To Pronounce Blessings

Deuteronomy 21:3-9 – Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Exodus 39:43 – Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

Numbers 6:24-26 – “‘“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.”’

Numbers 35:33 – “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Application:

• ·         Moses blessed the Israelites for the faithfulness with which the Israelites had donated their gifts, time and talents in building the tabernacle and all its furnishings—faithfulness in service brings divine benediction.
• ·         The Hebrew for peace is shalom—not the absence of war, but a positive state of rightness and well-being. Such peace comes only from the Lord.
• ·         The crime of murder is not only an offense against the sanctity of life but also a pollutant to the Lord’s sacred land.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV