Provided by Steve Daskal
Christian Messianic Analysis and Apologetics
Throughout the world, Christians are gathering virtually to sing a song of blessing over their country, state or region. If you haven’t heard this beautiful song titled, “The Blessing,” written by Elevation Worship, you can find versions of it recorded in Hawaii, South Africa, the UK and other countries on YouTube.
The universal appeal of the powerful lyrics is not due to happenstance as they come from a 3,000 year old blessing called, “The Aaronic Blessing,” found in Numbers 6: 22-26:
Aaron’s Blessing
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 shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
This ancient priestly blessing is given to Moses by God to speak over his brother, Aaron, the high priest, Aaron’s sons and the people of Israel around 1,400 B.C. They were in the midst of a challenging time of wilderness wanderings in preparation for their entrance into the Promised Land.
This beautiful blessing has been sung and passed on from generation to generation in Jewish homes and synagogues for over 3,000 years. Christians have also spoken this blessing from the early days of the church to the present day for 2,000 years.
This blessing is also the oldest surviving biblical inscription in existence today! In 1979, Dr. Gabriel Barkay and his archaeological team discovered what is now known as the Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls just outside the old city of Jerusalem. These two tiny silver scrolls about the size of a cigarette found in a collapsed tomb were carefully unrolled and analyzed. Written in paleo-Hebrew were the words of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, something scholars have declared to be one of the most significant biblical archaeological finds in history! These scrolls which also had verses from Deuteronomy written on them date to the 7th century B.C. of the 1st Temple Period.
The Aaronic blessing of Numbers and the words of Deuteronomy found on the Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls have rocked the academic world, discrediting the idea of the German liberal scholar Wellhausen taught in seminaries throughout the world that the Torah wasn’t written down until the 2nd century B.C. and that it was written by 4 different authors. Instead, this archaeological discovery points to a much earlier date for the writing of the Torah and helps affirm Jesus’ statements of the Mosaic authorship of the Law as found in the New Testament.
The next time you hear, sing, speak or read the blessing of Aaron, may you know that this blessing comes from God and is just as real and powerful for you as it was for the children of Israel 3,000 years ago.
The originator of this work is…
Joel Woodruff, Ed.D.
President, C.S. Lewis Institute
Christian Messianic Analysis & Apologetics 