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B. Noun.
(
'
, 1293), “blessing.” The root form of this word is found in northwest
and south Semitic languages. It is used in conjunction with the verb
(“to bless”) 71
times in the Old Testament. The word appears most frequently in Genesis and
Deuteronomy. The first occurrence is God’s blessing of Abram: “I will make of thee a
great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing
[
]” (Gen. 12:2).
When expressed by men, a “blessing” was a wish or prayer for a blessing that is to
come in the future: “And [God] give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy
seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God
gave unto Abraham” (Gen. 28:4). This refers to a “blessing” that the patriarchs
customarily extended upon their children before they died. Jacob’s “blessings” on the
tribes (Gen. 49) and Moses’ “blessing” (Deut. 33:1ff.) are other familiar examples of this.
Blessing was the opposite of a cursing (
%
): “My father peradventure will feel
me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a
blessing” (Gen. 27:12). The blessing might also be presented more concretely in the form
of a gift. For example, “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because
God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he
took it” (Gen. 33:11). When a “blessing” was directed to God, it was a word of praise and
thanksgiving, as in: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed
be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (Neh. 9:5).
The Lord’s “blessing” rests on those who are faithful to Him: “A blessing, if ye obey
the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day …” (Deut.
11:27). His blessing brings righteousness (Ps. 24:5), life (Ps. 133:3), prosperity (2 Sam.
7:29), and salvation (Ps. 3:8). The “blessing” is portrayed as a rain or dew: “I will make
them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come
down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Ezek. 34:26; cf. Ps. 84:6). In the
fellowship of the saints, the Lord commands His “blessing”: "[It is] as the dew of
Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord
commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Ps. 133:3).
In a few cases, the Lord made people to be a “blessing” to others. Abraham is a
blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:2). His descendants are expected to become a blessing to
the nations (Isa. 19:24; Zech. 8:13).
The Septuagint translates
as
$
(“praise; blessing”). The
KJV
has these
translations: “blessing; present (gift).”
BLESSED
(
, 835), “blessed; happy.” All but 4 of the 44 biblical occurrences of this
noun are in poetical passages, with 26 occurrences in the Psalms and 8 in Proverbs.
Basically, this word connotes the state of “prosperity” or “happiness” that comes
when a superior bestows his favor (blessing) on one. In most passages, the one bestowing
favor is God Himself: “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by
the Lord” (Deut. 33:29). The state that the blessed one enjoys does not always appear to
be “happy”: “Behold, blessed [
KJV
, “happy”] is the man whom God correcteth: therefore
despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for he maketh sore, and bindeth up …”