Priestly Blessing

The Finding Emet radio program teaches the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. They discuss the Priestly Blessing, a well-known prayer that is often recited at the end of funerals and services. The blessing is found in Numbers 6:24-26 and is considered the final benediction in Christianity. In Judaism, a special hand gesture is used to symbolize the windows of heaven. It is important to recite the blessing in Hebrew as it is considered holy. The purpose of the blessing is for Yahweh to bless us. Hello, and welcome to the Finding Emet radio program. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth. This program will help you understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The Finding Emet radio program features the teaching ministry of Brother Daniel Rendleman of Emet Ministries. Prepare your heart to receive the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. More audio lessons and teaching articles are available at the www.emetministries.com website. Please visit our site to find all things spiritual, including a free online Bible search program or submit your prayer request. That's www.emetministries.com or www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Let's welcome our teacher, Daniel Rendleman, as he helps us find the Emet. Today's teaching is called The Priestly Blessing. The Priestly Blessing. It'll be easy to remember, at least. So what's today's teaching called? The Priestly Blessing. Amen. Brother Eric's got it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're going to be discussing what? The Priestly Blessing. And it's a portion of scripture that we've all known. We've all heard. We've had some understanding about already. Amen. And it's a prayer. It's probably one of the most well-known scripture passages in the world. One of the most well-known prayers. I've even heard it that some people call it the Jewish Lord's Prayer. I don't necessarily agree with that, but it's very well-known. Speaking of prayer, this man and his friend were playing golf one day at a local golf course. Any golf fans here? Golf backwards is flog, by the way. So I do play every once in a while, and it's more like a flogging than playing. But one of the guys, he's getting ready to chip onto the green, which means he's close. He's got a small little club. He's going to try to hit it right onto the green, and hopefully he's going to get it into the hole. And here comes this long funeral procession, and he stops mid-swing. I said mid-swing he stops. He takes off his golf cap. He closes his eyes. He bows his head in prayer. Now if you know anything about golf, you never stop mid-swing. I mean, that just messes up your whole swing, right? I mean, it messes up everything. But this guy stops mid-swing and closes his eyes. Wow! I mean, what amazing. So his friend looks at him and says, wow, that is the most thoughtful, the most touching thing I've ever seen. You are truly a kind man. I stand in all of you. The man looks at him and says, well, I guess that's the least I could do. We were married 35 years. Oh, never mind. Good little joke there on prayer. That would never be you, right, Bill? You'd never be on the golf course during a funeral. Hallelujah. Okay. You'd be in there with her, right? She'd kill you if you were. Hallelujah. Well, I mean, think about it. Haven't you heard a blessing at the end of funerals especially? The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord calls His face to shine upon you. Haven't we heard that before at the end of funerals? Haven't we heard that at the end of services before? Even funerals are known to end in the passages we're going to discuss today called the priestly blessing. Imagine if in 1979, a good 29 years ago, a silver amulet was discovered by archaeologists in a Jerusalem tomb and inscribed on the silver foil which dates back to the 7th century before Yeshua came. 700 years before Yeshua came were the words of this benediction, were the words of this prayer. It's the oldest known quotation from scripture and it even included the name of Yahweh. And here on the scroll was this priestly blessing and it was worn, they believe it was worn around the neck by the person who had it and it was kept there as a reminder. And the priestly blessing that was on there was found out of Numbers or the book of Amidbar chapter 6, 24 to the end of the chapter. So if you turn to me there, in your King James it says, v'loed, is that right, is that good King James Bad Disenglish, v'loed, bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Of course in Hebrew it's pretty different and in the restoration scriptures it's even more different. Let's turn there, Numbers chapter 6, Amidbar chapter 6, verses 24 through 26, it says this. Let's go to verse 22. Yahweh spoke to Moshe saying, speak to Aharon, Aaron and his son saying, this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Saying to them, Yahweh bless you and keep you, Yahweh make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you, give you shalom and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them. Who's going to do the blessing? The priest first and then who? Yahweh. Now for Christianity, this is the final benediction spoken at the end of a service and don't know how this goes, at the end of a bad service, the pastor gets someone to say this or he speaks this as he's walking down the aisle so he can meet you at the back of the church. You know, I always thought as a child that he tele-transported himself, kind of like on Star Trek, beam me up Scotty, because he would end up at the beginning of the church, right? He'd be in the front of the building, I'd be looking at him, he'd say, let us bow our heads in prayer. He'd say, the Lord bless you and all of a sudden when he was done, guess what? He was at the back of the church. I never knew how that happened until I opened my eyes one day and guess what? I saw him walking. He was actually skipping. No he wasn't. He was walking down the aisle, down the aisle to get to the back. Now for Judaism, this is called the priestly blessing and it's proclaimed that at the end of a service they do a special hand gesture, a special hand gesture, that's correct, right there, which is symbolic of the windows of heaven. The Kohen, or the priest, is asked to stand, he shapes his fingers in a certain way, symbolic of the windows of heaven and when he does this, there are five spaces, should be five spaces, one, two, three, four, five, you see the one on the end, two, three, four, five, five spaces symbolic of the five books of Torah, one space between the thumb, between the thumb, the first finger, yada, yada, yada. This hand gesture is made popular by what? Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner happened to be good Jews and as they began to get ready for Star Trek, they said, well let's say, you know, live long and prosper, like how a white man, like I'm in peace kind of a thing, right? And they said, no, no, no, that's not right, so they said let's do this because this is our version of live long and prosper, this is the Jewish way of saying live long and prosper. Now we are told that Yahweh looks through these hands and these windows as almost peering through lattice work, through the hands of the Kohenim, through the hands of the priests, referencing the verse in the Song of Solomon, chapter two, verse nine, don't turn there, I'll read it to you. It says, my beloved is like a gazelle. Have you ever told your wife that she was like a gazelle? Wow. April, you're like, okay, you're like a gazelle. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young heart, behold, she stands behind our wall, he looks through the windows, peering through the lattice, that's Yahweh, peering through the lattice of the priestly hands. Now in Hebrew, this priestly blessing is called the Aharonic Barakah or Barakat Kohenim. It depends on where you look, Barakat Kohenim or Aharonic Barakah, which literally means the priestly blessing or Aaron's blessing and we're going to find out that these verses hold great truth and meaning for us. And let me tell you something. I want to go ahead and say this so I don't forget. This blessing should not, should not, should not be saved for the very end of our services only. Instead, we should study it, we should know it, we should utilize it in our daily walk of faith and it is my desire and the purpose of this teaching that after you listen to this teaching today, that your spiritual life is changed and you begin utilizing the power behind the priestly blessing into the day that you will forever remember. Now to understand any portion of scripture appropriately or to really better understand it, we need to do what? We need to go back to the original text, to the original Hebrew in which it was written. Did you know that the sages of Judaism have said that this blessing should only be recited when it is recited with the Hebrew? That to say this blessing with any other language would be wrong. They say that we are to use the Kaddosh Lashon. Have you ever heard of Lashon Hara before? Evil speech, perverse speech, gossip, things that are not true, things that are harmful. Well, the Kaddosh Lashon, Kaddosh means what? Holy or set apart, Lashon is tongue, the holy tongue. This blessing should only be spoken in the holy tongue that to express this prayer in any other language would kind of like being, would be like singing the national anthem with a bunch of bubble gum in your mouth. Repulsive, remember a few years ago when Rosanne Barr went out to the ballpark and she sang the national anthem, it was hideous. It'd be like me singing it. I mean, it was bad. It was repulsive and there was outrage. That's what the Jews, the Jewish leaders have told us, saying this prayer in any other language, if you don't include English. So as we study it, let us look at three things. That's enough, said three things, the purpose of it, the meaning behind it and the benefit purpose, everybody say purpose, purpose, meaning, everybody say meaning and everybody together benefit, benefit, benefit. In the Hebrew, this prayer reads Yivarecha Yahweh Vayishmarecha, Ya'er Yahweh Panavalecha Vichuneka, Yissa Yahweh Panavalecha Ve'asimlecha Shalom, Amen. So what is the purpose behind this? The purpose behind this is real simple, Yahweh wants to bless us, Amen. The purpose behind this is very simple and Yahweh has commanded the blessing. Now we spend a lot of time talking about commands, thou shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not. I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time studying the commands in the scriptures. I look at that. I teach my kids. Sometimes I get to speaking to them in King James, thou shalt not say that word. He's like, OK, Daddy, I'm sorry. Right, Judah. OK, all right, anyway, thou shalt not say that, thou shalt not say that. But did you know that one of the commands is that Yahweh has commanded? Yahweh has commanded his blessing towards us. This is not a hellfire and brimstone message, this is a message that Yahweh loves us and cares for us and longs to show us Rahamim or mercy. Turn with me