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5

Blessing

When God created the world and then man and woman in His image, He blessed them (Gen. 1:28). In fact, He had already blessed the creatures He had made on the fifth day (Gen. 1:22). After the Flood God again blesses mankind (Gen. 9:1) and more specifically Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 12:2–3). We really cannot think of the blessing of God without being conscious of His goodness and His kindhearted giving. In the Genesis 1 account the author states seven times that God observed that the work of creation was “good” (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31). In the book of Psalms there is this same connection between creation and God’s goodness. The great creation psalm proclaims the Lord’s kind provision for His creatures: “thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good” (104:28). Psalm 115 ties together God’s blessing (vv. 12–15) with His creation act (v. 15), and 134:3 joins the two themes succinctly in a short verse (“The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion”). After affirming the fact of Yahweh’s creation of mankind (100:3), another psalm first expresses thanksgiving (v. 4) and then proclaims the Creator’s goodness (v. 5).

Briefly put, the Psalms announce that “God is good!” The theme begins in the very first word of Psalms (“Blessed”), and it climaxes in Psalm 147. This theme of goodness or blessing appears in 75 different psalms. The two tables below trace the significant occurrences of twelve Hebrew words in 154 different verses, a little over 6% of the verses in the book. The topic is predominant in Book V, where about a third of the verses appear and where 23 of the 43 psalms contain at least one verse, not surprising because praise is so prevalent in this Book and God’s goodness is a primary topic for praise.

Vocabulary for Blessing

It takes some discerning thought to establish a list of terms in Psalms that would identify the verses on this theme of God’s blessing and goodness. Most of the relevant words have meanings and uses that fit other topics, and it is necessary to examine carefully many of the verse contexts. In some cases it is not even possible to be sure about the boundaries of these topics. Table 5.1 lists five key words that directly relate to God’s beneficent nature or work. We must start, however, with three nouns listed in Table 5.2 that will lead us to the other words. The Hebrew word בְּרָכָה (berakah), “blessing,” best represents the subject of this chapter. It appears 71 times in the Old Testament and nine times in Psalms, but only six of these are relevant here. One of these appears in a significant sentence: “The blessing of the Lord be upon you” (129:8b). In the very next sentence we find the verb related to this noun: “we bless you in the name of the Lord” (129:8c).¹¹⁴ This verb, ברך (barak), “to bless,” occurs over 300 times in the Old Testament, 74 times in Psalms, but many cases are not relevant for this chapter. When men “bless” God they are really praising Him. In a later chapter Table 25.1 lists those cases. There are, however, 24 uses of the verb in Psalms that refer to the benefits that God grants. In 112:1–2 we can recognize אַשְׁרֵי (’asherey), “blessed,”¹¹⁵ as a synonym for ברך (barak),¹¹⁶ which occurs at the end of verse two. The former word occurs 26 times in the book, 24 times¹¹⁷ concerning advantages that come from God for someone.

The verb ברך (barak) leads us in our search to two Hebrew nouns for the concept of goodness. At the end of 65:10 God blesses agriculture; then the next verse says, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.” The promise of 128:5 is that “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good [“prosperity,” NASB; literally, “goodness”] of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.” The nouns translated “goodness” in these verses are respectively טוֹבָה (towvah) and טוּב (tuwv). Though they are used in Psalms infrequently, they point to the etymologically related adjective טוֹב (towv), “good,” which is often used substantively (“a good thing” or “benefit”). This last term is joined in 21:3 with word בְּרָכָה (berakah): “the blessings of goodness.” The adjective טוֹב (towv) occurs almost 500 times in the Old Testament and 60 times in Psalms, 31 of which are relevant to God’s goodness.

It is difficult to think of this goodness without being mindful of His giving. The two are explicitly connected in 84:11 (“the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”), 85:12a (“Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good”), and 104:28 (“when you give … they are filled with good things,” NRSV). After David requests God to give him strength, he says, “Show me a sign of Your goodness [טוֹבָה, towvah]” (HCSB). In 115:15–16 the two verbs ברך (barak) and נתן (nathan) are associated: “blessed by the Lord … He has given to the human race,” HCSB). Thus the common verb נתן (nathan), “to give,” used 94 times in Psalms, is relevant to our topic 31 times (spread over all five books).

