Blessed Is The Man
Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd . . .
Basically, ˒adon means “lord” or “master.” It is distinguished from the Hebrew word ba˓al, which signifies “possessor” or “owner.” ˒Adon basically describes the one who occupies the position of a “master” or “lord” over a slave or servant: “And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master …God: and he hath made me a father [i.e., an adviser] to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house[1] used in association with terms of endearment – father, husband etc, sometimes simply “you”.
Psalm 1
Blessed is the man. . .
˒ashre (אֶשֶׁר, 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”[2] 833 אָשַׁר, אָשַׁר [’ashar, ’asher /aw·shar/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 183; GK 886 and 887; 16 occurrences; AV translates as “blessed” seven times, “lead” twice, “go” twice, “guide” once, “happy” twice, “leaders” once, and “relieve” once. 1 to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress. 1a (Qal) to go straight on, make progress. 1b (Piel). 1b1 to go straight on, advance. 1b2 to lead on (causative). 1b3 to set right, righten. 1b4 to pronounce happy, call blessed. 1c (Pual). 1c1 to be advanced, be led on. 1c2 to be made happy, be blessed.[3]
BLESSED. (Prov. 31:28) ˒ashar (ah-shar); Strong’s #833: Happy, blessed, prosperous, successful, straight, right, contented. Its original meaning is “be straight.” Note the use of the word in Genesis 30:13; Leah gave birth to a son and said, “I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.” She named this son “Asher” (from ˒ashar), meaning “Happy One.” Both the Messiah and the nation of Israel will be called “blessed” (˒ashar) by the whole world: “Men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed” (Ps. 72:17). “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land” (Mal. 3:12). Also (Matt. 5:3) makarios (mak-ar-ee-oss); Strong’s #3107: From the root mak, indicating large or of long duration. The word is an adjective suggesting happy, supremely blessed, a condition in which congratulations are in order. It is a grace word that expresses the special joys and satisfaction granted the person who experiences salvation.[4]
aListen to me, you who bpursue righteousness,
Who seek the Lord:
Look to the crock from which you were hewn
And to the 1quarry from which you were dug.
2 “Look to aAbraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he bwas but one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.” [5]
2
1293 בְּרָכָה [Bârakah /ber·aw·kaw/] n f. From 1288; GK 1388; 69 occurrences; AV translates as “blessing” 61 times, “blessed” three times, “present” three times, “liberal” once, and “pools” once. 1 blessing. 2 (source of) blessing. 3 blessing, prosperity. 4 blessing, praise of God. 5 a gift, present. 6 treaty of peace.[6]
“All these blessings will come upon you and aovertake you if you 1obey the Lord your God: ‘Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ain the 1country.’. .[7]
There are two verbs in Hebrew meaning “to bless.” One is bārak and the other ˒āšar. Can any differences between them be tabulated? For one thing bārak is used by God when he “blesses” somebody. But there is no instance where ˒āšar is ever on God’s lips. When one “blesses” God the verb is bārak, never ˒āšar. One suggestion to explain this sharp distinction, i.e, that ˒āšar is reserved for man, is that ˒āšar is a word of envious desire, “to be envied with desire is the man who trusts in the Lord.” God is not man and therefore there are no grounds for aspiring to his state even in a wishful way. Similarly God does not envy man, never desires something man is or has, which he does not have, but would like to have. Therefore God never pronounces man “blessed” (˒ašrê) (Janzen). It should also be pointed out that when bārak is used the initiative comes from God. God can bestow his blessing even when man doesn’t deserve it. On the other hand, to be blessed (˒ašrê), man has to do something. Finally, bārak is a benediction, ˒āšar more of a congratulation. The former is rendered by elogētos in the LXX and the latter by makarios.
To be “blessed” (˒ašrê), man has to do something. Usually this is something positive. A “blessed” man, for example, is one who trusts in God without equivocation
[8]
Gen 12:2-3 bārak
“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Gen 1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” H1288
Gen 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
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[1]Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W. (1996). Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (1:140). Nashville: T. Nelson.
[2]Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W. (1996). Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (1:19). Nashville: T. Nelson.
v v: verb
TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[3]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H833). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
[4]Hayford, J. W., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Hayford's Bible handbook. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
a Is 46:3; 48:12; 51:7
b Ps 94:15; Prov 15:9
c Gen 17:15–17
1 Lit excavation of a pit
a Is 29:22; 41:8; 63:16
b Gen 12:1; 15:5; Deut 1:10; Ezek 33:24
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Is 51:1). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
n n: noun
f f: feminine
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[6]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H1293). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
a Zech 1:6
1 Lit listen to the voice of
a Gen 39:5
1 Or field
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Dt 28:2). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
LXX The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament in Greek
[8]Harris, R. L., Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1999, c1980). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.) (080). Chicago: Moody Press.