to Tehillim or Psalm chapter 133, the book of Psalms. And in chapter 133, we see this in verse three. Now, you're going to want to put a finger there or somebody else's finger there or a piece of paper there, because we're going to go back to that later to look at it. So Greg Brie put put his finger, you put her finger and there you go. You're good to go. Psalm 133 and verse three, it tells us very clearly that Yahweh commands a blessing towards us. As the dew on Mount Hermon, as the dew that descends upon the mountains of Zion, for their Yahweh commands the bracha, the blessing, even life forevermore, peace be upon Israel. Yahweh commands a blessing towards us and concerning the nation of Israel. His blessing is this, Yahweh gets involved and offers his blessings, even life forever. What is Yahweh's greatest blessing? Life forever and peace. Amen. Life forever, eternal life and shalom. It tells us Psalm 133, three, Yahweh commands the blessing, even life forever. Now, at the mountain of Zion, specifically, what would be the Mount of Zion? That would be the Temple Mount. That would be the place where the the tabernacle and the and the Mishkan were set up, where the temple was set up. And from there, Yahweh commanded the blessing. Yahweh has proclaimed and even commanded his blessing upon us, that the Aharonic Bracha, this blessing, this priestly blessing was given to the nation of Israel, to the set apart seed of the righteous. It was given to us. So by simply being Israel, we are blessed. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget that I get to having a pity party, I get to wallowing in my problems, wallowing in my sin, wallowing in the mud like the prodigal son, and then I've got to go back to father and say, father, I'm sorry. But sometimes I do. I get all frustrated, sickness and and and Williams, you got Williams? Bills, you got bills, right, you got Williams, OK, those are major bills, you got little bills, I got Williams, I got big bills, and you get to work, you got problems, you got pain, you got this and you get to wallowing in that. Yahweh has commanded his blessing upon us as a nation of Israel. We are blessed and don't doubt it. We are Israel. Amen. If you belong to Messiah, if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3, 29, so anybody that tries to say, I don't think I'm Israel, I can't trust it. Well, number one, how can you trust you're born again? How can you prove that you're born again? How can you prove that you're safe? Show me physical evidence you're safe. I mean, did you get a fixed finger on your right hand when you got saved? No, it's my faith. And so my faith, we believe that we are Israel knowing Yahweh is true to his word. Galatians 3, 29. We are blessed because we are Yahweh's chosen people. First Peter 2, 9, a royal priesthood, a royal family, a royal church, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Amen. I said, Amen. Amen. There were no everybody say no, no. This is tough. There were no preconditions for this blessing other than being Israel. Ain't that something? Just by being his child, he wants to bless us. You know what, when my kids come to me, sometimes I just want to bless them. I'm somewhere and I see something really fancy, a nice toy they want. I'll be at the Dollar Tree, for example. Wow, they like this just to bless them. They haven't done anything. They don't deserve it. We all know that, right? Spoiled, rotten, nasty. Wonderful blessings. Let's talk about somebody else's kids a minute ago. Wonderful children, and I want to bless them just because they're mine. Guess what? That's what Yahweh does for us. He just wants to bless us. The Encyclopedia Judaica says this. The priestly blessing does not call on Yahweh to bless us out of his goodwill. Rather, the blessing calls for Yahweh to have an attitude of goodwill towards the persons being blessed, the nation of Israel. The benefit which the blessing called upon Yahweh to bestow does not consist upon fertility or dominion, but Yahweh's favor itself. We need Yahweh's favor, his chesed, his shame. His grace, everything else comes from that, amen? So understand that this is not some magical practice on part of the priest. They don't have some power over the divine. The text makes it clear that as the priest recites the words of the blessing, it's Yahweh who does the blessing. Doesn't the word say life and death is in the power of the tongue? Life and death. So one reason of this blessing, the purpose of this blessing was to place the blessings of Yahweh upon the nation of Israel. Another reason was, and we'll talk about this some more later, was to place the name of Yahweh upon the nation, that each time this blessing was given, people were reminded of what? Yahweh's name. All right, so we got purpose down, amen? Yahweh wants to bless us. He wants us to know that we are blessed. So turn to the right and say you're blessed. Eric, who are you talking to? OK, you are blessed. Hallelujah. Many things we can learn from here. Yivarekakah Yahweh vayishvarekah, ya'er Yahweh panavoleka vichuneka, yisah Yahweh panavoleka ve'asim lakah, shalom. In this prayer, you hear the letter Yod. Yivarekakah Yahweh vayishvarekah, how many times did you hear the letter Yod? There are 15 words in this prayer, 13 of them begin with a Yod. This is highly symbolic because the number 13 is the number of mercy and grace, Rahamim. In Exodus chapter 13, we read about the 13 attributes of mercy, the shalosh esrei medot. I've done a teaching. It's on the Ministry's website called Have Mercy. Excuse me, let me say it right. Have