Bashan Ministries - Live well and prosper

B’hatzlecha

This is the Hebrew word that means May you have success

Thus Solomon finished building the House of the Lord and the royal palace;
Solomon succeeded in everything he had set his heart on accomplishing with regard to the House of the Lord and his palace. 2 Chronicles 7:11

Many years ago a TV series called Star Trek attracted a wide range of “trekkers” or followers as they journeyed through the universe on their missions. I remember watching some episodes when the captain or crew were transported and one phrase often used was “beam me up”. One day we shall be “beamed up”not in a transporter device as that will not be needed. The Lord will do that and I can’t wait!

One of the stars, Leonard Nimoy played the part of Spock who coined the phrase “Live well and prosper” as he held his hand up in a form of greeting—a sign.

What you may not realize is that he is a Jew. By holding his hand that way and saying those words, he was invoking the Priestly Blessing.

Leonard was in fact blessing the entire world.

God told Abraham:

Now Adonai said to Avram, “Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

Many of our famous people, like actors, doctors, musicians, scientists, inventors and the like who have blessed the world are Jewish. If you look deeply into this, you may be surprized what impact they have actually had on the world, in fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham .

It does not surprize me therefore why the devil hates them. He hates everyone of course and does not want anyone blessed. This may be the reason why there is so much antisemetism in the world, but I am not here to talk about that. Let us look for a while at this priestly blessing.

The Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohahim) is found in Numbers chapter six where God gave specific instructions concerning the the priests’ duties.

Adonai said to Moshe, “Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them that this is how you are to bless the people of Isra’el: you are to say to them,‘Y’varekh’kha Adonai v’yishmerekha.
May Adonai bless you and keep you.
Ya’er Adonai panav eleikha vichunekka.
May Adonai make his face shine on you and show you his favor.
Yissa Adonai panav eleikha v’yasem l’kha shalom.
May Adonai lift up his face toward you and give you peace.’
“In this way they are to put my name on the people of Isra’el, so that I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22–27

By doing this, God’s Name was placed on the people. Think for a moment on what that means. In modern English terms, it was like saying that they were marked and do not misunderstand this—”branded” by the Name of God. He placed His mark on them.

We are “marked”. When we come to the Lord, our names are recorded in God’s book, the Lamb’s Book of Life. Angels and evil spirits know who we are. At Passover, God commanded His people to apply the blood so that when He saw it, He passsed over them. God was looking for the blood then and is still looking for it today, on us. When His Name was upon them, God stated that He, Himself would bless them.

This is why His command was very specific in how to go about it.

It is a three-part blessing that is a declaration of something so profound we should look closely into its significance. It is so important the words should never be amended.

The Lord bless you and keep you.
This is divine security. It speaks of God’s provision and His protection. Whatever you have comes from Him and whatever is coming against you will have to get through Him first.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
This is divine presence. It means that God sees you, that His face, which we so often feel unworthy to even approach, is not turned away, not hidden—but shining on you, not with wrath, but with grace.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
This is divine intimacy. It’s not just that He notices you, but that He lifts His face to you—not in judgment, not in anger, but to give you peace. Not the fragile ceasefires or political convenience, but Shalom, Wholeness, Completeness, Nothing missing, nothing broken.

This is how God wanted His people to be spoken over. This is how He wanted His name to be placed upon them. For such reasons, pronouncing such a blessing should not be taken lightly, or looked upon as a religious exercise and perhaps be restricted to those who “qualify” by the Lord to do so.

It was regarded so holy that the people assembled together often turned their backs, not to be rude, but to avoid looking at a man. Sometimes the man invoking the blessing covered his face with his Tallit (prayer shawl).

Leonard Nimoy must have been aware of such things, but, realizing its symbolism extended his hands as he did in that gesture.

As seen in the picture to the left, the outstretched fingers form the first letter shin of the Hebrew word Shaddai, meaning Almighty.

Hollywood is not a Godly place, yet even there ungodly men acknowledged the Almighty!

Spock said, “Live well and prosper”.

Prosperity is on God’s mind for us but what does it really mean? Prosperity does not only mean money. Unfortunately the “properity doctrine” teachers have gone overboard about that, as have the teachings on tithing, having not seen what God really said about the tithe. It is not money, but food.

The word hatzalacha in the Hebrew text of the Bible is most often translated as to prosper.
Sometimes it is translated as to rush, to come forth mightily or to succeed.
Today, in Israel, the word is used to encourage someone by saying, “Best wishes for you!” or B’hatzlecha that literally means with success.

