What Does Numbers 6:27 Mean?
And they shall set my nature upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.THE KEY
The blessing follows because God’s nature is placed upon the people, not because they make a name for themselves.
THE MEANING
God’s name rests upon you as an identity you carry: God’s nature is set upon you. The blessing is joined to that name and speaks over your life now.
THE ROOT
שְׁמִי
shemi
GROWS FROM
שׂים
Put, set, place; the noun for “name” is traditionally connected with this root.
The verse places the words שָׂמוּ (vesamu, “they shall put”) and שְׁמִי (shemi, “my name”) side by side. The name is God’s nature set upon the people, and the blessing follows that carried identity.
ALSO GROWS
vesamu: They shall put or set
שָׂמוּ
This is the verb in the verse: the name is actively set upon the people.
shem: Name
שֵׁם
The name carries the identity and nature placed upon the people.
אֲבָרְכֵם
avarekhem
GROWS FROM
ברך
barakh
Bless; the related form for “knee” shares these consonants.
“bless” in this verse is avarekhem. English can make blessing sound like a benefit alone, while the Hebrew also echoes the knee and its posture of honor. The blessing is spoken over those who bear God’s name.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared consonants bring the posture of kneeling into the word for blessing.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun names the blessing spoken over the people.
THE PATTERN
To bear God’s name is to carry God’s nature as an identity that becomes visible and bears blessing.
The messenger who redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and let my name be called over them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them teem in the midst of the earth.And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall fear you.The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will by no means go out again. I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of the heavens from my God, and I will write upon him my new name.THE THREAD
The messenger who redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and let my name be called over them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them teem in the midst of the earth.This verse uses the same Hebrew root ברך (barakh, “bless”) and binds the blessing directly to having a name placed upon the people. It makes explicit the connection in Numbers: the name is set upon them, and blessing is spoken over them.
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