TorahBytes: Blame Shifting (Devarim)

Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, "You also shall not go in there." (Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:37; ESV)

In the first few chapters of this fifth book of the Torah, Moses recounts aspects of Israel's journey in the wilderness from when they left Mt. Sinai 38 years earlier. He reminds them how the previous generation, of which many of them were young people at the time, failed to enter the Promised Land due to their lack of faith in God. Moses then refers to himself and how God had also forbid him from entering the Land. But what he says about that doesn't jive with the original account of the incident. The Torah's description of what happened makes it clear that it was Moses' own attitudes and actions that disqualified him from entering the Land (see Bemidbar / Numbers 20:2-13). But here Moses is blaming the people for what happened, making it sound as if God's anger toward him was because of them. And this is only one of three times Moses tells the story this way (see Devarim / Deuteronomy 3:26; 4:21).

At first I tried to figure out how Moses' version of what happened could simply be another aspect of the story. I didn't want to consider that Moses could be blame shifting. That didn't fit with my understanding of him. But then I came upon another reference to this same incident near the end of Moses' life when God allowed Moses to see the Promised Land from afar. In this case, we see God's perspective, which is different from Moses' own. God's perspective is the same as the original description earlier in the Torah. The reason God gives for not allowing Moses to enter the Promised Land is

because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 32:51, 52; ESV)

While Moses' mishandling of the situation didn't happen in a vacuum, God clearly states that it was his fault. Who could blame Moses from expressing himself in anger as he did? He was frustrated due to the ongoing grumbling and negative attitudes of the people and reacted by failing to honor God appropriately. But while the people created the situation in which Moses did wrong, it was Moses and not the people who was responsible for the wrong he did.

Then why did Moses blame shift? I think we have a case here of honest reporting on Moses' part. He was struggling with bitterness. He knew God's take on the situation but continued to blame the people for his inappropriate behavior anyway.

I don't know about you, but this sure speaks to me. I could blame and have blamed others for all sorts of issues in my life. It's so easy to excuse my misgivings based on my difficult circumstances. But the better I know God and his Word, the more I discover that not only do I have no right to blame others for my issues, but also God has used my difficulties to work out his goodness in my life. The very things that I tend to be bitter about are the tools God has used to build me up as his child. It is only when I stop blame shifting that I can properly take responsibility for my actions and learn the lessons God wants me to learn.

As we realize how much like us Moses really was, the better we will be able to relate to him and be better equipped to know God as he did as well.

TorahBytes: Profit (Mattot)

But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. (Jeremiah 2:11; ESV)

In business we often talk about "the bottom line" - a reference to the final monetary result of something. People often want to know whether or not in the end they will make or lose money. Unless a profit is earned in the long term, the project should be scrapped. The way Jeremiah uses the term is not exactly the same as this, because obviously he is not primarily referring to monetary or material gain. He is using the word "profit" to speak of benefits as in whether or not a certain course of action will result in positive benefits to the people doing them. His statement expresses his bewilderment at his people. Why would anyone pursue a course of action that would not profit them in any way? Yet that is exactly what his people were doing.

What makes his observation that much more bewildering is that they turned from that which would have resulted in a profitable life and gave it up in exchange for that which would not be profitable. It's one thing when a business is on a profitable course and due to unforeseen circumstances experiences a downturn. It's another when everything is going well and the business owners make intentional choices to undermine their business. But this is exactly what Jeremiah's people were doing with regard to life. And this is what so many of us are doing with our lives today.

Cultures that have a biblical heritage need to especially hear Jeremiah's words. Through the Bible we have been given access to a profitable way of life. God, through his written word, has revealed how we can live lives of great benefit, not only for ourselves but for all those around us. Far greater than business profit, we have the opportunity to benefit our generation in every way and yet we instead undermine ourselves and others by giving up on God's ways for lifestyle choices that don't profit.

All around us are voices telling us how to live: how to spend our time, how to present ourselves to others physically and emotionally, what to fill our minds with, who our friends should be, what our standards should be, how to spend our money, what constitutes a legitimate education and career, the value of marriage and children, and so on and so on.

But then there's God's voice, heard primarily through the Scriptures. Through his revelation he has given us all we need to live a profitable life. Why trade the lasting benefits of biblical godly living for the cheap, destructive, wasteful, deceit of what the world has to offer?

