Reference: Bless
Easton
(1.) God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual (Ge 1:22; 24:35; Job 42:12; Ps 45:2; 104:24,35).
(2.) We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Ps 103:1-2; 145:1-2).
(3.) A man blesses himself when he invokes God's blessing (Isa 65:16), or rejoices in God's goodness to him (De 29:19; Ps 49:18).
(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Ge 24:60; 31:55; 1Sa 2:20). Sometimes blessings were uttered under divine inspiration, as in the case of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses (Ge 9:26-27; 27:28-29,40; 48:15-20; 49:1-28; De 33). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (De 10:8; Nu 6:22-27). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2Co 13:14; Eph 6:23-24; 2Th 3:16,18; Heb 13:20-21; 1Pe 5:10-11).
(5.) Among the Jews in their thank-offerings the master of the feast took a cup of wine in his hand, and after having blessed God for it and for other mercies then enjoyed, handed it to his guests, who all partook of it. Ps 116:13 refers to this custom. It is also alluded to in 1Co 10:16, where the apostle speaks of the "cup of blessing."
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And God will praise them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and birds shall multiply in the earth.
And he will say, Praised Jehovah, God of Shem; Canaan shall be servant to him. God will dilate Japheth; he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be servant to him.
And Jehovah blessed my lord greatly, and he will be great; and he will give to him sheep and oxen, and silver and gold, and servants and maids and camels and asses.
And they will bless Rebekah and will say to her, Thou our sister; be thou into thousands of ten thousands, and thy seed shall inherit the gate of his enemies.
And God will give to thee from the dew of the heavens, and from the fatness of the earth, and a multiude of corn and new wine. And nations shall serve thee, and peoples shall bow down to thee; be lord over thy brother, and thy mother's sons shall bow down to thee: cursed he cursing thee, and blessed he praising thee.
And by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother: and it shall be when thou shalt wander about and thou shalt break his yoke from thy neck.
And Laban will rise up in the morning and will kiss his sons and his daughters, and will bless them: and Laban will go and turn back to his place.
And he will bless Joseph, and will say, God, before whom my fathers went, Abraham and Isaak, the God having fed me, from ever since I was till this day. The messenger redeeming me from all evil, shall bless the youths; and my name shall be called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaak and they shall be increased into a multitude in the midst of the earth. read more. And Joseph will see that his father will put his right hand upon Ephraim's head, and it will be evil in his eyes: and he will take hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph will say to his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father will refuse and will say, I knew my son, I knew: this also shall be into a people, and this also shall be great: and yet his brother the small, shall be great more than he, and his seed shall be a fulness of nations. And he will bless them in that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, Will God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he will set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Jacob will call to his sons, and will say, Be ye gathered together, and I will announce to you what shall happen to you in the last part of the days. Be gathered together, and hear ye sons of Jacob, and hear to Israel your father. read more. Reuben, my first-born, thou my strength, and the beginning of my strength, the abundance of elevation, and the abundance of might Vain glorious as water, thou shalt not be preeminent; for thou didst go up out of thy father's. bed; then didst thou defile, going up to my couch. Simon and Levi brethren; their swords instruments of violence. My soul shall not come into their consultation; in their assembly, my honor shall not be united, for in their anger they killed a man and in their will, houghed a bullock. Cursed their anger, for it was hard; and their wrath, for it was hardened: I will divide them in Jacob, and I will disperse them in Israel Judah, thee, thee shall thy brethren praise; thy hand upon the back of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall worship before thee. Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up? The rod shall not depart from Judah, and a leader from between his feet, till that Shiloh shall come: and to him the obedience of the nations. Binding his colt to the vine, and to the purple vine the son of the she-ass; he washed in wine his garment, and his clothing in the blood of grapes. The eyes flashing from wine, the teeth white from milk. Zebulon shall dwell by the coast of the sea; and he by a coast of ships, and the extremities, even to Zidon. Issachar, an ass; a heap of bone lying down in the midst of the tribes. And he will see the rest that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he extended his shoulder to bear, and he will be a servant to tribute. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent upon. the way, creeping upon the path, biting the heels of the horse and his beast for riding shall fall behind. I waited for thy deliverance, Jehovah. Gad, a troop, shall press upon him; and this shall press upon the heel. From Asher his bread, fat, and he will give the dainties of a king. Naphtali a mighty shoot, giving fair words. Joseph a fruitful son, a fruitful son upon a fountain, the daughters mounting over a wall. This adversary will embitter him, and the lords of the arrows will lie in wait. And his bow will dwell in strength, and the seed of his hands will be firm by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob; from whence the shepherd, the stone of Israel By the God of thy father, and he will help thee, and by the Almighty, and he will bless thee with the blessing of the heavens above, the blessing of the sea lying under, the blessing of the breasts and the womb. The blessings of thy father were strong above the blessings of the everlasting mountains; the delight of the eternal hills, they shall be upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of him separated from his brethren. Benjamin, a Wolf, tearing in pieces; in the morning will he eat the prey, and at evening he will divide the prey. All these tribes of Israel, twelve: and this what their father spake to them, and he will bless them; each according to his blessing he blessed them.
And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, So shall ye praise the sons of Israel, saying to them, read more. Jehovah shall praise thee, and watch thee. Jehovah shall make his face shine upon thee and shall compassionate thee. Jehovah shall lift up his face to thee, and put peace to thee. And they put my name upon the sons of Israel and I will praise them.
In that time Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, to lift up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to serve him, and to praise in his name, even to this day.
