“The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”
King James Version (KJV)
GiGi's comment on 2023-03-27 12:40:56:
Numbers Chapter 6
The last section of this chapter contains the prayer that God told Aaron to use as a blessing upon God's people. He was to use this often to bless the Israelites. it is very wonderful that it was God's Words that Aaron and the high priests after him used to bestow God's blessing upon God's people. These were not words composed by Moses or Aaron or any other man. So, these words are fr us as well as for the Israelites of that time, as they have been recorded in His Word for us.
"The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
The Lord life up His countenance upon you and give you peace."
Then the chapter concludes with these words
"And they (the priests) shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them."
How good it is to marked as God's own children. The ancient Israelites were so marked by the name of YHWH as we are marked with the name of Jesus. YHWH is the Savior of the Israelites and Jesus is the Savior of both Jews and Gentiles. YHWH/Jesus is the Savior of all who believe, no matter if one is a Jew or Gentile, it is the one same God who saves us all.
So we can know by this Aaronic blessing that God wants to bless us: to bring us good and not curses; to keep us: to preserve us in our faith and place in Jesus until we enter heaven. He wants to have His face shine upon us: to look on us with favor and acceptance that we may reflect the light of His face to others. He wills to be gracious to us: through grace He saves us and is gracious in all of His ways to His children. He will lift up His countenance upon us: He will look upon us with love, mercy, and grace; he will give us His attention; and He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will give us peace: Jesus is our peace, the Prince of Peace. In Him we have the peace of knowing Him and knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we can have the peace that passes understanding.
What a beautiful blessing (benediction)! cont.
Maggie Blaney's comment on 2015-05-24 09:30:59:
In Church of Scotland ritual, after babies were christened, the congregation used to sing this verse. Any idea why this would be used, or was it just appropriate?
caz's comment on 2012-08-03 08:02:24:
I was praying when I was ill, and listening to Stuart Towsend version of "it is well with my soul"and I felt God say "lift up your counternance" and the sense it would help me get well, as I felt awful I raised my head up and smiled as if to look up at Jesus and immediately i felt healing love, and crying I looked up the word countenance and found this in numbers, God blows my mind, praise be to God for He is good!