We Bear the Family Name
Photo: Jewish tombstone, realpolandtours.com
Parashat Naso, Numbers 4:21–7:29
Matt Absolon, Rosh Kehilah, Beth T’filah, Miramar, FL
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22–27
The Aaronic blessing of Numbers Six is among the oldest liturgical texts in biblical history. Archaeologists have recovered it inscribed on silver amulets dating to the seventh century BCE, predating even the Dead Sea Scrolls. Its age, however, is not its most striking feature; rather it is the final verse that calls our attention: “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” The blessing is not mere sentiment or a wish; it is an act of covenantal naming. God’s name is placed upon Israel, a mark of family identity and divine sonship.
The great medieval commentator Ibn Ezra reflects on the ambiguous phrase, “I will bless them,” or avarekhem in Hebrew, and asks who it refers to.
It is possible that the mem of avarekhem [making it plural] refers to the kohanim [priests] who utter the blessing. It means they will bless Israel, and I will bless those who bless. It is also possible that the mem of avarekhem refers to Israel. Its meaning is, if the kohanim bless Israel, then I will bless Israel; that is, I will fulfill the blessing of the kohanim. In my opinion, the mem of avarekhem refers to all of them, the kohanim and the Israelites.
Who exactly receives the blessing? The priests? Israel? Ibn Ezra’s answer: both. “The mem of avarekhem refers to all of them, the kohanim and the Israelites.” The priestly blessing is not a one-way transaction. When leadership faithfully discharges its duty to bless, and when the congregation receives with open hearts, blessings flows to both parties. There is a symbiotic covenantal exchange at work, not merely ritual formality.
This mutual blessing helps us to better understand communal Jewish living. The kohanim did not bless Israel because Israel had earned it; they blessed Israel because that was their function within the relationship. And Israel, in standing to receive, was not passive; they were active participants in a holy exchange.
But the act of blessing was never the exclusive domain of the priesthood. The Psalms are saturated with ordinary Israelites blessing God and blessing one another. Parents blessed children, friends blessed friends, strangers blessed those they encountered. To bless one another, levarekh, is to step into our calling as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Every member of the covenant family carries that capacity.
In like fashion today, congregational leadership that faithfully speaks blessing over the community functions as an instrument through which God places his name. A congregation that receives with humility completes the circuit.
This past weekend we celebrated Shavuot and studied the Ten Words. The commandment not to take God’s name in vain (Exod 20:7) carries fresh weight in light of the Aaronic Benediction. Because God has placed his name upon his people, Israel bears that name into the world as a family identity. To live contrary to his character while bearing his name—that is the deeper concern of the commandment. To be called by God’s name is not privilege without obligation. It is a vocation that shapes ethics, conduct, and communal witness.
Paul traffics in this language in his letter to the Ephesians:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14–19)
The Greek “patria” in 3:14, meaning family or clan, implies a family bearing a father’s name. Paul’s argument is that through Yeshua the Messiah functioning in a high-priestly capacity, the covenantal family naming has been extended to include the nations who turn to God. Those once outside are now named by the same Father through the salvific work of Yeshua. This is not a displacement of Israel’s calling but a fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise that all families of the earth would be blessed.
A high priest stands as an intermediary between God and the people, places the family name upon them, and blessing flows. When we in leadership speak blessing over our communities, and when those who follow receive it with faith, God places his name upon us.
We are the family of God—and we carry the Father’s name—“that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.” We do not bear this name lightly; we bear it as sons and daughters of the king.
May we live worthy of our Father’s Name that has been placed upon us. And may we never cease to be a community where blessing flows—from leadership to congregation, from congregation back to our Heavenly Father—- in the beautiful, symbiotic rhythm that Heaven itself designed.
Shabbat Shalom
Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV).