At the end of our church services the minister pronounces the benediction or blessing. God has the last word and with that word we may return home. What does this word of the Lord imply and what does it mean? Is it a wish, a prayer, or is it perhaps a proclamation? I think that many churchgoers will have trouble giving a clear answer to these questions. It is often a customary ritual nowadays, which unfortunately receives little attention in our liturgical reflection.

This is unfortunate, because the blessing at the end of our services is a very substantial conclusion of the church service. My teacher, Professor C. Veenhof, told me a story that I have always remembered. A very deaf, old sister was asked, “Why are you still going to church? You don’t hear anything after all.” The surprising reply was, “I go for the blessing, and I don’t want to miss that!” This aged sister understood how wonderful the last thing is that happens in our church services. We receive the blessing of our God and may go home as people blessed by him.

In this chapter I pay attention to this final word, limiting my discussion to the Aaronic blessing, as we find it in Numbers 6:24-26. My aim is to show the impact of this final word in the liturgy.

A Historical Review⤒🔗

Our Reformed Psalter indicates that the church service should be concluded with a blessing. For this the apostolic blessing from 2 Corinthians 13:14 (“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”) or the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 can be used. But to conclude the church service by blessing the entire congregation was not customary for centuries. In the first ten centuries, the final words were not a blessing, but a send-off. The priest spoke at the end of the service: “Ite, messa est," usually translated as, "Go, the mass has ended.” Or perhaps, “Go in peace.” Then he made his exit through the church building, blessing the people left and right.

It was not until the twelfth century that there was a benediction in the liturgies of the Western church as the conclusion of the service. Usually a solemn, Trinitarian formula was used: “The Almighty God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, blesses you,” after which the priest would make the sign of the cross. The pope still continues to use this formulation when he on solemn occasions pronounces the blessing “urbi et orbi”¹ from the balcony of St. Peter’s.

The Reformation changed this liturgical practice. It was Luther who introduced the Aaronic formulation as the final blessing in his Deutsche Messe (1526). The other Reformers followed him in this regard. Also in regard to the blessing at the end of the service the Reformation wanted to return to the Scriptures.

Via the church book of Petrus Dathenus — “the father” of our Reformed liturgy — which appeared in 1566, this custom also gained a foothold in our country. Lastly, the provincial synod of Dordrecht of 1574 prescribed that “the preaching shall be concluded with the blessing of Numbers 6.” Thus the Aaronic blessing was introduced in our church services, although it was later also permitted to pronounce the apostolic blessing.

How Should It Be Pronounced?←⤒🔗

There has always been much ado about the way in which the Aaronic blessing should be pronounced. Should it be in the form of a statement and should the declarative sense be used (the LORD blesses you and keeps you...), or should it be in the conjunctive manner (the LORD bless you and keep you...). W.H. Rose has served us not so long ago with a documented article in which he shows that — when we take the grammar of biblical Hebrew seriously — there is only one translation that is correct: the one in the adjoining (conjunctive) way.²

In the words of the Good News Translation:

²⁴ May the Lord bless you and take care of you;
²⁵ May the Lord be kind and gracious to you;
²⁶ May the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace.

Rose provides the following the argumentation:

1. Two verb forms from the chain of six are decisive: with these forms it is clear that they are not meant as a declaration, but as a conjunction, in the subjunctive mode. In the other four it is not possible to determine right away how they are intended.
2. Each of the three verses begins the sentence with the verb form in front, followed by the subject. Newer research has made it clear that this order: verb + subject indicates that the verb forms are not meant to be understood in a declarative way.

It is no coincidence that this blessing is in the conjunctive style. People cannot extend this blessing. The Scriptures are abundantly clear that it is the LORD who blesses his people. At the creation he blesses the animals (Genesis 1:22) and man (Genesis 1:28). He blesses Abraham (Genesis12:2) and Sarah (Genesis 17:16). He blesses Israel from Zion (Psalm 128:5). It is therefore significant that the blessing by the priests (in the adjoining way) is followed by God’s assurance: “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:27). What the priests cannot do, the LORD can: actually bless them!

A Closer Look at the Actual Words←⤒🔗

People have spoken about “the sublime beauty” in the way the priestly blessing is expressed. This artistic beauty stands out when we have the Hebrew text before us. The name “LORD” radiates in it like a sun. Every sentence mentions this name and expresses what that name means for God’s people.

Each line consists of two parts, the first part always being larger than the second. Moreover, the lines are constructed such that the second is longer than the first and the third is longer than the second. Somebody wrote, “The blessing swells like a stream pouring out over the church.”

What is also striking is that the first line consists of three words; the second consists of five, while the last line counts seven words. In total, the priestly blessing consists of fifteen words. When we subtract the name LORD, twelve words remain. May we see a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel? It is an intriguing idea that cannot be determined with certainty.

Finally, it is also remarkable that the wording is always in the singular. Although the blessing is pronounced upon the entire congregation, it is addressed very personally. Each member of God’s congregation is personally promised God’s salvation.

Let us now take a look at the meaning of the different verbs we encounter in this blessing.