mercy. Have mercy. You can get the CD, you can read it, have mercy. In Gematria, Hebrew numerology, where each letter is given a number, 13 is the word Ahava. Ahava, that is what? Love. This shows us that Yahweh was doing what? He was commanding his love with the blessing. Now, don't we know that Yahweh said love what? The world. That he did what? He gave his only son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal Chaim, have eternal life. Don't we know that the Yod is a picture of what? Of a hand. It's the 10th letter in the Aleph Bet. In fact, the word for hand in Hebrew is Yad. The word for hands is Yadayim. We know that Yeshua's hands and feet were pierced. Psalm 22 shows us this. So here's a connection I want to show you. The Aharonic blessing is equal to love, which is equal to Yahweh himself, because it doesn't say Yahweh is love. How did Yahweh show us his love? Yeshua's hands were pierced. It's a foreshadow of Yeshua's sacrifice in the blessing. And to prove this, I want to show you something. If you're reading through Torah and you come to Numbers chapter 6, you need to notice a few things. Number one, the Ten Commandments have already been given. Amen. The Ten Commandments have already been broken. Who was the first person to break the Ten Commandments? Moshe. That's right. He broke them as he was coming down the mountain. The Ten Commandments have been given. He sees the sin of the golden calf. That even after their hideous sin, Yahweh commanded the blessing. Do you get that? Come on now, you got to get that. The priests were not commanded to speak this until after the crushing of the two tablets, until after the golden calf. This shows us that while we were still in our sin, Yeshua died for us. Romans chapter 5, verse 8. Yahweh addressed our sin with the blessing. While we were still sinners, Yeshua died. While we were still sinners, Yeshua commanded his blessing. Amen. We got to keep that in mind. So this prayer that we're going to look at is composed of three parts. How many parts? Three parts. And each part of it contains two individual blessings. Also, guess what? The name of Yahweh appears three times. Three times. So Yahweh's name is there three times. It's a three part blessing. Ecclesiastes 4.12. A strand of three cords is not easily broken. Let me tell you something, Danny. The blessing and the priestly blessing of the Aharonic Merakot is not easily broken. Yahweh has commanded his blessing upon us. He loves us and he wants us to walk in it. Hallelujah. And what's so awesome about this blessing is it starts small and then it builds. That is a kingdom principle. Yahweh is not going to give you a billion dollars if you've not been faithful with a hundred dollars. Amen. He's not going to give you a million if you've not been faithful with five. It's a kingdom principle. Mark chapter four. The kingdom of Yahweh is like a seed. First there's the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. It is a kingdom principle. Amen. The blessing has a simple structure. It's Yahweh plus a verb. Yahweh plus a verb. Yahweh bless you. Yahweh keep you. Yahweh shine. Yahweh lift his face. Each phrase gets longer. But the progression in the number of words, this is awesome, mirrors outward movement. Because it starts with just a couple words, then a few more words, then bigger words. How did the blessing go? It went from the high priest to the priest of the kingdom, to the priest, then to the nation, then to the world. Now the first line of this blessing is asking Yahweh to bless us and do what? Keep us, to do good to us, to protect us, to sustain us, to provide for us. It is a blessing for the physical. Everyone say it with me. Yevarechecha Yahweh vayishmarecha. This sentence has three words. It's a blessing for material success. Yahweh shall bless you and keep you. Yahweh shall bless you and watch over you. Now we are told that this is a blessing for material prosperity and guardianship. But not only should you get an increase, but that increase will be protected. Don't we know that Yahweh will return what the palmer worm and the canker worm and the locust have eaten? What the caterpillar has eaten? Yahweh wants to bless us and it's not meant to be stolen. Do you know what else? It's not meant to be kept either. Guess what? It's meant to be shared. You mentioned community earlier. Yahweh wants to bless us with material wealth. Look around you. Everything you have is your wealth. You might have a lot of money. You might not have nothing but a pot. That's your wealth. All right. Hallelujah. Keeping me clean over here. Keeping me straight. You might not have just a pot. You might just have a nothing, a burlap sack. That is your wealth. Your wealth is given so that you can use it and then bless others. Amen. And so a truly blessed person has a generous spirit and is always pouring out blessings. Because did you know this? This is good, Nancy. It's only when we empty ourselves that Yahweh can fill us again. It is blessed to give than receive because Yahweh gives to us as we give to others. A person that does not empty their vessel does not have room for additional blessings. How about that? Let me say that again. A person that does not empty themselves does not have room for additional blessings. Now, guess what else? We also need to make sure that our blessings are not wasted. They're not leaked away by debt, by being frivolous or by waste. One minister tells a story of the first church he went to as a youth minister. And they had a fund called an emergency fund. It had $100 cash in it. And they told this