Numbers 6:22-27 says, “Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the children of Israel; you shall say to them, Jehovah bless you and keep you; Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel, that I Myself may bless them.” Jehovah charged the priests to bless His people in His name in a threefold way. This was the threefold blessing of Jehovah the Triune God to His people.
Because Jehovah is mentioned three times—once in each part of the threefold blessing—Jehovah is the Divine Trinity. The first part of the blessing, “Jehovah bless you and keep you,” implies the Father, the first of the Trinity. The second part, “Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,” implies the Son, the second of the Trinity. Face signifies presence. Shine implies light and means that something is coming. Be gracious means “give grace.” Thus, in the second part of the threefold blessing, Jehovah comes to us and gives grace to us, which is more subjective and experiential than Jehovah’s blessing and keeping us. In the third part of Jehovah’s threefold blessing, which implies the Holy Spirit, the third of the Trinity, Jehovah lifts up His countenance upon us and gives us peace. The face (v. 25) denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person. The countenance is more particular and intimate and is mostly for pleasant expressions such as love, mercy, and kindness.
Verses 24 through 27 are the blessing of the Triune God. The Father blesses and keeps us. The Son, who is God incarnated, is the shining of God’s presence and brings grace (John 1:14, 16-17). The Spirit is God’s intimate, pleasant presence and gives us peace. Several New Testament Epistles say, “Grace to you and peace” (e.g., Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:4). Grace is God for our enjoyment, and peace is the result of our enjoyment of God. Grace is Christ (2 Cor. 13:14a; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20), and peace is the Spirit (Rom. 14:17). God’s face and God’s countenance, Christ and the Spirit, and grace and peace are all similarly related. The Trinity is uniquely unveiled in the threefold blessing in Numbers 6.
The threefold blessing of Jehovah the Triune God to His people was for the priest to bless the children of Israel that they could enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity. This Old Testament blessing prefigures the New Testament blessing of the Triune God dispensing Himself in the Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment.
Numbers 7:1 says, “Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it and all its furnishings and the altar and all its utensils, and had anointed them and sanctified them.” Verses 11 through 17 say, “Jehovah said to Moses, They shall present their offering, one leader each day, for the dedication of the altar. And he who presented his offering the first day was Nahshon...of the tribe of Judah. And his offering was one silver plate...one silver bowl...both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; one golden cup...full of incense; one bull of the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male of the goats for a sin offering; and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old.”
The furnishings of the tabernacle were its furniture, and the utensils of the altar were its vessels. The tabernacle typifies Christ as the dwelling place of God among His people. The anointing oil typifies the all-inclusive compound Spirit. Jehovah is the Triune God. The pure oil in the meal offering typifies the Spirit. The meal offering typifies Christ as food to satisfy God and His serving ones. The incense typifies Christ as a sweet savor to God for His acceptance of His people. The burnt offering typifies Christ for God’s satisfaction. The sin offering typifies Christ crucified for the sin of God’s people. The peace offering typifies Christ as peace between God and His people for their co-enjoyment. God and His people enjoy Christ as the peace offering together.
Numbers is a continuation of Leviticus, which is a continuation of Exodus. Actually, these three books are one record. The first part of this record, Exodus, stresses the tabernacle; the second part, Leviticus, stresses the priesthood; and the third part, Numbers, stresses the function of the tabernacle and the altar and the service of the priesthood. The tabernacle and the altar are set up in the last chapter of Exodus, but their function begins in Numbers 7 with the offerings for the dedication of the altar. This dedication was for the tabernacle with all its furnishings and the altar with all its utensils to be put into function through the dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that God’s redeemed people could enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time through all their generations. The beginning of the function of the tabernacle and the altar altogether involved the Divine Trinity.