May the LORD bless you and keep you. When the LORD blesses his people, it means that Israel’s life will come to fruition (see Deuteronomy 28), and it is certainly primarily about a life in love for him (Deuteronomy 30:6). At the same time, the people may know of his protective care. He who shares in his blessing goes his way with God’s majestic protective canopy, with the blessing of the promise that the LORD is your keeper (see Psalm 121).

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. To understand this sentence, one can point to Proverbs 16:15: “In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favour is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.” It is stated there in contrast with the anger of a king. When his face shines, you can count on his favour. When the Lord makes the light of his countenance shine upon us (see Psalm 31:17), he looks at us kindly, and he is pleased with us. In Psalms 44:3 and 89:15, 17, you see that combination of “the light of your face” and God’s pleasure very clearly go together. The words “May the LORD make the light of his face [or: countenance] shine upon you” mean as much as, “May the LORD look at you benevolently, favourably.” They speak of God’s affection on the basis of which we can and may expect a great deal from him. When the Lord looks at us in love, it implies that he wants to be “merciful” to us. This speaks of his gracious goodness (Genesis 33:11), his mercy (see Psalm 103:8), and his abundant, forgiving grace (Psalm 51:1). It is about all those surprising elements of which Psalm 103 is singing.

The last line of the priestly blessing is the most difficult to understand — especially in our familiar version: “May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” I must confess that I have said this line for a long time without knowing exactly what it meant. And I will not have been the only one of the ministers! The difficulty lies in the fact that in the Old Testament we read nowhere else that someone raises or lifts up his countenance (face) over (upon) another. This is only said of the LORD (see Psalm 4:6). In order to get out of this difficulty, the exegetes point to the expression “to lift up the eyes over (to) someone,” something that we do find (see Genesis 31:12; 43:29). In the Psalms, the threatened Israelite lifts up his eyes to ask for help (Psalms 121:1; 123:2). It is about a special way of looking for something or for someone.

There is more and more agreement that this meaning is intended in the third line of the priestly blessing. Rose declares, “May the LORD lift up his countenance” as follows: “That is, that God focuses his eyes on you and looks at you with special attention.” The eyes of the LORD are, says Psalm 34:15, on the righteous. This luxury of the covenant is assured to us in the third line.

It is wonderful how the Aaronic blessing ends in a powerful final chord: “And he will give you peace.” This final chord is at the same time the highlight. Here the priestly blessing receives its climax. For the word “peace” in Scripture is the summary of all the blessing and happiness that the LORD has in store for his children. It concerns our entire existence: our relationship to God, the prosperity of our lives, interpersonal relationships; yes it speaks also of our eternal happiness. “Peace” incorporates everything that he gives to us (Psalm 119:165) and with which he blesses us (Psalm 29:11). With the prophets it also implies the full salvation that the Messiah will bring (Isaiah 9:7; 53:5). He will be “peace” (Micah 5:5) and be called “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

This all-embracing peace is the gift that the LORD gives his people at the close of the priestly blessing. In Hebrew it is shown more powerfully than in our translation. The verb that is used here means to achieve something, as much as to accomplish something. It is used for instituting the law and the ordinances (Deuteronomy 4:14; Psalm 78:5). The ending of the priestly blessing also tells us that the Lord is actually working out his salvation in our lives.

We may go home as a people who know: we share in all the happiness that the LORD has in his covenant for us! We may know this very personally. That is for “each and every believer” as it is mentioned in answer 84 of our Catechism. We can hear this personal aspect in the word “you,” in the singular. God truly addresses me and gives me his personal presence. The latter is also expressed in the three-times-repeated name “LORD” and in the double reference to the facial expression of God. At the end of the church service he is emphatically there in person and also speaks to me in a very personal way!

The Nature of the Priestly Blessing←⤒🔗

When it is clearly established that the Aaronic blessing should be pronounced in the subjunctive way (see Rose’s argument), the question arises: is this a wish, is it perhaps a prayer, or should we view it as a proclamation, an assertion?

It is difficult to take these words as a wish. Numbers 6:27 clearly states that the priests do more than express a wish: while blessing they cause God’s name to come upon the people, as it literally says. Some translations speak of “pronouncing God’s name on the people” but this is somewhat weaker than what it really says. In Hebrew the same verb is used as in the third blessing: “And may peace be established for you.” Something is happening! And that implies that it is about more than a wish on the part of the priests.

But is it possibly a prayer then? Is it some kind of intercession? Something similar, for example, to what is called “the blessing of Moses” which actually contains a large number of intercessions (see Deuteronomy 33:7, 11)? Does what we read in 2 Chronicles 30:27 not point in that direction: “The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place”?

Yet it cannot be just an intercession, for intercessions are addressed to God. The words of the priestly blessing are unmistakably addressed to the people. This is less pronounced in the (Dutch) NBV than in the Hebrew text. Directly before the priestly blessing the command of the LORD appears: “You shall say to them” (Numbers 6:23). It is clearly not a prayer, but a proclamation, an official assertion by order of the LORD. The answer is therefore that in this blessing at the end of our church service we should see this as an act of “proclaiming and testifying,” as answer 84 of Heidelberg Catechism 84 describes the preaching of the holy gospel. God’s preserving care, his gracious dedication, his loving attention and saving activities are solemnly promised in the priestly blessing of Israel, as a glorious reality.

