Numbers 6:23-26 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons— The Lord here prescribes the form of blessing wherewith the congregation was to be dismissed by the priest in waiting; who, with loud voice and uplifted hands, used to say, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: "May God both bestow upon thee plenty of good things, and preserve thee in the happy use of them. May Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bestow on thee the blessings of his covenant of grace and peace; make thee partaker of the Father's love, of the Son's redeeming grace, of the Spirit's comforting and sanctifying influences; and keep thee from all those evils of sin and Satan, from which of thyself thou art utterly unable to escape." The Lord make his face to shine upon thee: "blessing thee with the sensible effects of his favour, like the sun, cheering and enlivening the face of nature; so may he enlighten thy darkness, warm thy heart with his enlivening rays, kindle thy fervent affections, and comfort thee with the smiles of his reconciled face:" and be gracious unto thee; "bestowing more abundant measures of his Divine strength and consolations." The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee: "looking upon thee with a fixed and tender regard, not with a downcast and averted look, but assuring thy conscience of thy part and interest in his favour:" and give thee peace, "such as nothing can interrupt, nothing take away, begun in time, to be perpetuated to eternity!" To such a blessing and prayer, well might the people with delight and joy reply, Amen! Amen! Dr. Beaumont observes, that, in this blessing, the name Jehovah is thrice repeated to shew the mystery of the Trinity in the Godhead, as the apostle has evangelically explained it to us; 2 Corinthians 13:14 and indeed the rabbis confess, that, as the name Jehovah is differently pointed each time in this blessing, some mystery unknown to them is couched under it. "A mystery," says Luther, "obscurely intimated in this place without being revealed: and, if there was occasion, it would not be difficult to shew, that it is God the Father who blesses and keeps us, God the Son who is gracious to us, and God the Holy Ghost who gives us peace."