Torah portion Nasso for June 6, 2020

We have celebrated Shavuot, and are now wending our way toward the fall feasts. We enter a time when there are no moedim for the rest of summer. Our Torah portion this week is Nasso, take and refers to Bamidbar, Numbers 4:22, “Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon...”

Yehovah gives us one of the few revealed prayers in portion Nasso, the Aaronic benediction.

And Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying,  (23)  Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, In this way you shall bless the sons of Israel, saying to them:  (24)  Yehovah bless you and keep you;  (25)  Yehovah cause His face to shine on you, and be gracious to you;  (26)  Yehovah lift up His face to you, and give you peace.  (27)  So they shall put My name on the sons of Israel, and I Myself will bless them. (Num 6:22-27)

Of particular note is the structure and meaning of verse 27. Here it is in Hebrew,

  ושׂמו את־שׁמי על־בני ישׂראל ואני אברכם

The highlighted words translate as my name. The root word for name is שֵׁם, shem. The addition of the small letter, the yod, at the end of shem changes it from ‘name’ to ‘my name’. Remember, we read Hebrew from right to left, so in front of ‘my name’ is an aleph tav.

When we see the aleph tav, we look for shadows of the Messiah because He said in Yochan’s, John’s, Revelation that He is the Aleph and the Tav.

Yochan also wrote, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of Elohim; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (Joh 20:31)

Yeshua said, “I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive that one.” (Joh 5:43), and further, “I and the Father are One!” (Joh 10:30)

Saying that He came in the name of His Father means much more than just a moniker, it entails the authority, character, and power behind that name. In the Aaronic benediction, Yehovah told Moses. “They shall put My name on the sons (children) of Israel.” When His name is put onto us, we have both the opportunity to receive a portion of the power and authority to act in His name, but also the responsibility to not take His name in vain.

We become representatives of the Most High Elohim, and carry His name wherever we go and in whatever we do. It is a heavy (in Hebrew, Kavod, holy) responsibility we have been given, but He has also given us His Ruach haKodesh, the Spirit of the Holy One to help us. With His Spirit, we can overcome the world, without it, we are left on our own and subject to the weaknesses of the flesh.

May we always work to stay close to Him and pray as David prayed, “Do not cast me out from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (Psa 51:11)