But hatzalacha in the Bible goes much deeper than being successful or prosperous as we understand it today.
Hatzalacha in Bible terms means to advance forward in position, possession, or action. It appears in the Tanakh (Old Testament) 65 times, so it is important.
Most often it relates to advancing toward a God-given mission, or succeeding on the way.
Looking at hatzalacha in Scripture helps us understand our responsibility in God’s plans for our lives and how He helps us get there.

A classic example is found in Genesis when Abraham’s servant journeyed to Abraham’s hometown of Nahor to find a wife for Isaac. Upon arriving in Nahor, the servant said:
Please grant me success today, and show loving kindness to my master Abraham. Genesis 23:12

Before he finished praying, the servant saw Rebekah going to draw water for her father’s household. He watched Rebekah closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful (hatzalacha).

The man gazed at her in silence, waiting to find out whether Adonai had made his trip successful or not. Genesis 24:21

Rebekah met the description and qualifications set up by Abraham to become Isaac’s wife. The servant’s journey to Abraham’s homeland was successful. It advanced him forward properly to achieve his goal and the Lord helped by sending an angel.

Before the servant left on his journey to find a wife for Isaac, he asked Abraham, “If I find the woman, what if she does not want to leave?” Abraham confidently replied, “The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house” Genesis 24:39–40

Sometimes God might dispatch angels to help us advance successfully. Though we are not to pray to angels directly, God does send angels as a response to the prayers and needs of His children and asking Him for that kind of help is very Biblical! (see Exodus 23:20; Numbers 20:16, Daniel 3:28, 6:22; Acts 12:7).

When the Lord leads us to a successful completion, let us worship Him as Abraham’s servant did (Genesis 24:26).

When we keep moving forward on God’s path despite any setbacks, God not only sends angels, He helps us gain favor with certain people who assist us to continue advancing.

Whether Joseph was living in a pit in Genesis 37, or as the overseer of Pharaoh’s house in Genesis 39:23 or when he was put in jail in Genesis 40:37, God granted Him success in almost everything he did so that he could advance toward fulfilling the dream God had given him.
“When [Joseph’s] master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant” (Genesis 39:3–4).

When Joseph reached the palace, even the pagan Pharaoh noticed the presence of God was in him. Genesis 40:37

When we see God’s favor in our lives, we need to seek discernment from Him as to where He may be leading us with that favor.

As we see in Joseph’s case, even the pagans can recognize God’s presence on us.

God gives us His Spirit to help us advance. Hatzalacha is also used to describe how the Spirit of God “came mightily” upon Samson with physical power. See Judges 14:19,14:6, 15:14.
He came upon Saul and David in 1 Samuel 10:6, 9, 16:13.

As we can see, when God has a plan for us to fulfill, He doesn’t leave us to do it alone!

He provides what is necessary to fulfil that task, but even then, we do have a responsibility in fulfilling that plan.

God gives us His word to advance correctly. There is one foundational principle that the young King Uzziah of Judah did to achieve success. 2 Chronicles 26:5 states that as long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
In many Bible passages, we read about the consequences of those who consulted the Lord (to their benefit) and those who did not (to their detriment), such as in Genesis 25:22; Joshua 9:14; 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Chronicles 10:14 and Acts 1:24. From these passages, we see that God loves us so much that He wants to be involved in our decision making and help us stay on the right path. See Psalm 23:3.

King Solomon wrote:
Whoever covers his sins shall not succeed. Proverbs 28:13

God loves us so much, however, that He allows us to uncover our sins before Him and assures us that:
...the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:7

These are the first steps to help us be sure we can walk in hatzlacha (success), which is the theme of King David’s very first psalm.
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in Torah (the law of the Lord), and in His Torah he meditates day and night.
In whatever he does, he prospers [literally, succeeds]” Psalm 1:1–3

For us to succeed, we have to make God’s Word our delight. It’s about spending time feeding ourselves spiritually, not just with a light reading or listening to someone else read a few verses, but really chewing on the Word of God.

God gives us rewards for advancing victoriously in the book of Revelation. Please avoid calling it the book of revelations (plural) because it is “the revelation of Jesus christ).

As the full plan of God comes to a close for all mankind, we see how much God longs for us to successfully stay on tthe correct course toward Him because the consequences for not doing so are eternal: See Psalm 37:7–9 and Revelation 21:8 .

Do not fret because of him who prospers [hatzalacha] his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. . . For evildoers will be cut off.

The rewards for successfully staying on course are abundant and forever!

For the one who is victorious, the Lord says, He will give them the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7

I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Revelation 3:5

I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Revelation 3:21 (see also Genesis 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:12, 21:6–7).

May you keep advancing forward toward God and all that He has put in your heart so that you will emerge with hatzalacha and receive your rewards!

Robert