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The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (comp. Ps. 4:6; 67:1).

So , it is added, shall they put my Name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. The blessing, that is, consists in the true fellowship of the people with God as He had made Himself known to them. Hence the act of blessing itself is said to be ‘in the Name of the Lord’ (1 Chron. 23:13; Ecclus. 45:15). He who fulfils it does so in virtue of his own connexion with God (comp. John 14:13 note).

It appears from what has been already said that the idea of a true blessing lies in the vision and realisation of the divine will. This thought is applied in many different ways. Man ‘blesses’ God: God ‘blesses’ man: man ‘blesses’ man: and, much more rarely, both God and man ‘bless’ objects which are not personal. When man ‘blesses’ God he devoutly acknowledges some special feature in His nature or purpose or action which he regards as a ground of grateful praise: Deut. 8:10; Judg. 5:2, 9; 1 Kings 10:9; Neh. 9:5.

If God ‘blesses’ man, He makes known to him something as to His counsel which the man is able to appropriate for his spiritual good: Gen. 1:28; 9:1; 12:2 f. c 17:16; 25:11; (Num. 6:24).

If man ‘blesses’ man, he speaks as the representative of the Divine Voice declaring its message in the form of prayer or of interpretation: Gen. 27:4 ff.; 47:7; 49:28; Lev. 9:23; Num. 6:23; Deut. 10:8; 21:5.

When God blesses an impersonal object, He reveals His purpose to make known through it something of Himself: Gen. 1:22; 2:3; Ex. 23:25; Job 1:10; Ps. 65:10; 132:15; Prov. 3:33.

When man ‘blesses’ an impersonal object he recognises in it the working of God: 1 Sam. 9:13 (a unique example in the O. T.).

The last form of expression is specially liable to misunderstanding. In such a blessing there is nothing of the idea of a charm or of any magical working. The full phrase is ‘to bless God for the thing’; and the early forms of blessing pronounced over various articles of food express the thought without any ambiguity. Mishna, Berachoth , 6.1 ‘How do we bless for fruit? For fruit of a tree say “[Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God], who createst the fruit of the wood”... For fruits of the earth say “Who createst the fruit of the ground,” excepting the bread. For the bread say “Who bringest forth bread from the earth”...’ Compare De Sola's Form of Prayers , & c., Philadelphia, 5638 [1878],
i. pp. 270
* ff. The Jewish idea of ‘blessing’ which passes from the thought of adoration to the thoughts of petition and thanksgiving, all lying in the central thought of God's revealed nature, finds a characteristic and most noble expression in the ‘Eighteen’ Benedictions which have formed a part of the Synagogue Service from the earliest times. The text has no doubt been revised; additions have been made to it: differences exist between the forms adopted in the congregations of the Spanish and German Jews: but substantially these ‘Benedictions’ seem to have been in use in the Apostolic age. The first three and the last three are probably some centuries older. The whole collection forms the most precious liturgical writing of the prae-Christian period, and it has exercised considerable influence upon Christian services. As the embodiment of Jewish devotion which the Apostles and the Lord Himself may have used it claims careful study. The Benedictions are given in the following form in the Spanish (Sephardic) recension:


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