youth minister, they said that you can use this fund at your discretion, provided that you've got to give out the money under these conditions. He said, okay, well, what are the conditions? The chairman of the committee, you know, and it had to have a committee, it was a church, right? The chairman of the committee said, you cannot give the money to anybody who is in need as a result of laziness, drunkenness, or poor money management. The young minister said, but what else is there? As far as he knows, the money has never been used. Now, think about that. Yahweh wants to bless us so we can bless others, but we've got to be careful that we're not squandering it away. We are to use his blessings he's given us. We are to share. Rambam, great Jewish rabbi, what a great name, Rambam. He said, do not wonder what does this blessing from ordinary people accomplish? That the blessing is not dependent on the priest, it is dependent upon Yahweh. That's good. But this blessing for physical prosperity is upon Yahweh. But this is a blessing about being a vessel to share his goodness. It has three words. Now, the second line of this blessing has five words. Say it with me. Ya'er, Yahweh, P'nav, Elecha, V'chuneka. This is a blessing for spiritual development, a blessing for spiritual growth. Yahweh does not just want your finances to prosper, your wealth to prosper, your home to prosper. He doesn't want you just to have clothes on your back and shelter over your head. He wants your spirit to prosper. Many people get it just backwards, don't they? They take that verse out of what is it? 1 John, my brother, I want you to prosper just as your souls prosper. And they say, prosperity, prosperity, prosperity. Whatever you have is your wealth and it's meant to be shared with others. I mean, the common wealth of Israel, do you know that? We're in the common wealth of Israel. Do you know what that means? That our wealth should be commonly shared between one another. Amen. Yahweh wants our spiritual life to grow and not to stay stagnant. He does not want us lukewarm. I guarantee you that 99% of people who profess Jesus or Lord or God are either cold or lukewarm. And even a very good percent, I'd even say 90 to 99% of those who even profess Yahweh. I'm sorry, this is the truth. Are we a blazing inferno for Yahweh or are we just a little bright spot? Had a call yesterday from someone in Texas wanting some counseling. And she said, Rabbi, I have a question. I was told that I'm not to fellowship with unbelievers or Christians. That I'm only to be around messianics. What do you think about that? And I said, do you really want to know? She said, yes. I said, okay. You strike a match in daylight, how much light do you see? You strike a match at pitch black night, how much light do you see? You see a lot, don't you? Yahweh didn't save us so we can sit in front of a computer all day and learn Torah. Or so that we can sit in a midrash and midrash and fuss and cuss over the belly button lint of Moses. Come on. He saved us so we can be a light. The Word says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 16, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father is who is in heaven. We've got to make sure that we're doing that. Can't go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Was it Mark 16, 15? Unless we're going. This portion is a prayer for divine light from the very face of Yahweh. You know what this says? In English it says, Yahweh make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. This is a blessing for successful learning of Torah. A blessing of intellectual and spiritual advancement. Rashi, another rabbi said that, he paraphrased this. This is good. He paraphrased this verse. He said, may Yahweh show you a smiling face. That when Yahweh is looking upon us, he's taking note of us and he's smiling. And he's giving us spiritual growth as we go forward. And it says very clearly, may Yahweh lift up his face upon you. V'chuneka and be gracious unto you. The word for grace is chen or chesed in Hebrew. V'chuneka and give you grace or show grace to you. John 1, 17. For the Torah was given by Moshe. Its unmerited favor and truth came by Yeshua. As we learn Torah, we see our need for what? More of Yahweh's grace. Rav Shaul, Rabbi Paul, he said in Romans chapter 7 verse 7, I had not known sin, but by the Torah. That doesn't mean the Torah is sinful, but it means that the more we learn, the more we realize, oy gevot, oy vey, I'm in trouble. And we need his blood. The wages of sin is what? Death. The decree has been made. Because we've sinned, we deserve death. The gift of Yahweh is eternal life. Yeshua took our place. He died for us. Now, what do we need to do? Allow the Torah to shine upon us and illuminate our path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 1, 19, 15. But many people, they want to get saved, but they don't want to have that light shining anymore, do they? Our lives are changed by the amazing grace of Yahweh when he shines his face upon us through the Torah. Psalm 19, 7. The Torah of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul. The Torah's purpose is to convert us to be like him. First, it's salvation. It shows us our sinfulness. We accept Yeshua as the sacrifice of our sin, as the payment for our sin. Then the Torah converts us to be more and more like him. It never stops. Yahweh showed his great love for us, his face to us while we were still sinners. Yeshua died. Isaiah 30, verse 18. Yahweh longs to be gracious unto you. How many know that people think that Yahweh just wants to squash them