I understand how difficult it can be to wholeheartedly embrace biblical living when the pressure to conform to the ways of the world is so strong. But we need to see this for what it is. A vivid illustration of this is my recent experience participating in a small prolife demonstration. The aggressive reactions of some people to our graphic portrayal of what abortion does to unborn children vividly showed how our society has exchanged the true profit of the gift of children for a misguided concept of freedom and fulfillment. When a society embraces the notion that our purpose on earth is to satisfy our personal pleasures, then the responsibility of having children must be avoided at all costs. Little do we know how much we are undermining our very existence through our self-focused choices.

Trading the biblical call to serve God for our personal pleasure is not confined to the abortion issue. Selfish individualism may be the highest value in much of the world today. The carrot of self-gratification is leading our generation, supposed God followers included, down a most destructive path.

Jeremiah reminds us that it doesn't have to be that way. The reason why he confronted the people of his day as he did was not to mock them, but to help them. We don't need to allow the destructive forces and deceptive promises of the world to control our lives any longer. As we turn back to God and his ways, we can live the profitable lives he designed us to live.

TorahBytes: God's Wrath (Pinhas)

And the Lord said to Moses, "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy." (Bemidbar / Numbers 25:10-11; ESV)

Recently I was leading a group in worship to God and chose a song that I hadn't done in many years. The lyrics are based on this verse in the prophet Habakkuk:

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, - in our time make them known; - in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

Habakkuk lived in a difficult and confusing time in the history of Israel (of which there have been many!). This prayer expresses his cry that, in the midst of hardship, God would show mercy. Hardship isn't really the best word, however. Certainly Habakkuk didn't see the nation's troubles as simply the mechanical consequences of bad behavior, but rather the word he uses is "wrath."

The concept of wrath in the Bible conveys a highly destructive fiery emotion. How it works is vividly portrayed in this week's Torah portion. Twenty-four thousand people died due to a plague that occurred in response to Israel's gross immorality and spiritual unfaithfulness. It took a drastic and violent act on the part of a person by the name of Pinhas (English: Phinehas) to turn back God's wrath.

I cannot claim to understand how God's wrath works. It does seem that at times it is a part of God's general reaction to human rebellion against him and other times it is very specifically aimed at individuals and communities. But one of the instructive things from the situations of Pinhas and Habakkuk is that finding oneself suffering under the effects of God's wrath is not an automatic statement of judgment upon that individual. As God's wrath is expressed in our midst, people who are not direct objects of wrath may be equally affected.

Many are uncomfortable with the idea that God might act out with great destructive anger, let alone that the innocent may also be affected by it, but this is what we encounter in the Torah portion. This story reflects the overall reality of life as the Bible sees it: full of goodness, full of evil, yet held together by God's sustaining power and love. If it wasn't for God's love, the world would have been destroyed by his wrath a long time ago. Our unwillingness to accept that God could be both loving and wrathful is far more about our inability to accept life's reality, than an honest commitment to philosophical or theological integrity.

Neither Pinhas nor Habakkuk had a philosophical or theological problem with the concept of God's wrath, but neither were they resigned to it. God's wrath is rarely the final and permanent state of a situation. Both Pinhas and Habakkuk did something about it. For Pinhas it meant an act of righteous indignation; for Habakkuk it meant prayer for mercy. In both cases these men believed that greater than God's wrath was his love and mercy.

I wonder how many terrible situations we find ourselves in where God is calling us to look to him, so that his goodness would break through. Believers in the God of the Bible are not to be fatalists. Just because things are the way they are do not mean they have to stay that way. Once we understand that we are not victims of impersonal forces, but people in the midst of a struggle of cosmic proportions, one in which God is in charge from beginning to end, we no longer have to blindly accept our circumstances. Instead we can be instrumental in rescuing people from God's wrath.

TorahBytes: Blessed Is Blessed (Balak)

God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." (Bemidbar / Numbers 22:12: ESV)

Intimidated by the Israelites, a king by the name of Balak hired Balaam, a sorcerer, to curse them. We don't know if Balaam expected to actually encounter the true Master of the Universe, but he did. As quoted, God's word to Balaam was clear, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." What comes of this is complicated, but instructive, as Balak persists in his hiring of Balaam (see http://www.torahbytes.org/63-39.htm). What I want to look at this week is what God says about the people of Israel, which is the controlling factor in this story.

