And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Of Levi he said. The burden of this blessing is the appointment of the Levites to the dignified and sacred office of the priesthood (Leviticus 10:11; Deuteronomy 22:8; Deuteronomy 17:8-11); a reward for their zeal in supporting the cause of God, and their unsparing severity in chastising even their nearest and dearest relatives who had participated in the idolatry of the molten call (Exodus 32:26-28: cf. Malachi 2:4-6).
Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one. As to this remarkable engraving on the high priest's pectoral, see the notes at Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8. The words here assume the form of a direct prayer-the Thummim and Urim which are thine, O Lord. Let this consecrated breastplate, together with a possession of all the gifts and graces which that special breastplate implied, be with that tribe, and especially that high priest whom thou hast sanctified to thyself - "the holy one," in a sense-above the rest of the people; i:e., let the sacerdotal office be perpetuated in the family of Aaron.
Whom thou didst prove at Massah - i:e., although he was tried and rebuked, and excluded from Canaan for his misconduct at Meribah (see the notes at Numbers 20:10-13), yet he was not deprived of the pontificate. The import of the prayer is, that he, as representative of the tribe of Levi, might be still further honoured by being the honoured medium of diffusing light and truth among the people.
Verse 9. Who said unto his father ... - i:e., the person consecrated to thee. Aaron is still the subject of address, as representing the Levitical tribe, who, in the ardour of their zeal for the honour of God, sacrificed their natural feelings in the unsparing slaughter of their nearest relatives who had been guilty of idolatry (cf. Matthew 10:37).