God’s people received innumerable blessings from the hand of God. In this passage, the Lord instructed Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to say a blessing on the people. This famous Aaronic benediction declared the blessing that would rest on all of the people by virtue of God’s care. This blessing, which immediately followed a lengthy description of the Nazirite vow, made it clear that the people would receive God’s blessings through his benevolence and not through outstanding acts of devotion on their part.
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
The recounted actions provide vivid images of God’s goodness. He promised to bless and keep his people. He assured them that he would accomplish his good purposes and plans and would make his face shine on them, allowing them to have an intimate sense of the presence of his glory and splendor and beauty as to what Moses experienced when he talked with God on Mount Sinai. God would be gracious to the people, allowing them access to his presence. His countenance would be lifted up toward the people. Rather than a scornful expression of wrath, God would smile upon the people in love. And he would give them peace with himself and with one another.
17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus offered a similar priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his crucifixion. He first prayed for himself. Then he asked the Father to protect his disciples from the evil one and his schemes in the world. Jesus prayed that the Father would give them grace to be transformed by God’s Word so that they could be sent on a mission into the world. He longed for believers to experience the peace found in the perfect unity of the Godhead and to reflect this peace in oneness with those whom God came to save. Finally, he asked that they would see the glory of God and find delight in his presence. These prayers would come to pass in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as the great high priest and perfect Lamb of God.
Jesus, thank you for smiling on me. Thank you for putting a peace in my heart, a peace I can’t even understand. Help me to reflect your peace to the world around me. Amen.