And it was in his hearing the words of this oath, and he blessed himself in his heart, saying, Peace shall be to me, if in the hardness of my heart, I shall go to add satiating to thirst:
And Jehovah blessed the latter state of Job more than his beginning: and there will be to him fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
Thou wert very beautiful above the sons of man: grace was poured forth by thy lips: for this God praised thee forever.
For in his living he will praise his soul, (and he will praise thee for thou wilt do good to thyself,)
To David. Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and thou wilt not forget all his acts.
How thy works were multiplied. O Jehovah! in wisdom thou madest them all: the earth was filled with thy possessions.
Sinners shall be finished from the earth, and the unjust no more. Praise Jehovah, O my soul
I will lift up the cup of salvation, and upon the name of Jehovah will I call.
Praise to David. I will exalt thee my God, the King, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. In all the day I will praise thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever.
That he praising himself in the earth shall praise himself in the true God; and he swearing in the earth, shall swear in the true God; for the former straits were forgotten, and because they were hid from mine eyes.
The cup of praise which we praise, is it not the mutual participation of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the mutual participation of the body of Christ?
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit with you all. Amen.
Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace with all loving our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibleness. Amen.
And the God of peace, having brought up from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, Put you in proper order in every good work for doing his will, doing in you the thing pleasing before him, by Jesus Christ; to whom glory for the time of times. Amen.
Watsons
BLESS, BLESSING. There are three points of view in which the acts of blessing may be considered. The first is, when men are said to bless God, as in Ps 103:1-2. We are then not to suppose that the divine Being, who is over all, and, in himself, blessed for evermore, is capable of receiving any augmentation of his happiness, from all the creatures which he has made: such a supposition, as it would imply something of imperfection in the divine nature, must ever be rejected with abhorrence; and, therefore, when the creatures bless the adorable Creator, they only ascribe to him that praise, and dominion, and honour, and glory, and blessing, which it is equally the duty and joy of his creatures to reader. But when God is said to bless his people, Ge 1:22; Eph 1:3;
the meaning is, that he confers benefits upon them, either temporal or spiritual, and so communicates to them some portion of that blessedness which, in infinite fulness, dwells in himself, Jas 1:17; Ps 104:24,28; Lu 11:9-13. In the third place men are said to bless their fellow creatures. From the time that God entered into covenant with Abraham, and promised extraordinary blessings to his posterity, it appears to have been customary for the father of each family, in the direct line, or line of promise, previous to his death, to call his children around him, and to inform them, according to the knowledge which it pleased God then to give him, how, and in what manner, the divine blessing conferred upon Abraham was to descend among them. Upon these occasions, the patriarchs enjoyed a divine illumination; and under its influence, their benediction was deemed a prophetic oracle, foretelling events with the utmost certainty, and extending to the remotest period of time. Thus Jacob blessed his sons, Genesis xlix; and Moses, the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 33. When Melchizedeck blessed Abraham, the act of benediction included in it not merely the pronouncing solemn good wishes, but also a petitionary address to God that he would be pleased to ratify the benediction by his concurrence with what was prayed for. Thus Moses instructed Aaron, and his descendants, to bless the congregation, "In this wise shall ye bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace," Nu 4:23. David says, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord," Ps 116:13. This phrase appears to be taken from the practice of the Jews in their thank-offerings, in which a feast was made of the remainder of their sacrifices, and the offerers, together with the priests, did eat and drink before the Lord; when, among other rites, the master of the feast took a cup of wine in his hand and solemnly blessed God for it, and for the mercies which were then acknowledged, and gave it to all the guests, every one of whom drank in his turn. To this custom it is supposed our blessed Lord alludes in the institution of the cup, which also is called, 1Co 10:16, "the cup of blessing." At the family feasts also, and especially that of the passover, both wine and bread were in this solemn and religious manner distributed, and God was blessed, and his mercies acknowledged. They blessed God for their present refreshment, for their deliverance out of Egypt, for the covenant of circumcision, and for the law given by Moses; and prayed that God would be merciful to his people Israel, that he would send the Prophet Elijah, and that he would render them worthy of the kingdom of the Messiah. See also 1Ch 16:2-3. In the Mosaic law, the manner of blessing is appointed by the lifting up of hands. Our Lord lifted up his hands, and blessed his disciples. It is probable that this action was constantly used on such occasions. The palm of the hand held up was precatory; and the palm turned outward or downward was benedictory. See BENEDICTION and See LORD'S SUPPER.
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And God will praise them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and birds shall multiply in the earth.
From the son of thirty years and above, even to the son of fifty years, thou shalt review them; all going, to war the warfare, to serve the service in the tent of appointment
And David will finish the bringing up of the burnt-offering and the peace, and he will bless the people in the name of Jehovah. And he will divide to every man of Israel from man and even to woman, to each a round of bread, and a measure and cakes.
To David. Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and thou wilt not forget all his acts.
How thy works were multiplied. O Jehovah! in wisdom thou madest them all: the earth was filled with thy possessions.
Thou wilt give to them, they will gather up: thou wilt open thy hand, they will be filled with good.
I will lift up the cup of salvation, and upon the name of Jehovah will I call.
And I say ' to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one asking, receives; and he seeking, finds; and to him knocking, it shall be opened. . read more. And shall a son ask bread of any of you a father, will he give him a stone ? and if a fish, for a fish he will not give him a serpent. Or also if he ask an egg, he will not give him a scorpion. If then ye, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children; how much more the Father, be from heaven, will give the Holy Spirit to them asking him ?
The cup of praise which we praise, is it not the mutual participation of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the mutual participation of the body of Christ?
Praised be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he having praised us in every spiritual praise in heavenly things in Christ:
Every good donation and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom not one change, or shadow of turning.