God clearly told Balaam not to curse Israel, since they were blessed. That Israel was blessed was already established by God, rooted in his original promise to Abraham: "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing" (Bereshit / Genesis 12:2; ESV). The blessing of God upon Israel was unconditional, for it was not based on anything they did or would do, but simply upon his promise to Abraham. That the blessing is also eternal is eloquently stated in the eleventh chapter of the New Covenant letter to the Romans: "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29; ESV).

To be blessed by God is to be filled with life. For Israel, at the very least, this means its survival is ensured. Whatever difficulties they may encounter, they will survive and thrive as a nation. Even God's disciplinary punishment will result for good in the long term. When Balak's scheme to curse them failed Balaam used sexual immorality to harm them. Yet they were not defeated (see Bemidbar / Numbers 25:1-3 and 31:16).

To be cursed is to have life removed; it's a death sentence. A cursed nation will eventually cease to exist. This is what Balak was hoping for when he hired Balaam. He believed that an effective pronouncement of cursing upon Israel would make them vulnerable to not only attack, but to defeat and extermination. He wasn't the first to desire such a thing for Israel and wasn't the last. But like those before and after, they could not be cursed, since God had blessed them.

What then does God's blessing of Israel mean in today's world? Some people, even those who adhere to the Bible, claim that Israel's relationship to God was for ancient times only. If that is true, so much for the New Covenant statement quoted earlier and the abundance of promises to Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob. Others purport that the Israel of promise was some sort of spiritual entity not to be confused with the physical nation whose history is central to the whole Bible. This view disregards that the very promises which foretell salvation for both Israel and the nations were given to physical Israel during some its most difficult periods. It was to a troubled and often-time wayward Israel that the blessing of Abraham was confirmed over and over again. The other end of the spectrum sees God's blessing upon Israel as justifying every aspect of the existence of the modern State of Israel. The problem with this view is that it never meant that before. So why should it mean that now?

If the Scripture indeed teaches that God's blessing of Israel is unconditional and eternal, which I believe it does, then what should it mean for us today? It should mean to us what it meant to Balak and Balaam many years ago. Israel is blessed. Don't curse them. Don't align yourself with any scheme to undermine, harm, or destroy them. For such schemes will fail and you will find yourself at odds with God's plans and purposes; something to which God doesn't take kindly.

At the same time, however, God's blessing upon Israel doesn't justify every policy of the Israeli government just as it doesn't justify every action of every single Jewish person. What it means is that God is committed to Israel's welfare and therefore so should we be too. That may include disagreeing on policy or actions, but how that disagreement is expressed should be controlled by the high standard of love and concern for all people God calls us all to.

One more thing. Accepting God's continued blessing on Israel in no implies that we are to curse Israel's enemies. Far from it! The very nature of God demands that we treat all people fairly with love, mercy, and justice. Those who seek Israel or the Jewish people's demise need to be patiently and graciously shown that this is not God's will or in their best interest. As God said to Balaam, "You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed."

TorahBytes: You Don't Have To Do Stupid Things (Hukkat)

And Yiftah (English: Jephthah) made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." (Shoftim / Judges 11:30,31)

The biblical book of Shoftim (English: Judges) includes some "interesting" stories and characters. It underscores for us the interpretive principle of prescriptive vs., descriptive passages. Prescriptive passages are those that provide general directives or life principles to live by, such as "Honor your mother and your father" or "To give is better than to receive." Descriptive passages are those which simply describe an incident or provide dialogue without necessarily encouraging the reader to follow suit. This isn't always straightforward, which gives us the opportunity to ponder over these passages as we seek God to speak to us through them.

Shoftim, is especially challenging in this regard. Several of its characters who seem to be the heroes of the stories, engage in some disturbing behaviors. Since these characters appear to be divinely inspired to save the day, so to speak, the reader may be inclined to think that these behaviors are acceptable.

