The Priestly Blessing. This blessing, though incorporated in P, has probably been derived from some earlier source (perhaps a psalm, cf. Psalms 4:6; Psalms 29:11; Psalms 31:16; Psalms 67:1; Psalms 67:6 f., Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19; Psalms 119:135, etc.). At the Temple the blessing is said to have been used every morning, the sacred name being pronounced in its real form, YAHWEH (instead of in the disguised form JEHOVAH, which has the vowels of the title Adonai, see Exodus 3:14 *).
Numbers 6:27. put my name, etc. An idea prevalent among primitive races was that between the name and the person there was a mysterious link (the name in a sense was the personality), so that to pronounce the Divine name was to set in motion the Divine activity: cf. Genesis 32:27 * Matthew 7:22; Mark 9:38; Acts 3:6.