down? Mean old man. No, Yahweh longs to be gracious to you. This blessing for spiritual enlightenment, I want to show you this. This is great. It comes from the very face of Yahweh. May Yahweh lift up its countenance upon you and be gracious unto you. Isn't that what it says? So, spiritual enlightenment only comes when we see the face of Yahweh. But doesn't the word say, no man shall see the face of Yahweh and live? Yahweh lifts up his face upon us. We hear and obey his word. Luke chapter 6, verse 15. Blessed are those who hear the word of Yahweh and obey it. And as we, as this happens, we don't live anymore, do we? We die to ourselves. We die to our ways. No man can see Yahweh and live because our flesh dies. So, let me paraphrase that verse. No man shall hear the word of Yahweh, the Torah, and live in the flesh. How about that? So, we have a blessing for our physical health and wealth. We have a blessing for our spiritual well-being. And finally, the last section is a blessing of shalom, of peace. A peace that passes all understanding. A peace that Yahweh gives us. This final sentence is seven words long. So, the first is three, the next is five, the last is seven. Of course, seven is a highly symbolic number of completion. Seven days through the week. Let's say it together. Yissa, Yahweh, Penabaleka, Ve'asim l'cha, shalom. The result of Yahweh's physical blessing and spiritual blessing is his shalom, the peace that comes directly from where? The face of Yahweh. The blessing for peace has seven words. The blessing for physical wealth or to meet all your needs is three. The blessing for spiritual enlightenment has five. Material prosperity, it's pretty easy to come by. You work, you get paid, right? Come on, right? Okay. Spiritual and intellectual enlightenment, it's a little more difficult. Therefore, it requires two more words. Total of seven. Peace is the most difficult to realize. It requires seven words because it requires us to be whole. Peace is the fruit of the spirit. Amen. And the word for peace in Hebrew is shalom. And literally, it means wholeness. Strong's exhaustive concordance defines shalom as to be well, happy, complete, in good health, prosperous, to be whole or holy. That we don't really have his peace until we know that he's taking care of our physical needs. Until we know that he's taking care of our physical well-being and our spiritual well-being, right? I mean, come on. I call money the mood changer. You got money, it's easy to be in a good mood, right? You don't have money, it's easy to be in a bad mood. You got your needs met, you can be in a good mood. You might not have a diary, but if you got your needs met, amen, that's what's most important. But if you're worried about that, Yahweh says do not be anxious for nothing. So Yahweh's peace comes upon us as he meets every single one of our needs and we are wholly blessed, amen? Let me show you this. Turn with me to Luke chapter eight. Luke chapter eight, verses 42 through 48. This is a section about shalom. Luke eight, 42 through 48. And a woman having an issue of dom, blood, 12 years, who had spent all of her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any. So did she have wealth? No, she spent it all. Verse 43, and a woman having an issue of blood, 12 years, who had spent all of her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any, came behind him and said to him, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, I'm going to give you this, came behind him and touched the tassels of his garment. And immediately her issue of dom, blood, stopped. And Yeshua said, who touched me? When all denied it, Kepha, Peter, and they that were with him said, Master, look at the multitude that throng you and press you, and yet you ask who touched you? Yeshua said, someone has touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out. Verse 47, and the woman saw that she was not hidden. She came trembling and falling down before him. She declared before him and all the people, the reason she had touched him and how she was healed. And verse 48, and he said to her, Daughter, be of told comfort, be of good peace. Your fate has made you whole. Go in shalom. Her fate made her whole. Now she wants to go in peace. She received her healing, which was not just her issue of blood, but her wholeness came. Not only did the flow of blood stop, but she was completely made whole. Don't miss it. She was healed and made spiritually whole. She had found Yeshua. The void in her soul was gone. The woman had come face to face. Where does our blessings come from? The face of Yahweh. She would never be the same. And we can walk in that same peace. It tells us in Ephesians 2 verse 14. He is our peace. Who has made us both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Yeshua is our peace has been commanded here. Nothing more, nothing less. He is our wholeness. Now this blessing is for each of us. Amen. It says, may Yahweh bless you and keep you. It doesn't say may Yahweh bless them. It doesn't say may Yahweh bless the Democrats or the Republicans. It says may Yahweh bless you. But did you know that it was spoken to the nation corporately? The word was spoken out to the nation and individually to them. So we talked about the meaning. We talked about the purpose. What about the benefit? They're abundant, aren't they? We can have physical abundance. We can have spiritual growth and shalom, peace forevermore. What else do you need? The price has been paid. Our ticket has been bought. Yahweh's goodness waits for us, amen. But we must choose to walk in his