The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 79

them ; and of the benefits flowing therefrom. 1. " Tlie Lord bless thee, and keep thee," q. d. The Lord is the keeper of Israel. He will care for thee. lie will keep thy land and thine house; he will preserve thy going ont and coming in, and will guard thy life ; he will keep thy soul. He will deliver thy soul from death, thy feet from falling, thine eyes from tears. Compare Ps. cxxi., where the Church, opening its heart and drinking in the benediction, turns it into a song, "Jehovah Shomer." 2. "Tiu Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;" q. d. There is grace in God's heart for thee. He has given proof of this times without number. To many a man stained with sin and utterly cast down, he has said, Live; has taken him by the hand, and brought him near, and made him glad with his loving counten- ance. The best commentary on this, also, is to be found in the Psalms. A glance at the references in the margin will show that the benediction-and especially this par- ticular member of it--was welcomed in many hearts in Israel, and was responded to with peculiar ardour. From it the Church borrows the refrain of the eightieth psalm (vers. 3, 7, 19). Peculiar interest attaches to the form which the Church's response takes in Psalm lxvii. : " God ... bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us ; that thy way may be known on earth, thy saving health among all nations: "q. d. Not for our own sakes alone do we beseech thee to make us glad with thy face, but that we, being sanctified and gladdened, may bear thy name to the nations who know thee not. 3. " The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Take tl1is member and the foregoing, and what do they amount to but this, "Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 3, &c. &c.). Tilere is a look of God which fills with dismay, and makes men call to the mountains to hide them from his presence. But there is a look of God which fills the soul with peace. The Lord can, with a glance of his eye, say to the soul, "I am thy salvation:" he can so lift up his countenance upon us as to give us rest. III. A CALLING DOWN 01!' Goo's DLESSING ON THOSE WHO SEEK HIM. A Benediction is a Beatitude. It is also a Prnyer. But it is ruore tilan either or both of these. Tu speak of the latter only, every benediction is a prayer, but every prayer is not a bene- diction. Into a benediction there enters an element of authority not found in every prayer. Joseph's sons may very well have prayed for ,Jacob; but we cannot fancy the lads putting their hands on the head of the venerable patriarch and blessing ilim. "Without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better" (Heb. vii. 7). The case of Jacob may remind us, that it was not the priests only who blessed the congrega- tion. Moses did it; David and Solomon did it; any aged saint may bless his younger brethren, So, also, the minister of the gospel, when the Lord calls him to preside in public worship, may bless the people in the name of the Lord, in the nssured hope that the Lord will indeed bless them, and keep them, and give them his grace and peace.-B. Vere. 22-27.-The priestly blessing. I. CERTAIN NOTEWORTHY POINTS IN REGARD TO THIS DLESSING. 1. One of the special duties of the priests was to be the medium of blessing (Deut. xxi. 5). The priests had much to do with slaughter and sacrifice ; here we have a pleasant view of one of their higher functions. Yet to enter hee.rtily into this duty required an elevation of character wilich the mecilnnical duties of the altar did not call for. Every servant of God who is faithful in that which is least may find opportunities for iligher spiritual services (Matt. xiii. 12; xxv. 29). 2 The triple repetition of the name Jehovail was supposed by the Jews themselves to contain some mystery. At any rute it suggested that as there was in God an infinity of holiness that no one term could express (Isa. vi. 3), so God hat1 for his people a fulness of blessing beyond what nny single utterance of his favour would have suggested (cf. Exod. xxxiii. 19; xxxiv. 6, 7; Isa. !xiii. 7; Eph. ii. 4- 10). To us the mystery is further revealed by the doctrine of the Trinity. For it is to be noted that in the New Testament that doctrine is always presented in some practical aspect, often in conn 1ction with privileges conferred by the triune " God of our salvation" (e. g. John xiv. 16, 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Eph. ii. 18, &c.). 3. The Divine blessing, though uttered on tbe nation, we.a designed for each individual. The" thee" brings the blessing home to each house and ileart, God, who Juts bless•_  56 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [<:11. VI. 22-27.