Num 6:22-24 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and to his sons: thus shall you bless the sons of Israel, saying to them: May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Observe carefully, prudent reader, that in this form of blessing handed down by God there are found three combinations, and that in the first part of each the Tetragrammaton is written, in place of which in the Vulgate edition the word Lord is written. And that this divine form of blessing may shine forth more clearly, the whole is here set down word for word from the Hebrew:
Num 6:24 ‘May YHWH bless you and keep you.’
This is the first combination.
Num 6:25 ‘May YHWH make His face shine upon you and have mercy on you.’
This is the second combination.
Num 6L26 ‘May YHWH lift up His face upon you and place peace upon you.’
This is the third and final combination.
Consider each one. To bless, most commonly, is to do good; therefore divine beneficence is signified when it is said, may He bless you. And this first part is referred directly to good. The second part of this same combination is referred to future evil when it says, and keep you, for keeping is protection from future or imminent evils.
And if the second part of this first combination does not regard every kind of evil, but only that which is future for you, then the first part is to be restricted accordingly. In keeping with the order of Sacred Scripture, to bless can be appropriated to fruitfulness and multiplication, so that the sense becomes: may God make you fruitful and multiply you.
The second combination, however, pertains to those things which are proper to the soul. For since the face is that by which we are known, when it is said, may YHWH make His face shine upon you, the gift of divine knowledge is signified, such that God does not present Himself to you as though in darkness, but rather stands before you in light. And since this blessing was common to all the sons of Israel, the discourse is not about the light of scientific knowledge, but about the light of faith, so that God Himself may grant so clear a light of faith that God, who is Being itself (ipsum esse), may be known—which is a great good of the mind.
To this is joined another effect of faith, namely the remission of sins, when it is said, and have mercy on you. For just as keeping looks to future evils, so mercy looks to present evils. But the principal evils of man are the evils of guilt, and therefore divine mercy is chiefly ordered toward these.
The third combination is the greatest. And since the lifting up of the face toward something is a sign of special care directed toward it, therefore by saying, may YHWH lift up His face upon you, a special care of God for you is signified. And just as by the shining of the divine face upon you there is signified, literally, that by which God is known clearly to you—that is, the testimonies of faith by which the true God is discerned and believed, made bright for you by God Himself—so by the lifting up of the divine face toward you there is signified, literally, the raising up of divine care toward you, that is, the elevation of the means that concur in God’s governance of you, an elevation by which you are ordered toward the goods of the elect and toward the order of the heavenly fatherland.
Hence, most fittingly, it is added: and place peace upon you, that is, may He place within you the tranquility of order, so that the lower appetite be subject to the higher, and the higher to God, and that you render to each what is due to it in peace. For this is the true and only peace of man, and it is the beginning of eternal happiness.
Thus this divine blessing embraces the abundance of all goods and the removal of evils.
Num 6:27 They shall invoke. According to the Hebrew it is: They shall place My name upon the sons of Israel. In the form of blessing handed down, its efficacy is shown from the side of the priests, from the side of the sons of Israel, and from the side of God. For both the action of the priests and the action of the sons of Israel are described together when it is said: They shall place My name upon the sons of Israel.
It belongs to the office of the priests to bless in this way by words, invoking the name of God, so that not by voice alone, but in reality, they place the divine name upon the people—placing it in their minds as something to be loved, to be venerated, and in which they are to trust. For this is what it means to place the name of God upon them. For this there is required, on the part of the priests, not only that they pronounce the words of blessing reverently, but that their life be conformed to their action; for in this way the people are stirred up to receive upon themselves the name of God through acts of loving, worshipping, and trusting. And from these things there follows the efficacy of the blessing, insofar as it arises from prior dispositions.
And therefore it is added: And I will bless them, that is, I will bring about the things that are signified in the blessing. As if He had said more explicitly: let the priests, by their ministries, dispose the people to venerate and love My name, and I will bring about in the people the things that are implored in the blessing.”
CONTINUE
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