When this passage was chosen to be part of the annual cycle of readings, it was decided to stop the reading at the point where the hero wins the day, which leaves out the disturbing part. Maybe the conclusion of the story was just too embarrassing or too difficult to handle. Yiftah promised God that if God would give him victory in battle, then, upon his return home, he would sacrifice whatever came out of the door of his house to meet him. That much we learn from this week's passage. But what is not included is what it was that met him upon his return. I don't know what Yiftah was thinking when he made his promise in the first place. Did he think he would be initially met by one of his goats or sheep? As it turned out it was his daughter. So what does he do? Does he say to himself, "Oy veh! Am I meshuge (English: crazy person)! Forgive me O Lord for making such a rash vow!"? No, instead he tells his daughter how bad he feels that he has to go through with his promise!

I could see some supposedly spiritually minded people attempting to justify Yiftah's actions. After all it was God to whom he made this promise. Of course his daughter's death was tragic, but "God is God," they might say. But what does God think about murder and human sacrifice? While we should keep our promises even when it is extremely difficult, it is never too late to stop ourselves from doing stupid things.

One of the things about descriptive passages, even though they are not prescriptive, is that we are still to learn from them. The story of Yiftah and his daughter shows us how someone could be chosen by God and inspired by him to do great things, yet still say and do some of the most ridiculous and destructive things in the entire Bible.

What lesson should we learn from this? Are we to learn that if we are really spiritual, then we can get away with murder, both literally and figuratively, or should we stop and realize that being spiritual doesn't automatically prevent anyone from doing stupid things? I suggest that as soon as we realize that we have gone down a foolish road - no matter how we got there or how far down that road we are - it is never too late to change course.

TorahBytes: God-appointed Leadership (Korah)

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, "In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him." (Bemidbar / Numbers 16:4, 5; ESV)

It was an interesting coincidence that around the same time I was looking over this week's Torah portion a friend of mine sent me an online video that was similar to this story. The video was about a pastor who was visiting a religious meeting and after the meeting's leader spoke some very positive words supposedly in the name of God to the pastor, the pastor asked if he could say a few words himself. After being handed the microphone, the pastor, after some positive comments, warned the audience about what he called false teaching in these meetings. At that point, certain members of the audience began to denounce the pastor and the meeting's leader took the microphone away from him and demanded he leave at once.

We could discuss whether or not the pastor did the right thing or if his critique was justified, but seeing this video at the same time as I was reading the story of Korah's confrontation of Moses, got me thinking: How should we handle this kind of confrontation? If I was giving a talk and someone started to question the validity of what I was saying, however they did so, how should I respond?

A Torah-based answer may be derived from Moses' example. God had appointed Moses as prime leader and Aaron as a close second as High Priest. God then set apart one tribe out of all the tribes of Israel to serve in the service of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle) - the temple-like structure that was central in the worship life of the nation. That tribe happened to be Levi, Moses' own tribe. Aaron's descendants were designated as cohanim (English: priests), while the rest of Levi were to be their assistants in the service of the Mishkan. Was this family favoritism or nepotism as it is called? That seems to be what Korah and his followers thought.

Korah and company were actually Levites themselves, but they weren't satisfied with their role. Assisting the cohanim was not good enough for them. They wanted the priesthood itself, and thus they harshly challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

As readers of the story, we can be too quick to criticize Korah's group. While not saying their actions were justified, we may have felt just like them if we were in their situation. While there are lessons to be learned from Korah's behavior, right now I am more interested in how Moses handled the situation.

Moses' initial reaction was to question Korah and his group. Moses knew that what they were doing would not go well for them, but instead of wrangling with them or defending himself, Moses entrusted the situation to God.

In order to handle the situation in the way he did, Moses had to have really trusted God. Moses was not an elected or self-appointed leader of a movement or the representative of a philosophy. God really did appear to him in the burning bush and really did direct him to lead the people of Israel. But notice that he doesn't use that to justify his position. Instead he looks to God to back him up.

Does that apply to God's leaders today? I guess it depends on if God really does exists and if he exists, does he still appoint leaders? Leaders exist all right. There are all sorts of ways people assume leadership, but what about God-appointed leadership? If there is such a thing, as I believe there is, do those who claim to possess it need to fight their way to the top and once there fight to keep their position? Let's put it this way: If you think you are a God-appointed leader, perhaps you should start acting as Moses did.

