Bible Commentaries

The Aaronic Blessing

Numbers 6:22-27

I.—" The Lord bless thee and keep thee." This is preeminently the blessing of the Father. The language sets forth the positive and negative side of God's ever-watchful beneficence. It involves all good gifts and deprecates all the opposite evils.

II.—The second part of the benediction is especially the blessing of the Father through the Son. The words suggest the thought of favour and of revelation. The Aaronic blessing is a prophecy of the Incarnation, for we cannot help thinking of St. Paul's words, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus". The true characteristic of the revelation given by Christ was graciousness.

III.—The blessing of the Holy Ghost is seen in the third movement of this benediction. The Holy Spirit lights up that glorious and gracious face of Christ before our eyes, and gives us peace thereby.

—J. Mason, Sermon Year Book, 1891 , p369.

References.—VI:22-27.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxvi. No2170. VI:23-27.—W. Binnie, Sermons, p58. W. Alexander, Verbum Crucis, p163. VI:24-26.—W. F. Hook, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p35. J. Brand, The Dundee Pulpit, 1872 , p113. VII:9.—T. G. Rooke, The Church in the Wilderness, p174. VIII:5-22.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No2829. IX.—Ibid. vol. xli. No2407. IX:11 , 12.—Ibid. vol. xli. No2407.