Update April 24th 2018
Today is the 3rd day of the 3rd week of seven weeks. Today is the 17th day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.
Since the last update I’ve seen a surge in the interest of how to pronounce the Name of God. There seems to be no shortage of studies and debate on the subject. Sadly some of it can be very vitriolic, this ought not to be between believers. We take His Name in vain when we cannot reason together peaceably.
That being said, I believe it is worthy of our time and effort to search out the Scriptures and see if we can know His Name. It is an enormous subject and I am not trying to expound on it here. I have just made some small observations.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew Him by the name El Sahaddai~God Almighty. It was of utmost importance to Moses to know His Name.
And God said to Moses again, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial from generation to generation. Exodus 3:15
Also, in the last update I shared the traditional priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26. Since then I have come to see the importance of the very next verse.
So they shall put My name on the sons of Israel, and I Myself will bless them. Numbers 6:27
I believe we are living in very exciting times, that God will have His Name proclaimed throughout the universe. I believe we are seeing a resurgence of what Peter saw happening at Pentecost. “And it shall be” in the last days, God says, “I will pour from My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;” “and your young men shall see visions,” “and your old men shall dream dreams;” Act 2:17
My hope and prayer is that as believers we will not hold onto our traditions so tightly, that we miss the out-pouring of His Spirit.
Update April 21st 2015
I looked at a cross-reference to Psalm 67 and found Numbers 6:24-26, the Priestly or Aaronic Blessing. I really like the Keil & Delitzsch Commentary. It is a fairly long commentary, so I will try to share just the essence of it. They said, “the blessing which the priests were to impart to the people, consisted of a triple blessing”.
They quote Calvin saying, “The first part conveys that the blessing comes from Jehovah, that the blessing of God is the goodness of God in action, by which a supply of all good pours down to us from His good favour as from their only fountain; then follows, secondly, the prayer that He would keep the people, which signifies that He alone is the defender of the Church, and that it is He who preserves it with His guardian care”.
“The second defined the blessing more closely as the manifestation of the favour and grace of God. The face of God is the personality of God as turned towards man. Fire goes out from Jehovah’s face, and consumes the enemy and the rebellious, and also a sunlight shining with love and full of life and good. If “the light of the sun is sweet, and pleasant for the eyes to behold”, “the light of the divine countenance, the everlasting light is the sum of all delight” (Baumgartner). This light sends rays of mercy into a heart in need of salvation, and makes it the recipient of grace.”
“The third, set forth the blessing of God as a manifestation of power, or a work of power upon man, the end of which is peace (shalom), the sum of all the good which God sets, prepares, or establishes for His people. To lift up the face to any one, is equivalent to looking at him. When affirmed of God, it denotes His providential work upon man. When God looks at a man, He saves him out of his distresses.”
The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ Numbers 6:24-26
“The desire of this blessing is, that the Lord God will lift up the light of His word upon us, and so keep it over us, that it may shine in our hearts with strength enough to overcome all the opposition of the devil, death, and sin, and all adversity, terror, or despair.” Martin Luther
I pray that the K&D commentary will bless you as it has me. Today is two weeks and three days of the omer.
I have included here for further study all the Biblical references used by K&D to support their commentary: Lev 10:2, Num 17:10; Num 20:3; Exo 13:22; Psa 34:17; Deu 30:20; Psa 27:1; Psa 43:3; Psa 44:4; Ecc 11:7; Psa 36:10; Psa 4:7; Psa 33:18; Psa 34:16
Original Post April 24th 2012
1 Ziv / Iyyar 31 AD
One Jewish tradition during their counting of the omer, is to sing Psalm 67, each night at evening. They see this Psalm as a harvest thanksgiving song, they saw a good harvest as a fulfillment of their covenant with the Lord. Today we can sing it as a praise song for our salvation!
Psalm 67 For the choir director; with stringed instruments.
A Psalm. A Song.
God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us– Selah.
That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.
Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.
The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us.
God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.
There are seven stanzas: twice three two-line stanzas, having one of three lines in the middle, which forms the clasp or spangle of the septiad, a circumstance which is strikingly appropriate to the fact that this Psalm is called “the Old Testament Paternoster” in some of the old expositors. The second half after the three-line stanza beings in Ps 67:6 exactly as the first closed in Ps 67:4. is repeated three times, in order that the whole may bear the impress of the blessing of the priest, which is threefold. K&D
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