Psalm 67:1

Psalm 67:1

May God shine His face on us

It’s another morning at the temple in Jerusalem and the sacrifices have been made and the priests have fulfilled their solemn duties. The people who have gathered to worship and praise, wait for the traditional priestly blessing that could only be given by a descendant of Aaron. A priest would lift up his hands with the palms facing downwards and the thumbs of his outspread hands touching. (Hence the command to lift up holy hands unto the Lord.) The sacred words would then be repeated out loud, “May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”

It is thought that this Psalm 67 could be the liturgical response of the people to the “Blessing”, and as we read the words it is possible to see the connection. Perhaps this would be a good way to start each day? “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us.” Hallelujah!

 

v1  As we have seen, the Psalm begins by repeating elements of the “priestly blessing”. It was written to reinforce the profound truths that lay in those sacred words. Whole books have been published that expound those few words given to Aaron and his descendants by Moses. (See Numbers 6.) 

When the High Priest pronounced the blessing, he extended his hands towards the people (lifted up holy hands) and spread his fingers with his thumbs together to represent the Hebrew letter “shin.” This is a sign for El Shaddai - God Almighty. In this way a small portion of the shekinah glory of God was poured upon the Israelites. Jews would not look at the priests while they were saying the blessing for 2 reasons. They believed that: -

·      You must look at the ground and concentrate on the words and not be distracted

·      When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, they believed that the Divine Presence would shine through the fingers of the Priest as he blessed the people, and no one was allowed to look out of respect for God. Orthodox Jews still look to the ground when the Prayer is being spoken by their rabbis.

We need to remember that the Israelites did not have the Holy Spirit within them. Yeshua promised that the Holy Spirit would be given after He was gone. He is our High Priest who pronounces the “Blessing” of God over His people. Incredibly, blessing means to serve and wait upon. Jesus did this when He washed the disciples’ feet and He waits upon us still, as His brothers and sisters. This is a BLESSING indeed!

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