“How blessed is the man.” This surprises us because it’s not the usual Hebrew word for “blessed.” The usual word is barach and speaks of God’s intervention in a life and grants blessing. The second word is “esharay”, and it is never used to refer to God, and never something God does. God never uses this word. It is a strictly human conclusion about another person or circumstance. The picture behind this word is another person inspecting the life of the righteous and coming to a conclusion. it could be translation, “O to be envied” or “How completely to be envied” is this man. The Septuagint uses the same word here as the New Testament in the beatitudes. There is an objective state of well being that is accompanied by subjective feelings of satisfaction, joy and delight.”

I have always been stumped about when people say “Bless the Lord” and i dont understand why because of my understanding in the OT that only the one who is greater than the one being blessed - can bless someone. And since we are not Greater than God only he can bless. But then I heard something Tom said but couldnt remember what he said about it.

Can you clarify what Baracchk (Blessing or Blessed) is and means?

Thanks.

PS. Great job on the blog and the notes for 2008. I really enjoy it and refer back to it as I follow along. I think if pastors are the leaders in the church and we are to follow their godly lives… then anyone can benefit from some parts of the Conference and I thank God that there is an online video feed for anyone to watch this year. Yahooee!