Hebrew Word Study – Shine – Owr – אוֹר  Aleph Vav Resh

“Numbers 6:24-25: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace”

Moses was instructed by God to tell Aaron to give this blessing to the people of Israel.  This was not a one time thing for him. His sons were to also give this blessing.  The Talmud makes it clear that “his sons” is a reference to all the Levites or priest serving under Aaron the High Priest.  It stands to reason that this blessing was very important to God and that He  had a purpose for this blessing.  It was more than just a pretty little phrase.  Something deeper was going on here.

 First we must examine what it means to give a blessing.  When I was in the pastorate I was obligated to give a blessing at the end of the service.  I never gave it much thought.  I just offered some pretty words to cap off a nice comfortable service.  Usually something on the order of: “And now to the God Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat and all his phat and all them other phat boys – Amen.”

 But look closely at verse 23 which says; “On this wise shall you bless…”   The phrase “On this wise…”  is difficult to understand.  It is simply the word: koh.  This word often follows a written command.  Aaron and the Levites were commanded to bless the people of Israel.  The word bless here in the Hebrew is barak which  has a very broad meaning.  It could mean anything from a simple greeting to actually imparting something tangible.   

In this case the Levites were to impart six tangible things from God to the people.  It is the phrase: “The Lord make His face shine upon you” that I want to examine.  In the Hebrew it is ya’er Yahoha penayan ‘eleka  Literally it is translated:  “Cause to shine  Jehovah your face upon you.”   The syntax is really wild here.   Cause to shine ya’er is in a Hiphil future form.  What is difficult is that the Hiphil is to the word ya’er  not penayan His face.  Hence it is not to cause your face to shine, but cause a shining of your face.  Same thing right?  Perhaps not, particularly when you look at the words shine and face.  The word shine is from the root word  avar.  This word indeed means to shine but its Semitic root has the idea of a revelation of light or truth. “May Jehovah cause the revelation of light or truth  to be seen on His Face and such revelation and truth be upon you. 

 Let’s more forward with the word face or panah. For one thing, God is a Spirit and a Spirit does not have a face. Even if He did have a face, no one has seen his face, so why is He commanding the priest to bless the people with seeing His face.   Panah has the idea of approaching, turning, front, hence face.   However, the Semitic origin of this word expresses the idea of gazing upon or staring or looking intently at someone.  Ancients saw something very mystical in someone’s gaze.  They felt when you were staring at someone you were imparting some form of your essence or energy onto the other person.  This is how panah came to express the presence of God.  The presence of God is God gazing or staring intently upon us and imparting his energy, power or essence upon us.  

 This whole expression therefore has the idea of God transferring his very presence or energy onto you as He steadily gazes at you. So if I were to paraphrase this expression, “May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you,” I would first forget this “may” business, it just isn’t there.  I would say, as the imparting of a blessing;  “Jehovah I ask that you look intently and impart your very energy, power, and truth, that is you very presence upon them.”

 What is wonderful, is that we can pray such a prayer for someone. Actually we are commanded to pray such a prayer for others.  Have  you ever prayed that God’s presence would settle upon someone.  I think Scripture is making it clear that we are to pray that way.

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