blessings. It's been provided. There's a Christian cliche that's absolutely true. And I hate cliches. I've heard it before. Somebody say, well, I am too blessed to be depressed. You heard that before? I would hear people say that. I'd get the automatic spirit of nausea. I'm like, come on. You're high on Jesus, high on life, whatever. But it's right. We are too blessed to be depressed. And when anxiety or worry or fear or problems or pain or depression comes upon us, we need to throw it aside and reach out for the hem of Yahweh's garment, receive his wholeness and know that Yahweh has blessed us. We are too blessed to be depressed. Say that with me. Come on. I'm too blessed to be depressed. Hallelujah. Let's not forget the last commandment here. The last part of this verse. Numbers chapter six, verse 27. They shall invoke or put my name on the sons of Israel and I will bless them. The priests were called to put the name of Yahweh upon the people of Israel. One way, one way they did this was by reciting the blessing. That was not the only way. I believe this was a separate commandment that happened to fall here. That the priests were called to put the name of Yahweh upon the nation of Israel. One way they did it was by the blessing. Another way they did it was by teaching. Another way they did it was by living righteously. And did you know that Judaism and Christianity has failed at this precept? Amen. But the Jewish priests and the religious leaders have shrouded the name of Yahweh in mystery and have forbidden its use. Some insist that the name of Yahweh was spoken only on Yom Kippur and only during this blessing. I say balogna. Baloney. Kosher baloney in that. How about that? He meant for his name to be used to be upon our lips. Did you know that Christianity has inherited the same lies? Where our King James Version has Yahweh's name hidden behind water God 7,000 times. They don't sing to him. What do they sing to? Lord and God. They sing blessed be the name of the Lord. They don't know if his name is Bill or Henry or Sue. Come on now. His name is Yahweh. Jeremiah 16, 19. Jeremiah 16, 19. Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit. That is the truth. His name endures forever and it should be upon our lips. Amen. Psalm 135, 13. Your name, O Yahweh, endures forever. Your fame, O Yahweh, throughout the generations. Exodus 3, 15. Yahweh says this is my name forever. What part of forever do you not understand? I finally got the t-shirt and I'm going to wear it with pride that says what part of forever do you not understand? Hosea 12, 5. Even Yahweh of hosts. Yahweh is his memorial. Isaiah 42, 8. I am Yahweh. This is my name. I will not give my honor to another. Remember that the Aaronic Barakah was spoken by the priest. Amen. Their mouths were to pronounce the blessing. Now we know that a priest's mouth is to be surrounded by a beard. Amen. Now people say, how do I know I'm supposed to wear a beard? Well, I want to follow Yeshua, right? Doesn't it say they pluck the hair from his beard? That's good enough proof for me. However, the priest was commanded not to shave the corners of their beard. So if you're going to keep that command, you have to wear a beard. So what about those who can't wear a beard? Ladies. Some of you ladies. No, ladies. What about, I've been told, you know, certain races, Cherokees or so can't grow. Then that doesn't apply to you. You know, it doesn't apply. If you can't grow a beard, it doesn't apply to you. Amen. And if you can grow a beard, then it applies. It's a misquote. You know, sometimes Torah is trial and error. And I hate to say that, but it's the truth. Amen. Sometimes you do something and say, Yahweh, I think this is right. Then the Holy Spirit says, You know what? You shouldn't have done that. We did that one time on Shabbat. We went to a festival downtown. Didn't spend a dime. Didn't spend any money. But the kids were there. It was all about just entertainment and all about filling your own desires. You know what I'm saying? And I was convicted afterwards. We haven't done it again. The priests were to speak the blessing. Amen. Their mouth had to be surrounded by a beard. The priest had to wear the facial hair. Now, it's from the mouth that Yahweh commanded the blessing to be spoken. Amen. And the mouth had to be surrounded by a beard. Let's bring it all together. Take your finger back to Psalm 133. It may be numb by now because you've had it there this whole time. Psalm Tehillim 133. I want to show you something. Tehillim 133. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down the beard. Even Aaron's beard that went down to the collar of his robe. As the dew of Hermon. As the dew that descends upon the mountains of Zion. For there, Yahweh commands the blessing. Even life forever and shalom upon Israel. But the Aaronic blessing has a total connection to number one, unity. And number two, shalom and anointing. Unity is like the precious anointing oil that flows from the beard. Amen. And unity is something we have to agree on. We must decide to meet and agree in unity. Right? You ask two rabbis one question, you get four different opinions. But as we come together, we lay aside our personal convictions, our personal opinions. And we come together in unity. Amen. We've done that today. Praise Yahweh. Thank you. So we should submit to leadership, support leadership, work with leadership to accomplish Yahweh's will. I've said this. There's no such thing as a perfect congregation or a perfect rabbi. You think that's what you got here. I'm sorry. You're wrong. Amen. You will never