Numbers 6:23-26 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them,… I. LET US REFLECT ON THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE BLESSINGS HERE INVOLVED. 1. Divine benediction. In a world in which everything is rather semblance than reality, how delightful the thought that there is One — the Uncreated and Unconditional, the Ever-present and Ever-true, who is not more able than He is willing to overtake all the conditions of our being, and to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think! Our weakness can never fall to a depth lower than His power can reach. Our necessities can never exceed His resources. Our difficulties can never be so involved but that His wisdom can direct us. Our sorrows can never be so acute, or so accumulated, but His Spirit can assuage and relieve us. 2. Divine preservation. Not only "the Lord bless thee," but "keep thee." The consciousness that with a finite and dependent nature we are in a world of temptation, must ever render acceptable and blessed the help of another mightier and more able. 3. Divine illumination. "The Lord make His face to shine upon thee." The reference here is doubtless to that mysterious symbol of His presence which God vouchsafed to His ancient Church, as the outward and visible expression of His favour and love. We rise from the material into the spiritual, and repose in the promise of that inward light which is ever streaming from the Spirit through the truth to guide and cheer arid render certain the steps of the wanderer across the desert of life. 4. Divine communication. "The Lord be gracious unto thee." The grace of God is but another expression for His infinite and exhaustless bounty. The highest conception which we can form of the Divine benevolence is derived from the work of human redemption. Herein is love. In no other act of His administration is it so conspicuous or so glorious. Salvation is grace running out into infinite and everlasting kindness. And what are all the communications of spiritual blessing to the soul but the love of God ever repeating itself, and assuring us that the treasures of eternity are unlocked to supply our need? 5. Divine manifestation. "The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon thee." What will heaven be but this perfected and perpetuated in the immediate presence of God? 6. Divine satisfaction. "The Lord give thee peace." It is a question in mechanics whether there be such a thing as a body in a state of perfect rest. We confess ourselves to be in a position not to solve the problem. Of this however we are certain, that in the spiritual world there is a centre of eternal repose on which the whole universe may rest for ever. The soul of man is torn and distracted with unfulfilled desires; and possess what he may, while one single longing is left unsatisfied the perfection of inward quiet and peace is impossible. This can only come with that completeness of life which is enjoyed in God. II. LET US INQUIRE INTO THE EVER-LIVING AND UNCHANGEABLE SOURCE OF SUCH INESTIMABLE BLESSING. The incommunicable name Jehovah, here translated Lord, includes within itself every possible perfection and excellence. It not only points to the sum of being, but to the fountain of blessedness. His eternity we place in opposition to all that is temporary; His immutability in opposition to all that is changing; His immortality in opposition to whatever has in it the seeds of decay and death; His all-sufficiency and infinite felicity in opposition to all that is inadequate and unsatisfying. (R. Ferguson, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, |
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