Numbers 27:18

18. Joshua Numbers 11:28, note.

In whom is the spirit Not mere “insight and wisdom,” (Knobel,) but the endowment of the divine Spirit requisite for the high office to which he was called. The difference between the operations of the Holy Spirit on the human soul before and after the day of Pentecost is a question of vital interest. (1.) In the Old Testament the agency of the Spirit in the outward world is recognised more fully than in the New Testament. Genesis 1:2; Genesis 2:7; Job 27:3; Job 33:4. (2.) The fulness and abiding of the Spirit in the soul of the believer, sanctifying, assuring, and adorning it with the constellation of Christian graces, is peculiar to the New Testament, especially after the Pentecostal effusion. In this sense Dean Alford insists that the office and work of the Paraclete is TOTALLY DISTINCT from his operations under the Old Testament dispensation, which were outward rather than inward: such as bestowing skill upon Bezaleel, (Exodus 31:3,) strength upon Samson, (Judges 14:6,) and prophecy and kingcraft upon Saul, (1 Samuel 10:6,) and, in general, intellectual and physical excellencies rather than gracious dispositions and spiritual perceptions and joys. Comp. Deuteronomy 34:9; Daniel 6:3; and Romans 5:5; Romans 14:17; Galatians 5:22.

Lay thine hand upon him The imposition of hands is a natural form by which benediction has been expressed in all ages and nations. It is an act of a superior in age or office toward an inferior, and by its very form it appears to bestow some good gift, or to manifest a desire for its bestowal, (Genesis 48:14,) or to cure some disease. 2 Kings 5:11; Matthew 19:13. For its sacrificial meaning see Leviticus 1:4, note.