting. Or, as I have often attributed it, to bestow favor.
The Lord bless you – may He bend near to you, kneeling in comforting you and supplying what you need.
The Lord bless you – may He show you favor
I’ll spend a few weeks considering this blessing for its rich truth. It is a gift that He showed us to bless one another by asking God’s blessing on us.
And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God knelt (blessed/barak) before his son Isaac and comforted him. Genesis 25:11
