Numbers 6 Devotional

His Name on His People

“So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.””Numbers 6:27 (BSB)

Two very different pictures of closeness to God sit side by side here. In the first, a man or woman may choose to take a Nazirite vow, a season of special separation to the LORD marked by no wine or grapes, no razor, and no contact with the dead (6:2-6).

The second picture is not something anyone chooses. God tells Aaron and his sons how to bless all Israel, and he supplies the words himself. They ask that the LORD would guard his people, look on them with favor and kindness, and give them peace (6:24-26). Then God explains what is really happening. The priests put his name on the people, and he himself blesses them (6:27). The blessing is not a reward reserved for those who took the hardest vows. It is spoken over the whole people, because God wanted to bless them. Before you ever try to give yourself to God, he has already chosen to set his name and his favor on his people, and you can begin there.

To think about: What would it look like to begin today by receiving God's blessing rather than trying to earn it?