TorahBytes: Getting on the Right Road (Shela Lekha)

And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. (Joshua 2:11; ESV)

The other day someone asked me about how people in the days of ancient Israel were made right with God. Actually the question was more along the lines of how people in the Old Testament were saved, but I am translating. Part of the challenge in answering a question like this is due to the categories in which many adherents of the New Covenant (or New Testament) think. It seems that many Christians view the human condition in very strict spiritual terms. A person according to this way of looking at life is categorized as being either on a road to heaven or a road to hell. Believing in the Messiah therefore is some sort of mechanism whereby we are placed on the heavenly road.

Thinking this way makes a story like the one we find in this weeks' Haftarah (the supplementary synagogue reading for this coming Sabbath day) difficult to understand. Here we have two Israeli scouts checking out the land prior to the conquest under Moses' successor Joshua. They end up in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. What they were doing there of all of places, we do not know, but as it turned out, there was something very special about this particular lady apart from anything else.

It seems that she and her people were aware of the people of Israel and the things that happened to them the past 40 years, from the parting of the Red Sea to their military victories in the wilderness. Somehow she knew that the God of Israel had given his people the very land in which she was living. Somehow she knew that the God of Israel was not a localized private deity of a bunch of nomads, but rather that "He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath." She knew that the God of Israel was not just a god, but the God.

This understanding caused her to relate to the scouts in a particular way and preserved their lives at risk of her own. As a result when Israel invaded she and her household were saved and lived among Israel from then on (see Joshua 6:25). In fact, we read in Yeshua's genealogy that she became a mother in the line of King David and Yeshua himself (see Matthew 1:5).

Was Rahab saved? Oh yes! But this salvation is more than finding oneself on the heavenly road. Her trust in the God of Israel completely transformed her life. She who was born into a nation destined for destruction, living a life contrary to the ways of God, was now integrated into the plans and purposes of God. More than getting on a road to heaven, she was now on the road from heaven, no longer living in the darkness of sin, but in the light of God's truth. As for her eternal destiny, she could be confident that her life was safely in the care of the one to whom she had given herself.

This then begs the question, do we really need to believe in Yeshua to be saved, to be in right relationship with God? Isn't it enough to think correctly about God and his nature to be accepted by him? Isn't this what happened with Rahab? Not really. Rahab was confronted with the plans and purposes of God in her day. It wasn't just that she just had good theology in her mind; it was that she responded in faith to the situation that God put before her. For her it was the Israeli scouts at the brink of the conquest of the land of Canaan. Since the coming of Yeshua, the same God calls everyone everywhere to repent and follow the Messiah. We cannot pretend that we live in another time in another place. These are the days of the Messiah and it is to him we must give our lives or else we will find ourselves on the wrong side like Rahab's people.

One of the things we learn from the Rahab story is that getting on the right road is not about acquiring a mental state of religious affection. To truly follow God we must embrace his plans and purposes. Knowing the true God led Rahab to make a difficult and risky decision that had enormous positive implications for her, her household, and human history. Those who know the reality of the God of Israel through faith in the Messiah should expect nothing less.

TorahBytes: How Things Work (Be-Ha'alotkha)

And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary. (Bemidbar / Numbers 8:19; ESV)

When people discuss spiritual things they are often concerned with questions to do with how things work: How can God hear everyone's prayers at the same time? How can God create something from nothing? How does prayer work? How does salvation work? This reminds me of the common reaction of "How did you do that?" to someone doing a magic trick.

This type of reaction is normal and expected in many cultures. I don't know if the whole world is like this and if people have been reacting this way since the beginning. But in the world of today with our obsession with complex technological devices, we are used to impressive human innovations. Few understand how these things work, but we are happy that at least someone does.

An essential aspect of life that many of us are lacking in, is plain old amazement - what we might call wonder. The reaction of wonder is one that is no less impressed by what it encounters, but it allows itself to feel the impact of the thing, rather than analyzing it. Not that it is never appropriate to analyze something. It's that our tendency to think that understanding is derived from trying to figure out how things work that distracts us from what are most likely deeper and more helpful levels of understanding.

When we look at the stars, it is completely mind boggling to think about the vastness of space, the number and sizes of stars and other extraterrestrial objects. As soon as we try to grasp how these things came to be (beyond that God created it all), we get lost in an infinite amount of unknown details. But if we would allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the fact that the heavens are the product of a Creative Genius, who also made us, and that this same Creator wants to be in intimate relationship with us, then we may find ourselves understanding the stars as never before.

