Priestly Blessing

[Fenris]

In this week's Torah portion, we read Numbers 6, which contains the order of the priestly blessings for the descendants of Aaron. It reads as follows:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

‘“May the Lord bless you and watch over you.

May the Lord cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you.

May the Lord raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace."

 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

This formula begs the question, if the priests bless the children of Israel, who blesses the priests?

And the answer is, God Himself blesses the priests.

How do we know this?

Because God says to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you."

And because the priests bless Israel, God blesses them.

I know that many Christians bless Israel for this reason, and I believe that the same rationale applies. God blesses them, too.

[Sojourner]

On the flip side, those who curse Abraham's descendants have been cursed. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Girgashites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Amalekites, and other ancient enemies were swept into the dustbin of history thousands of years ago while Israel continues to our day. In more recent times, in just six days, an out-manned Israel defeated a coalition of Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian forces, taking possession of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. (People often forget that Israel gave back much of the territory they won).

History attests that things don't turn out well for the enemies of Israel. While a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Middle East remains elusive, and widespread antisemitism has risen to alarming levels, God still rules from heaven, has His protecting hand upon the descendants of Abraham, and His promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse them that curse Israel is as valid today as the day He voiced it. 

[Fenris]

On the flip side, those who curse Abraham's descendants have been cursed. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Girgashites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Amalekites, and other ancient enemies were swept into the dustbin of history thousands of years ago while Israel continues to our day.

Also the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Seleucid Greeks, the Romans, and even into the modern era with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

God still rules from heaven, has His protecting hand upon the descendants of Abraham, and His promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse them that curse Israel is as valid today as the day He voiced it.

Amen!

[Sojourner]

On the flip side, those who curse Abraham's descendants have been cursed. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Girgashites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, Amalekites, and other ancient enemies were swept into the dustbin of history thousands of years ago while Israel continues to our day.

Also the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Seleucid Greeks, the Romans, and even into the modern era with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

God still rules from heaven, has His protecting hand upon the descendants of Abraham, and His promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse them that curse Israel is as valid today as the day He voiced it.

Amen!

The Egyptians didn't fare very well in their interaction, either. I'd say that's too many to write off as happenstance.

[Fenris]

I'd say that's too many to write off as happenstance.

There is no happenstance. There is only God's will.

Proverbs 19: “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.”

Or as my grandmother, who lost her entire family save one brother in the Holocaust, used to say,"Der Mentsh Tracht un Gott Lacht" "man plans and God laughs".

[Sojourner]

I'd say that's too many to write off as happenstance.

There is no happenstance. There is only God's will.

Well, you and I know it's not happenstance, but there are cynical skeptics who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God even when divine intervention is unmistakable. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

[Fenris]

Well, you and I know it's not happenstance, but there are cynical skeptics who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God even when divine intervention is unmistakable. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

We have the privilege of seeing ancient prophecy being literally fulfilled before our very eyes. It's amazing that some ascribe it to happenstance.

[IMINXTC]

Well, you and I know it's not happenstance, but there are cynical skeptics who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God even when divine intervention is unmistakable. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

We have the privilege of seeing ancient prophecy being literally fulfilled before our very eyes. It's amazing that some ascribe it to happenstance.

What literal fulfillments before our eyes do you refer to?

[Fenris]

What literal fulfillments before our eyes do you refer to?

Jeremiah 33:  “This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom..."

I attended my son's wedding in Jerusalem.

[Fenris]

Well, you and I know it's not happenstance, but there are cynical skeptics who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God even when divine intervention is unmistakable. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

As part of a Jewish prayer recited thrice daily, we have the line "May our eyes behold your merciful return to Zion..." Commentators add that we request that our "eyes behold" it because sometimes the truth is so obvious that it blinds us.

[Sojourner]

Well, you and I know it's not happenstance, but there are cynical skeptics who refuse to acknowledge the hand of God even when divine intervention is unmistakable. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

We have the privilege of seeing ancient prophecy being literally fulfilled before our very eyes. It's amazing that some ascribe it to happenstance.

What literal fulfillments before our eyes do you refer to?

Off the top of my head, the rebirth of Israel comes to mind. Name any other nation in the history of mankind that has ceased to exist for 2000 years and then re-emerged as a sovereign nation. If Germany, Italy, France, or any other country was besieged, and its population dispersed among the nations for two millennia, their culture and national identity would be assimilated and they would forever cease to exist as a nation. But the scattered Jews retained their culture and national identity and were ultimately restored just as God foretold through His prophets..

God said He would disperse the Jews among the nations, (which occurred in the first century), and that He would re-gather them, which began in 1948--after Hitler's determined efforts to annihilate all Jews. There are currently many non-practicing and even agnostic Jews in Israel. It's my belief that the physical rebirth of Israel will be followed by a spiritual rebirth, as foretold in Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. I think when the Lord rescues the nation from an overwhelming military invasion, that will mark the point of its spiritual awakening.   

[Fenris]

Off the top of my head, the rebirth of Israel comes to mind. Name any other nation in the history of mankind that has ceased to exist for 2000 years and then re-emerged as a sovereign nation. If Germany, Italy, France, or any other country was besieged, and its population dispersed among the nations for two millennia, their culture and national identity would be assimilated and they would forever cease to exist as a nation. But the scattered Jews retained their culture and national identity and were ultimately restored just as God foretold through His prophets..

I attended an interesting lecture in Israel by a lecturer who had a PhD in Tanach (the Hebrew Bible). She made the observation that the city of Ninveh was destroyed in 612BCE, only a few decades before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. The city has never been rebuilt. And there isn't some tribe of people descended from the original inhabitants somewhere who aspire to rebuild the city.

[Sojourner]

Aside from prophecy, there's another affirmation of the accuracy of the Bible. Modern medical science has discovered that on the eighth day of a baby's life, Vitamin K and prothrombin--both critical to blood clotting, reach 110 percent of their levels in the blood. This occurs on the eighth day only and never happens again. God designed the human body this way, and instructed Abraham to circumcise male babies specifically on the eighth day--4000 years before the advent of medical science. Who but God would know that long ago the earliest, yet safest day for the rite of circumcision? 

[IMINXTC]

What literal fulfillments before our eyes do you refer to?

Jeremiah 33:  “This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom..."

I attended my son's wedding in Jerusalem.

Not convinced 1948 or the U.N. acknowledgement as such, is the fulfillment of specific prophecy. Not the "rebirth" of Israel.

Precursor? Maybe. Gentile sponsorship and protection? Not likely.

And that spiritual rebirth will involve the embracing of Jesus Christ.

Not being fulfilled today.

Not necessarily a "Church Age" prophecy.

[teddyv]

Aside from prophecy, there's another affirmation of the accuracy of the Bible. Modern medical science has discovered that on the eighth day of a baby's life, Vitamin K and prothrombin--both critical to blood clotting, reach 110 percent of their levels in the blood. This occurs on the eighth day only and never happens again.

I can find no information regarding such a specific claim. Vitamin K is important for clotting and generally, infant circumcisions will not be performed without a prior Vitamin K shot. This sounds like an apocryphal tale built around some truth.