Day 727: Numbers 6- The Blessing

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
6 “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. 7 Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.
9 “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 11 and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day 12 and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
13 “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he shall bring his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. 19 And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, 20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 “This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the Lord above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”
Aaron's Blessing22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

​Meditation
God’s grace gets personal as God’s people embark for the promised land. A wilderness stands in between believers and the fullness of God’s promises. God’s intimate love is revealed through His word of blessing.
 
Some people respond to God’s promised presence and blessing by living sacrificially set apart (1-21). Men and women who voluntarily took a Nazarite vow lived in radical self-denial, declaring the sufficiency of God in all their lives. God is more satisfactory than anything else, so Nazarites abstained from fruit of the promise land. God is more treasured than comfort, so Nazarites lived with sweeping self-discipline. God’s sufficiency is seen in detailed distinction of a holy life.
 
All people need God’s blessing. God blesses each of His people, targeting the whole assembly by focusing on individuals. The repeated “you” in the verses are all singular. God wants His blessing to fall on you personally! And through you God’s blessings are expansive, from God’s people to all nations.
 
The Lord is the source of blessing (24, 26, 26) and His personal blessing is practical for people wandering in the wilderness:
As a good Shepherd God promises to keep His people.
As a merciful king God declares forgiveness, promises grace, and offers peace.
As a loving father God puts His name on His people.
 
We wander in the wilderness of a fallen world, embracing the foretaste of the fulness of God’s blessings in Jesus.  In Jesus is every blessing of God (Ephesians 1:3) and fuel for our faith to live sacrificially set apart.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Is God Himself sufficient for you? Is Jesus enough? Who or what do you look to for the blessings that can only be found in God?
 
-Why is it significant the blessing of God has it’s source in the person of God? What does this reveal about where our satisfaction should be found?
 
-How can you grow in satisfaction in Christ, declaring He is enough. His grace is sufficient for your soul? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.