Numbers 6:23 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons Among other good offices which the priests were appointed to perform, one was to bless in the name of the Lord, Deuteronomy 21:5. Hereby God put an honour upon them, for the less is blessed of the better, Hebrews 7:7; and hereby he gave great comfort and satisfaction to the people, who were taught to look on the priest as God's mouth to them, and as blessing them in his name who commands the blessing out of Zion. And the priest was wont to pronounce it as one having authority, with his hands lifted up, and his face toward the people. Now in this he was a type of Christ, who came into the world to bless us, Acts 3:26, as the High-Priest of our profession, and left the earth in the very act of blessing his disciples with uplifted hands, Luke 24:50. Bishop Pearson mentions it as a tradition of the Jews, that the priests blessed the people only at the close of the morning sacrifice, and that they omitted it in the evening, “to show, says he, that in the last days, the days of the Messiah, the benediction of the law should cease, and the blessing of Christ should take place.” On this wise shall ye bless Thus, or in these words; and yet it is probable they were not confined to these very words. At least we find holy men, as Moses, David, and Solomon, blessing the people in other words. It is remarkable that, in the form here prescribed, the name Jehovah is three times repeated, and each time with a different accent in the original. The Jews themselves think that some mystery is hereby intended; and has not God explained what it is in the New Testament, having directed us to be baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and to expect the blessing from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost?