Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
Speak unto Aaron ... This passage records the solemn benediction which God appointed for dismissing the people when assembled together at stated seasons. The repetition of the name Lord or Yahweh" three times, expressed the great mystery of the Godhead-three persons, and yet one God. The expressions the separate clauses correspond to the respective offices of the Father, to "bless and keep us;" of the Son, to be "gracious to us;" and of the Holy Spirit, to "give us peace." And that the benediction, though pronounced by the lips of a fellow-man, derived its virtue, not from the priest, but from God, the encouraging assurance was added, "I the Lord will bless them" (cf. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15). Jewish writers tell us that during this ceremony the high priest not only pronounced the benediction three times, according to the prescribed formula, and each tune in a different accent, but, in the elevation of his hands, extended the three middle fingers of his right hand in so conspicuous a manner as to exhibit a sensible emblem of the three hypostases, to whom the triple benediction and repetition of the word Yahweh evidently pointed. Psalms 67:1-7 is a paraphrase of this benediction. We are informed ('Travels,' by Captain Innys, of Madras) that the Mohammedan priests use the same form-which is a strong collateral circumstance. For since it is notorious that Mahomet was indebted for a considerable part of his theological knowledge to the private instructions of a Jew, he probably learned this symbol from that Jew; and it was frequently practiced in the Arabian mosques so early as the seventh century ('Jewish Repository,'
ii. (1817), p. 278).