Certainly, the subjunctive mode is employed: “May...” But this should not lead us to the notion that it is a pious wish or rather an intercession. It is a proclamation, a testimony of what may be reality, as we also find in HC answer 84. Pay attention to what it says, that “God has really forgiven all their sins.” This forgiveness is a reality. And it is “publicly testified.” This proclamation also happens when the priestly blessing is pronounced.

Yes, and then still that subjunctive mode: “May the LORD...”! I hear in this the recognition that it is the LORD only who can truly deliver the blessing, the humble confession that he alone is the one who blesses his people. It leads me to characterize the priestly blessing as a declaration in the tone of a prayer. I am reminded also of 2 Chronicles 30:27 where — rather strikingly — blessing and prayer are mentioned in one breath.

When the blessing of the priest stands under the sign of the command, “Say to them…,” then it must be a valid and effective word that is being said, which also is and becomes reality. B. Holwerda remarks: “By their speaking (that of the priests) the sem (God’s name) is put upon Israel”: the name LORD (Yahweh), which speaks of his saving undertaking in the context of the covenant!

On the Basis of Reconciliation←⤒🔗

How is it possible that God’s name is placed upon us at the end of the service and that we can go home with his favour and peace? We can find the answer to this question in what we read in Leviticus 9. A highlight in this chapter is verse 22: “Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them.” Aaron puts God’s name on the people after reconciliation has taken place. We read that Moses says to Aaron: “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people” (verse 7). Only after the required sacrifices have been made can Aaron extend his hands over the people.

We may assume that he was still standing on the edge of the altar of burnt offering. That is for Israel, and at the same time for us, an instructive element in the proclamation. God’s blessing comes to us after our guilt has been taken away. He can come only because of blood that covers our sins before God. Everything in that first service in the tent of meeting spoke of blood: the blood that the Messiah would give, blood that truly cleanses from sin.

The fact that we as New Testament believers can go home truly blessed by God is only possible because Christ once appeared “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). We have an advocate in heaven who “is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). He is there “a reconciliation,” because as our Advocate he constantly points the Father to his sacrifice.

The Context←⤒🔗

We have seen that the Aaronic blessing is a beautiful proclamation and testimony on the part of God. Is it therefore now also self-evident that every church attendee, to say it with the words of Psalm 24:5, “will receive blessing from the LORD”? Does everyone go home, blessed without distinction?

The Scriptures teach us that nothing happens automatically, self-evidently. In Psalm 24 it is clearly indicated who may belong to the blessed. It speaks about clean hands and a pure heart. There is a context to which the LORD connects his blessing. That is the context of walking in obedience, in sincerity and loyalty to his service. We see this context very clearly in Deuteronomy 30:15-16: If Israel loves the Lord and walks in his ways, he will bless it. He blesses the righteous (Psalm 5:12) and those who fear him (Psalm 115:13).

This means: God’s final word in our church services does not automatically become fulfilled. That fulfillment is connected to a life with him, in the sincerity that Psalm 24 impresses upon our hearts. Anyone who has heard the gospel with a believing heart and wants to live according to it can go home richly blessed. He receives "blessing from the LORD" and he carries that blessing with him!

Progress in the History of Salvation←⤒🔗

When one speaks about God’s final word in our church services, one cannot keep silent about Christ. M. Derks correctly points this out. Everything that the priestly blessing proclaims finds its basis in the work that he has accomplished. At the same time, due to his work all of this has been fulfilled, enriched and deepened. In him the wealth of God’s name has been revealed. The words “grace,” “mercy,” and “peace” have received a fuller sound. God has blessed us in Christ with all kinds of blessings, and Ephesians 1 shows us the great scope of that wealth. The blessing at the end of the church service descends upon us based on this fullness in Christ.

We may count on this blessing as his congregation. For our Saviour went to heaven, while he lifted up his hands and blessed his disciples (Luke 24:50-51). Those hands remain over us. And this assures us that the ritual with which the church service concludes is no empty gesture. When we are gathered in Christ’s name, he is there (Matthew 18:20) to effect what the minister pronounces. God indeed sent his Servant to bless us (Acts 3:26). We can go home being truly blessed!

For Further Discussion←⤒🔗

1. What did you learn in this chapter about the why and the nature of the blessing?
2. What have you learned in this chapter about the subjunctive mode in which the Aaronic blessing is worded?
3. The New Testament benediction (from 2 Corinthians 13:13) clearly points to God’s Trinity. Is this also the case with the Aaronic blessing?
4. Discuss with each other the beauty of the Aaronic blessing and the meaning of the verbs. What does it all mean to you?
5. What do you think of the announcement made by some ministers: “Receive the blessing in faith”? Is it necessary or desirable to add this?