“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26
This is one of my favorite verses, my High School choir always sang it at the end of every concert blessing those who were there. I have always loved that United Methodist youth from all over have used it as their benediction to bless each other.
Here is the background story of this benediction from the Book of Numbers and as it was gifted with music from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were, until recently, our oldest copies of biblical text. But in 1979, Villanova professor, Judith Hadley, was assisting archaeologist, Gabriel Barkay, in excavating a site in Jerusalem’s Hinnom Valley. In a burial cave, she saw something resembling the metal cap of a pencil. It was a sensational find, a tiny silver scroll of great antiquity. Another was found nearby. These tiny amulets, dating to the Hebrew monarchy seven centuries before Christ, were so small and fragile they took several years to painstakingly clean and open.
When scientists finally unrolled them, they found the world’s oldest extant copy of a biblical text, the words of Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.”
While the amulets date from the seventh century B.C., the original words are far older, coming 1,400 years before Christ. As the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God commanded the priests to bless the people with this three-fold blessing.
These Ancient lyrics have been set to music many times, but never more beautifully than by Peter Christian Lutkin in his classic tune Benediction. During the Fanny Crosby/Ira Sankey era of gospel music, when so much was written for easy congregational singing, Lutkin wrote more elaborate melodies with a classical flare.
Lutkin was born in Wisconsin in 1888, and devoted his life to church music, studying the masters in Europe, excelling on the organ, and founding the School of Music at Northwestern Illinois. He helped start the American Guild of Organists. He died in 1931 and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.
In his Notes from My Bible, D. L. Moody said about the priestly blessing of Numbers 6: “Here is a benediction that can give all the time without being impoverished. Every heart may utter it, every letter may conclude with it, every day may begin with it, every night may be sanctified by it. Here is blessing – keeping – shinning – uplifting upon our poor life of all heaven’s glad morning. It is the Lord Himself who gives us this bar of music from heaven’s infinite anthem.”
In closing, blessing another in the name of God is a powerful act. Bidding God’s face to “shine upon” someone is asking God to turn toward them and work for their good. When we “put God’s name on” someone, we are envisioning God’s power surrounding them. I’m holding all of you, my friends and church family in the light that shines from God’s face to hold you and bless you and to give you peace.
So, I pray that the Lord will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the Lord be good to you and give you peace. Amen.
Blessing, Brenda