Zion.
17. We confess unto Thee that Thou art He, the LORD our God, and the God of our Fathers, for ever and ever: our Rock, the Rock of our life, and the Shield of our salvation. Thou art He. From generation to generation we give thanks to Thee and declare Thy praise....
Blessed art Thou, O LORD; goodness is Thy Name, and to Thee it is meet to give thanks.
18. Grant peace, goodness, and blessing, life, grace and mercy, righteousness and compassion unto us and unto all Israel Thy people; and bless us, our Father, all of us together, in the light of Thy countenance (Num. 6:26). For in the light of Thy countenance Thou hast given to us, O LORD our God, the Law and life, love and mercy, righteousness and compassion, blessing and peace. And may it be good in Thine eyes to bless Thy people Israel with abundant strength and peace.
Blessed art Thou, O LORD; even He that blesseth His people with peace.
Each section rests upon the Confession of some feature in the revealed character of God. Prayer is only the application of that which He has made known of Himself to the circumstances of the worshipper. Even in judgment there is a manifestation of His righteousness which the believer welcomes with grateful reverence (compare Hamburger and Ginsburg in the articles quoted above).
When we pass from the Old Testament to the New we find that the use of eujlogei'n ( eujlogiva, eujloghtov", eujloghmevno" ) in the N. T. closely corresponds with the use in the LXX. Eujlogei'n is used
1. Absolutely without any expressed object, but with the clear thought of Him to whom praise is due for every good: Mark 6:41 || Matt. 14:19; Mark 14:22 || Matt. 26:26 (all.
eujcaristhvsa"
); Lk. 24:30. In these cases indeed it is possible to take
tou;" a[rtou", to;n a[rton
, as the object from the context (see §
3), but the Jewish custom points very plainly in the other direction; and this construction is decisively supported by the parallel use of
eujcaristei'n
Mark 14:23 || Matt. 26:27; Mark 8:6; Lk. 22:17, 19; John 6:11. Both words describe the devout acknowledgment of God's power and love; but while
eujlogei'n
regards these in relation to God as attributes of His glorious Majesty,
eujcaristei'n
regards them in relation to man as the occasion of grateful thanksgiving.
In other connexions eujlogei'n is used absolutely in 1 Pet. 3:9; 1 Cor. 4:12; 14:16; (Rom. 12:14).
In Mark 10:16
aujtav
is probably to be supplied to
kateulovgei
.
2. With a personal object; either (
a
) God: Lk. 1:64; 2:28; 24:53; James 3:9; or (
b
) Man: Lk. 2:34; 6:28; 24:50 f.; Acts 3:26; Rom. 12:14; Eph. 1:3; Heb. 6:14 (LXX.); 7:1, 6, 7; 11:20 f. (in these examples both man and God are the subjects).
3. With a material object: Mark 8:7; Lk. 9:16; 1 Cor. 10:16. In these cases blessing the bread must be understood as blessing God the giver of the bread. The formulas in use [at the Paschal meal] are given by Lightfoot on Matt. 26:26. Compare p. 205.
The usage of eujlogiva answers to that of eujlogei'n . Eujlogiva is attributed ( a ) to Divine Beings (the Lamb, He that sitteth on the throne,