1.1.26 ~ The weekly blessing for 2026

On New Year's Eve day, I was on my way to the morning staff bible study being prayed for on the phone. During the prayer, the Aaronic Blessing was prayerfully quoted. I shared with my prayer warrior my joyful passion over this blessed topic (Numbers 6:24-26).

 

“The LORD bless you and keep you: 

The LORD make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you: 

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

(Num. 6:24-26)

 

Let’s start 2026 off together with a deeper than normal look at this traditional prayer. Who knows, this may just become a part of a New Year's resolution to bless your family on a regular basis.

 

The best way to know whether or not you’d like to make this a practice is to know  what the individual pieces of this three part prayer contain. At first glance the terms seem pretty ambiguous at best (bless, keep, gracious, countenance, and peace). However, if we take a Hebraic perspective of the terms the prayer of blessing comes to life.

 

 A few weeks ago, we learned how to read and write the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew language is very special. Each of the 22 main letters is significant. Each letter is not only a letter (often times built with other letters), but has a numeric value, a pictographic meaning, and at the root level every word are verbs; action words.

 

Let’s take a Hebrew Journey through this Blessing and see why it’s worth considering as a practice to speak over your spouse or children on a weekly basis.

 

This blessing, ironically, comes at the end of instructional laws for husbands and wives as well as individuals who have taken a Nazarite Vow, a vow of separation towards God’s ways!

 

Within this blessing that Aaron gives over the people of God, we see how the Lord/Yahweh will approach us from three different perspectives: blessing, from above; face shining, face to face; lift His countenance, from beneath.

 

The Hebrew word for bless/barakh, means to kneel down. Here in this blessing it takes on a different form that carries a stronger meaning to show respect. Unfortunately, respect is another one of those ambiguous terms; especially within our culture. If we take other words with the same ‘root’ we can get a more accurate meaning. For instance, the word for knee/berekh and the word for a gift or present/berakhah add a beautiful dimension to the opening of this blessing. 


If we ask the Lord to bless/barak someone we are asking Him to take from His storehouse of gifts and humbly offer it to someone out of respect for who they are and what they are becoming. This action from the Greater to the lesser creates a reciprocating circle of respect. Out of respect, He supplies our needs and we, out of respect accept His gift and honor Him for His gracious provision into our lives.

 

On top of blessing us, He also keeps/shamar us. What do you think of when you  hear the word ‘keep’? 


The Hebrews were nomadic people raising livestock. It would not be uncommon for a shepherd to be out with his flock, away from the camp, over the night. In order to protect the flock, the shepherd would construct a corral of thorn bushes/shamir. So, when you see the word ‘keep’ you know that it means to guard and protect something of tremendous value! Just like a ‘Good Shepherd’ Who takes special protective care of His sheep!!! Can you imagine praying this over your honey bunny every week? I sure can :-)!

 

When we think of His face/paniym shining upon us, most of us would think of a part of the body that expresses itself with many different moods, emotions and thoughts of the person. It also relates to a person's presence with you revealing the wholeness of the person.

Yahweh’s face does the same thing. When we turn our face/paniym to His face/paniym, His face shines/lights up with excitement. When we see His face shining with excitement to see us, it dispels the darkness of our lives and brings order out of chaos.

 

Have you ever looked forward to seeing someone? And when you saw them you couldn’t help but express through your face that overwhelming joy?


That’s what we are to Him. Aaron’s prayer is that we would know the incredible light of joy that shines from His face when we are in His presence. Oh my! This is too wonderful for words. Oh to know we are loved like this!!! Oh, that we would love one another like He loves us!

 

His face shining on us is directly connected to His graciousness/chanan. Most equate His grace with unmerited favor, but it’s much more than that. Chanan is a power source that God gives to us, through faith, that delivers us from one realm to another. It’s a parallel term associated with healing, help, being lifted up, finding refuge, strength and rescue. Literally, it’s God’s way of providing protection. It’s the means to get us out of one place and into the safety of His camp/chanah.

 

His countenance/paniym is the same as His face. However, in this position His paniym is being lifted up/nasa upon you. It’s a picture of one who gets under you to lift you up, to bear, to carry, to sustain, to help you endure. Isn’t that just like a great leader? Isn’t that just like our Great God?!! When I experience His countenance being lifted up upon me it grants/siym me peace/shalom to my world.

 

When He grants His shalom, He literally ‘sets it down before us in a fixed and arranged place; like a special meal. It’s organized. It’s all in order. Nothing’s missing. Everything’s within reach…He’s so Yahsome!

 

This peace isn’t any ordinary peace! On the contraire mon frere!  It’s shalom! A term of restoration! It’s a term that reflects coming out of a battle. It’s the reality of having restored what was lost through restitution. It’s a deficiency made whole.


When I’m in a battle or have lost something, it’s chaotic. Shalom destroys the authority of chaos. It doesn’t remove the storm, it gives me peace and comfort within the storm! I need that shalom!

 

Now that we’ve defined these ambiguous terms of this blessing, what does this prayer read like now? 

 

“Yahweh, out of respect, will kneel before you presenting gifts from His storehouse to provide for your needs and will put a hedge of protection around you.

 

“Yahweh will reveal the excitement He has for you by illuminating the wholeness of His being and bringing order, comfort, deliverance and sustenance in all we need.

 

“Yahweh will lift up His wholeness of being, as a servant, and set in place all you need to be whole and complete in this world of chaos and confusion.


May your relationships experience this blessing throughout the 2026 year!


Shalom,

Alan

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