The Priestly Prayer of the Blessing

The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.

—NUMBERS 6:25

What does it mean for G-D to be gracious to you when the face of YHWH (your heavenly Father) is shining upon you? The Hebrew word for gracious is chanan, which means “to show unmerited favor.” Other meanings are “to exhibit a yearning toward, demonstrate a longing for, be merciful to, exhibit compassion, be inclined toward, be considerate of, and demonstrate a desire to spare.” When we see how the Hebrew word for gracious is used in Scripture, we can better appreciate what our heavenly Father will demonstrate to us when we see Him face-to-face.

If you lend money to any of My people who is poor among you, do not be a creditor to him, and do not charge him interest. If you take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering; it is his garment for his body. In what else will he sleep? And when he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

—EXODUS 22:25–27

Then the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord [G-D], merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

—EXODUS 34:5–7

Because if you return to the LORD, your brothers and children will find compassion before those who have taken them captive, in order to return you to this land. For the Lord your [G-D] is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you all return to Him.

—2 CHRONICLES 30:9

But You, O Lord, are a [G-D] full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy and truth.

—PSALM 86:15, NKJV

The children of Israel in the wilderness had witnessed the Egyptians humbled by ten horrible plagues. Yet YHWH didn’t harm any of them.

• They were delivered from the slavery of an evil taskmaster—the Pharaoh of Egypt. The hand of YHWH rescued them.

• They beheld YHWH’s pillar of fire keeping the mighty army of Egypt at bay.

• They watched as the Egyptian army was destroyed before their eyes as the waters fell upon them.

• They beheld the cloud of the Shekinah glory and the thundering of YHWH’s voice from Mount Sinai.

Even though they had witnessed the mighty power and benevolence of their G-D, they became frightened, not knowing if Moses was coming back since he had been gone for forty days and nights. While Moses was away on Mount Sinai meeting with G-D, the children of Israel convinced Aaron, who would become the high priest, to build them a golden calf to worship in place of the one true G-D of Israel.

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods which will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

—EXODUS 32:1

Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments written by YHWH’s own finger. The first commandment reads:

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven idol, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below the earth.

—EXODUS 20:3–4

Aaron took from the children of Israel the spoils of Egypt and fashioned them into a false god, a golden calf. Aaron had used the gold and silver, which was earmarked to build the tabernacle in the wilderness where the one true G-D would come and dwell inside the holy of holies in the form of the Shekinah glory.

So they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

—EXODUS 32:6

[YHWH] spoke to Moses, “Go, and get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. . . . Now therefore let Me alone, so that My wrath may burn against them and I may destroy them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

—EXODUS 32:7, 10

But Moses reminded YHWH that the children of Israel were G-D’s chosen people and that He had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that were everlasting covenants whereby their seed would inherit the land forever. Moses pleaded with G-D and said that it would look bad if He delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh only to consume them in the wilderness—and G-D heard Moses!

[YHWH] relented of the harm which He said He would to do to His people.

—EXODUS 32:14

This was true grace. Even when they were disobedient, G-D continued to bless them. YHWH created the Priestly Prayer of the Blessing for the children of Israel so that He might place His name (shem) upon them. This same prayer is available to us today, which allows us to walk in G-D’s very person, His holy character, and His power and authority.

As believers, we can understand these are the qualities Yeshua (Jesus) demonstrated time and time again. Yet we aren’t as quick to realize that Yeshua was demonstrating the Father heart of YHWH.

This portion of the Priestly Prayer of the Blessing is about G-D imparting these things to us through the illumination of His very face as He looks into our eyes and we look back into His. Through the new birth He has become our Father—our Daddy—but we don’t comprehend with our natural minds how much He loves us. There is no greater and purer love we can ever experience.

When Yeshua was beginning His ministry, He was fully immersed in the mikvah (baptism) by John the Baptist. Yeshua went fully under the water of the Jordan River. When He emerged, the Shekinah glory of YHWH began to shine upon Him. It was the glory of the face of YHWH smiling and beaming His love and acceptance.

And when [Yeshua] was baptized [fully immersed], He came up immediately out of the water. And suddenly the heavens were opened to Him [a door opened], and He saw the [Ruach HaKodesh] descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

—MATTHEW 3:16–17

This was YHWH (the heavenly Father) giving His graciousness—in Hebrew, His chanan. It’s not just what was said to Yeshua. The truth is Yeshua could sense the love and approval of His Father.

Through the new birth, He is our heavenly Father. When YHWH (our heavenly Father) shines His face (panim) upon us, He is not only imparting order, destiny, and purpose, but He is also showing forth His love and approval. If you and I could see His loving, compassionate eyes as this portion of the divine prayer is proclaimed over us, we would melt and weep uncontrollably. There is no greater love that we could ever experience.

YHWH (your heavenly Father) is saying to you the same thing He did to Yeshua, His only begotten Son, “You are My beloved son or daughter, in whom I am well pleased.” YHWH is looking past your shortcomings, your failures, and your weaknesses, and through G-D’s greatest prayer of grace—the only prayer in the entire Bible written by Him—He is making available His face to shine upon you so that you will know His love in the greatest way possible. He is bringing His reassurance to you, “You are My beloved spiritual son or daughter. I love you.”

Other root words derived from the Hebrew word chanan mean that G-D will be gracious, providing love, sustenance, and friendship. It is favor far beyond what we deserve. In our English Bibles we read:

The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.

—NUMBERS 6:25

With the Hebrew meaning in mind, the amplified Hebrew-to-English translation is this:

May YHWH [YeHoVaH, YaHWeH, your heavenly Father] provide you with perfect love and fellowship [never leaving you] and give you sustenance [provision] and friendship.

In the first portion of the Priestly Prayer of the Blessing YHWH kneels in front of you, His spiritual son or daughter, as a good parent desiring to make Himself available and minister to you.

In this second portion YHWH places His arms around you with a divine embrace, holding you in His strong arms of protection and security.

In this portion of the Priestly Prayer of the Blessing it’s as if He loosens His divine embrace and while still keeping His holy hands upon your shoulders, He pulls away enough for you to see Him face-to-face so you can begin experience His reality and person.

In this portion of the Priestly Prayer of the Blessing YHWH (your heavenly Father) reveals His perfect love to you as your Daddy with loving eyes and a beatific smile. He looks past your weaknesses and your frailties, pledging that He will never leave you and that He will provide you with His love and fellowship and friendship.

It is your heavenly Father saying to you, “You are My beloved son or daughter, in whom I am well pleased.” It is an impartation where you will know that you are never alone and He is for you and not against you. The Bible puts it this way:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of [YHWH], which is in [Messiah Yeshua] our Lord [Adonai].

—ROMANS 8:38–39

KEYS TO THE BLESSING

Because you are His son or daughter, your heavenly Father looks past your faults and weaknesses and expresses His love and pleasure over you!

STUDY QUESTIONS

What does it mean for you that YHWH is your heavenly Father? What did He say to Yeshua during Yeshua’s baptism (mikvah) that He also wants to say to you?

What does it mean that your heavenly Father is gracious to you?