find a group that's got it all together or a teacher who is 100% doctrinally correct. Instead of seeking perfection, we need to seek unity and a leader with a heart after Yahweh. And if that's not me, that's fine. And if that is me, that's fine. How many know that with unity comes trust? Trust is not supporting the leader when you agree with him. Trust is supporting the leader when you agree with him. Yeshua prayed for this type of unity in John chapter 17. Amen. Because we can disagree over anything. I can tie Zeke Zee this way and you can tie him that way. And we can fight over it. And I'm sorry, but if I get in a fight with Greg, he's probably going to win. Amen. People say, but the Lord's prayer is, you know, our Father who art in heaven, you know, our Father who art in heaven. No, the real Lord's prayer is, may they be one as I and the Father are one. He wanted us to be unified. So Yeshua commanded unity. Yahweh commanded the blessing. Here it says that unity is like the ointment that flows from Aaron's beard. Now, I never knew that the ointment flowed from Aaron's beard, but here it says it did because they would just start by gallons on top of his head. And it was dripping down into his collar. So what else came from his beard? Not just anointing, but the name of Yahweh. You ever recognize Yahweh? It was coming from his beard, coming from his head, coming from his mouth. Did you know that the Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse 3 says that your name is like anointing oil? Yahweh's name is like anointing oil. It is powerful like anointing oil. It has power and it is powerful. And don't we know, Isaiah 10, 27, that the anointing breaks the yoke. So whatever is yoking us down, whatever is holding us back, whatever is causing us to be down, whatever is making us depressed, is broken by the anointing of Yahweh's name. Where is Yahweh's name spoken? In the Aaronic Barakah, in the blessing, in the priestly blessing. Whatever is holding us back is broken by the name of Yahweh. So let me tell you something right now. We need to start taking hold of this blessing, taking hold of this anointing, taking hold of his name and expecting good things to happen. Yes, we're living in the end times. Yes, things are getting bad. Yes, Obama won. We've got to start looking to the good things because Yahweh has commanded the blessing to us. We've got to start expecting good things to happen. We should see ourselves as blessed and lay hold of what he has for us. Romans 4, 21 states that our father Abraham was fully persuaded in the promises of Yahweh and he was able to accomplish it. We too must be determined and believe Yahweh and recognize us that Yahweh has blessed us beyond all measure. We might not have a full gas tank. We might not have seen a full gas tank in 12 years, but Yahweh has blessed us and he's commanded the blessing. One Hasidic rabbi said this, this is good. He says, thus shall you bless the children of Israel. Bless the Hebrew people as you find them. Do not look for the best or the most important Hebrew. Do not look for the greatest scholars or righteous men, but every Israelite deserves to be blessed with these words. This is a priestly blessing bespoken by the priest. How many know that we are priests? Amen. He's king of kings and master of masters, lord of all lords. He's the king and we are the kings reigning with him. He's the high priest and we are his priests. 1 Peter 2, 9, you are a royal priesthood. Exodus 19, we are a royal priesthood. So what are we supposed to do? Speak his blessing to one another. We ought to act like priests, to speak, to pray, to sing, to meditate upon his blessing. We are too blessed to be depressed. Amen. And his anointing, his name breaks the yoke. So no matter what we're facing, it's all covered here. It's all covered. Amen. So I'd like to speak that blessing over you right now. Because you know that Yahweh sings over us. I've always wondered what song he sang until I began to study. And I believe this is what he sings. Zephaniah 3, verse 17, it says, Yahweh, your Elohim is in your midst, a victorious warrior. It says he sings over you with joy. He quiets you with love. He rejoices over you with shouts of joy. Yahweh sings over you, Melanie, and he does it with joy. He's not singing killer, killer, killer, killer, killer, killer. He's singing blessings. And I believe he's singing this prayer. Yahweh bless you and keep you. May Yahweh cause his face to shine upon you and look graciously upon you. May Yahweh lift up his face, his countenance upon you and give you peace. Abba Yahweh, it is our prayer that you would look upon us and bless us with physical needs. That you would shine your face, your Torah upon us, your light and your lamp and grow us in the spiritual realm as we look to your Torah. And that, Father, you would grant us peace that passes all understanding through your word, we pray. Through Yeshua, we pray. The Prince of Peace, our Har Shalom. Amen. Thank you again for listening to the Finding EMET radio program. Please visit our website to learn more about the EMET, the truth of the scriptures. Search the Bible, submit your prayer request or read an article on various subjects. The website is www.findemet.com. That's www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Or write to us at EMET Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108. That's EMET Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108. Thank you again for listening to Finding EMET with Daniel Rendleman. May you find the EMET, and may the EMET, may the truth set you free.