Verse 26
26. Lift up his countenance Look at. This phrase is used by David to denote Jehovah’s deliverance of men out of their distresses. Psalms 4:6; Psalms 21:6; Psalms 33:18.
Give thee peace This is not a mere negative blessing, exemption from unrest and warfare; but, like the peace that Christ left as a legacy to believers, it includes all blessing of a positive kind, all well-being. See especially John 14:27, note. The Targum adds, “peace in thy end.
And they shall bestow the benediction of my name upon the children of Israel, and I, by my word, will bless them.” The threefold structure of this benediction, copied by St. Paul in the so-called apostolic benediction, suggests that it was a designed adumbration of the Trinity so clearly revealed in the New Testament. The Fathers and early theologians urged this as a proof text of this profound Christian mystery, which rests upon abundant and undoubted scriptural proofs. As the threefold repetition expresses the thought as strongly as possible, so this triune blessing calls down the fulness of grace enfolded in that absolute Being, Jehovah, which in the Christian dispensation is unfolded through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Eternal Sun of righteousness,
Display thy beams divine,
And cause the glories of thy face
Upon my heart to shine.
“
Lift up thy countenance serene,
And let thy happy child
Behold, without a cloud between,
The Godhead reconciled.” C. Wesley.
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