The kind of wonder you may be now experiencing is one that is wondering what this has to do with the passage I read. More than you might think! We read that one of the purposes of the tribe of Levi was "to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary". What is that about? Sounds like if it hadn't been for the service provided by the Levites, plagues would have afflicted the people. It sounds like that, because that's what it says. Now it's my turn to wonder. I wonder how many people just skip over passages like this, because it doesn't make much sense to us. Our inability to sufficiently analyze this sort of thing, to understand how something like this works, prevents us from its intended impact.

Its impact upon this passage's first hearers is clear. They knew that the work of the Levites was essential to prevent them from unnecessary suffering. But what about the impact on readers today? Twenty-first century humans are so cocky. Most of us that get up each morning and sleep in a comfortable bed at night, who have enough to eat, enjoy a roof over our heads, and clothing to wear - not to mention all the other extras - have no clue of the things that God does to protect us from the dangers of life. Since the rebellion of our first parents, Adam and Eve, our world has been lethal, filled will all sorts of mortal dangers. Most of us will survive this day, and the next, and the next, but not realize that we will only do so because of the love and grace of God protecting us far more than we realize.

It's not just that the world is full of dangers; it's that in actuality every child comes into this world under God's wrath. It's only because he holds back the full venting of his anger that we are not completely destroyed. The people of Israel were in even greater danger because God chose to have his dwelling among them. If the Levites didn't perform the required sacrifices, Israel would have been obliterated. As for the rest of the world, God has been exercising extreme patience as he has been working out his plan of salvation these thousands of years.

We can spend our time trying to figure these things out or we can accept them for what they are. God, through the Messiah, has provided a way so that we can live our lives no longer under the threat of his wrath. By putting our trust in Yeshua, we can be assured of God's favor in our lives.

How does this work? I have no idea. I just know it does.

TorahBytes: What's in a Blessing? (Naso)

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 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." (Bemidbar / Numbers 6:22-26; ESV)

Blessing is a major theme in the Scriptures. To be blessed is to be filled with the potential of life. When God created creatures - both animals and people in the book of Genesis, he said, "Be fruitful and multiply" (see Bereshit / Genesis 1:22, 28). Blessing is the opposite of cursing, which is the removal of the potential of life, such as that of the condition of a desert.

When one person blesses another, they are expressing a desire that God would fill the other with the potential of life. How blessing another person works I don't know, but it is similar to prayer in that the one doing the blessing is looking to God to honor their words and bless the one being blessed.

One of the best known blessings in the Bible is the one I quoted. God gave this particular blessing to the priests with which to bless the people of Israel. Through these words we get a better understanding as to what the blessing of God is all about. While this blessing sounds like a list, it's not. It's a poetical expression of the basic ingredients of what constitutes God's blessing.

The Lord bless you: These opening words are a general introduction to the blessing.

And keep you: "To keep" means "to watch over" like a shepherd keeps sheep. It is one thing to be filled with life, but if we are not protected by God, then the life he gives us will express itself in all sorts of ineffective ways. Many people have the Lord's blessing on their lives, but don't use it for godly purposes. Like lost sheep, their lives are on paths of destruction.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you: This is like saying, "May God smile at you." It expresses the desire that the one being blessed be in a positive relationship to him. Unless God is positively disposed toward us, then our lives will not go well.

And be gracious to you: There is nothing a human being can do to ensure they are in a positive relationship with God. It is only by a gracious act of God that anyone can be right with God. Just as Israel was chosen by God, so anyone, to be in right relationship with him, depends upon his grace.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you: These words are a poetic parallel to "The Lord make his face to shine upon you" above. It emphasizes our need to have God's favor bestowed upon us.

And give you peace: The familiar word for peace, "shalom," means completeness or wholeness. When our lives are out of sorts, we cannot properly manage the abundant life God wants to pour out on us. It's only when we know his peace that we can experience his life.

Notice that there is no mention here of material prosperity or personal health. While the result of God's blessing may include these and other things, the essence of God's blessing is about living under the favor of God, not having stuff. It's when we know his favor - when his smile is upon us - that we are truly blessed. Then, not only are we filled with life ourselves, but that is when we become people through whom others too may be filled with life.