HEBREW WORD STUDY – HIS COUNTENANCE – PANI פני
Numbers 6:26: “The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace.”
This blessing is used so much in many traditional churches that we never stop to think what it is the priest, pastor of a worship leader is really saying. What does it mean to ask the Lord to lift His countenance unto you? Many modern English translations render it as “May He the turn His face to you.” So render it as showing favor, being good to you, or just facing toward you.
I have heard this verse many times throughout my life but I never really meditated on it. I went right to my Aramaic Bible. I knew the Greek had a very interesting insight but I wondered if the Aramaic would give me an even greater depth of understanding. You see, in Greek, the word for looking is aphorontes from the root word aphorao which has the idea of looking away from everything else to focus your gaze upon one thing. The Aramaic word is nachor from the root word chor which is reflexive and has the idea of making oneself transparent. It is a word that you would use when a bride and groom look upon each other when sharing their wedding vows. They are committing themselves, their lives, their whole being to each other for the rest of their lives, they are promising to forsake all others, to always be there for each other, to open their hearts to each other and bare no secrets from each other. A single English word for chor would be transparency. It is to look at each other with transparency.
In oriental culture, a mere peasant or servant was not permitted to look a king in the eye. When in the presence of the king one must look down and not at his face. Only the closest and most trusted servants were allowed to look the king in the eyes. This is not only to show respect but to keep the servants from becoming too familiar with the king. It was a way of exercising control, keeping a person in his place so to speak. It was to keep the mystique of the king alive. Your facial expressions and your eyes reveal a lot about you. One can see weakness, or maybe favor or lack of favor by looking into someone’s eyes. Without looking into the king’s face, one could never know what the king was feeling. Yet, the King of all Kings is “lifting up His countenance to His people. He wants His people to see what He is feeling. He has only love in His eyes and He wants you to see that love, an experience that love, and look into your eyes and see that love returned.
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The word countenance is simply the word pani which is often translated as face or before, but since God does not really have a face to see and He is omnipresent so He is always standing before us, beside us, behind us and all around us, we cannot translate it as face or before. Countenance is not such a bad English word to use here but we use that word so little in the 21st Century that no everyone picks up on its oh so precious meaning. I have a better word which precisely fits our 21st Century understanding and that is one’s presence.
The key to understanding this lies in those words – lift up. It is the word nasah in Hebrew which means to lift up so as to draw attention to that which is lifted up. The Lord is going to draw your attention to his presence. You see the Lord is always present, always with us, it is just that we do not realize it. Thus, this blessing is invoked. There is much debate among Hebrew scholars over the Jussive form which would express permission and thus we would begin this blessing with “may the Lord.” However, many rabbis believe this is not a Jussive and therefore should be rendered as “The Lord will lift up (draw attention to) His countenance (presence) and give you peace. As most of us know and have experienced when we go through difficulty or trouble and we begin to feel the presence of God, we become peaceful.
So next time your spiritual leader gives this blessing and you are wondering what in the blazes does God raising up His countenance have to do with me? Just think about this. As you go out into the world and experience the cares of this world and you feel no peace, look up, reach out for the Lord for He is trying to make His presence known to you so He may bring you peace.
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Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
Thank you for sharing this with us. I just recently have been thinking a lot about gazing on our heavenly Father and Him looking with Love on me. Not just looking at me, but that He knows me everything about me, and I can gaze on Him and have fellowship with Him. Often I feel like I only get glimpses of this feeling that I have. Thank you for sharing what these words mean. It helps our faith and trust to grow.
For 19 years prior to my conversion, I grew up in the Lutheran Church and heard that phrase every week in the liturgy. I am 68 years old and just now understanding what that common phrase really means. I appreciate your sharing your perceptions The verse has lost its commonality and become an endearment.
I remember the pastor giving this blessing when I was a child in a little old country Methodist Church. We were part of a circuit. But I still remember the blessing and there have been times when I have given this blessing to friends or family when I was leavinf. Thank you for more understanding. Bless you too!
what a refreshing indepth simple study to begin the day with..pray that many eyes and hand’s all across the globe will reach this site so as to grow in Christ with Teacher Chaim Bentorah
Thank you for this article. I really appreciate how you go in-depth in what you write, and I enjoy learning the actual Hebrew and Aramaic words. I wish I really know those languages, as I could get alot more out of Scripture and know what it is actually saying without misunderstanding it. And I really love how you talk about God wanting to be transparent with us, and not being distant, like an earthly royal person. I have often wondered if God is really that close, or more distant, like the Queen of England, where you might be able to have the honor of eating with her, but it would be totally inappropriate for you to hug her. So I really value the insight you gave into this blessing. One thing that I feel sad about, though, is that it is repeatedly brought up on how God is Spirit, so He doesn’t have physical traits, like a face, arms, hands, etc. Yes Scripture does talk about Him being Spirit, but that is describing the Holy Spirit. And yes, it says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, but being invisible or Spirit does not make Him any less physical. It seems that if Scripture mentions His physical traits, then He has to have a physical dimension, too. I think every reference to something physical about Him is more literal and not as figurative as we tend to think. To take away those physical attributes makes God seem less real and even less reachable. His Holy Spirit is within all believers, so right now, we only have His Spirit with us. But one day, we will see His physical Being when we are in heaven. I do like how you relate the word countenance to His presence, too. I wonder if Scripture could be meaning and relating both those aspects, His face and His presence. After all, you can see a person’s presence, or essence, in their face, especially in their eyes, as you mentioned. So I wonder if it is saying He lifts His face, which displays His presence, specifically lifting His eyes. When you were first mentioning about how the subject couldn’t look the king in the eyes, so that subject had to look down, but that God is wanting to look at us in the eyes and be transparent with us, a visual came into my mind, showing a someone being in front of the King and looking down. To look at the person in the eyes, the King lowers Himself, so His face in underneath the person’s face, and the King is looking up at the person, lifting His eyes (which show His presence) up to that person. I’m not sure if that is accurate or not, but it is a connection that came to me.
Hello Rachel, Chaim teaches both a Hebrew and an Aramaic course through our Learning Channel. The Lord designed the languages He chose to reveal Himself through in a way that is easy to learn because He wants us to search His heart and know Him intimately. Chaim’s course is simple yet comprehensive. Learning Biblical Hebrew opens up scripture in such a beautiful way. I’ll leave the link to the Learning channel where along with these courses, Chaim (and I) offer 3 weekly live classes: Weekly workshop, Bible Study, and Torah discussion. All courses are recorded and uploaded so that you can listen at any time. I think you will love B.H. and I Hope you can join us there. Blessings, Laura
Hi Laura,
The courses sound wonderful. I wish I could participate in them. Sadly, I am financially struggling, so I can’t afford the courses. But thank you for offering them, and I hope sometime in the future, I can be a part of them.
I understand. You can always join for the first month, which is only $1 then easily cancel after one month by emailing us. There’s a lot to learn and enjoy in a month, so I just thought I’d share as an option. Blessings, Laura
Thank you for your guidance in seeing the deeper beauty of this blessing in Numbers.