The nouns טוֹבָה (towvah) and טוּב (tuwv) as well as the adjective טוֹב (towv) lead us to another important word. For the first noun the connection occurs in 86:15–17, for the second in 25:7, and for the third word in the familiar 23^rd Psalm: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (v. 6a). Additionally, the psalmists associate טוֹב (towv) with this word in the repeated statement, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (106:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1). Used 249 times in the Old Testament and 129 times in Psalms and usually translated as “mercy” or “lovingkindness,” חֶסֶד (khesed) has two main meanings.¹¹⁸ (1) This is an important covenant term, referring to benevolence in action because of a prior agreement or relationship—in other words, loyalty. Certainly references to God’s faithfulness and probably appeals for His saving acts are indications that the word is being used in this sense.¹¹⁹ (2) Sometimes, however, the term refers just to an act of kindness or love without calling attention to any covenant bond. In these cases the term can be parallel to “gracious” (חַנּוּן, khannuwn) and is really a synonym for “goodness.” The KJV reflects this second meaning in the Old Testament fifty times by translating it as simply “kindness” (twice in Psalms) or “goodness” (7x in Psalms). It is this second category of occurrences in Psalms that I have attempted to chart in Table 5.1, while recognizing the difficulty of precisely making this distinction.¹²⁰ I identified 38 such uses, occurring in all five Books of Psalms, almost evenly divided except for Book III.

In Psalm 29:11 David says, “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace,” thus linking God’s giving (נתן, nathan) and blessing (ברך, barak) with an additional term: שָׁלוֹם (shalowm), used 237 times in the Old Testament and 27 times in Psalms. In about seven of these cases it is an expression of God’s goodness.¹²¹ For example,

Table 5.1 Key Terms for Blessing

Hebrew words:	ברך	אַשְׁרֵי	טוֹב	נתן	חֶסֶד
barak	’asherey	towv	nathan	khesed
Psalm	to bless	fortunate	good	to give	kindness
1:		1		8
2:		12
4:				7
5:	12				7
17:					7
18:				35
20:				4
21:			3	2, 4
23:			6		6
25:			8		6, 7
28:	9
29:	11			11
31:					7, 21
32:		1, 2			10
33:		12
34:		8	8, 10
37:	22			4
40:		4			11
41:		1
42:					8
45:	2
51:					1
52:			9		1, 8
54:			6
59:					16, 17
61:				5
63:					3
65:	10	4
66:					20
67:	1, 6, 7
68:				35
69:					16
72:	17
73:			1
77:					8
78:				24
84:		4, 5, 12	11	11
85:			12	7, 12
86:			5	16	5, 15
89:		15
90:					14
94:		12			18
100:			5
103:			5		4, 8, 11
104:			28	27, 28
105:				11, 44
106:		3	1		1, 7
107:	38		1, 9
109:	28
111:				5
112:	2	1	5
115:	12 [3], 13, 15			16
118:	26		1, 29		1, 2, 3, 4, 29
119:		1, 2	39, 65, 68, 72, 122		64
122:			9
127:		5		2
128:	4, 5	1, 2	2
132:	15
134:	3
135:			3	12
136:			1	21, 25	1
143:			10
144:		15 [2]		10	2
145:			9	15	8
146:		5		7
147:	13			9	11
totals:	24 (4/6/0/0/14)	24 (8/1/4/2/9)	31 (5/2/4/4/16)	29 (8/2/5/4/10)	38 (9/9/3/7/10)

Table 5.2 Additional Terms in Psalms for Blessing

Hebrew	English	#	References	Totals: Ps./all OT
בְּרָכָה	blessing	6	3:8; 21:3, 6; 24:5; 129:8; 133:3	9/71
טוּב	goodness	5	25:7; 27:13; 31:19; 65:4; 145:7	7/32
טוֹבָה	goodness	4	16:2; 65:11; 68:10; 86:17	8/67
יטב	to do good	3	51:18; 119:68; 125:4	7/117
שָׁלוֹם	peace	7	29:11; 35:27; 72:7; 85:8, 10; 119:165; 147:14	27/237
גְּמוּל	benefits	1	103:2	4/19
תַּגְמוּל	benefits	1	116:12	1/1

the sons of Korah desire a manifestation of Yahweh’s kindness, mentioning His act of giving and His peace (85:7–8). Near the end of the Psalter we find another connection between blessing and peace (147:13–14). Additionally, the blessing theme includes two words that mean “benefit,” listed below in Table 5.2. No doubt in other places Psalms touches on the theme without using one of the dozen words inventoried in the tables below. For example, Psalm 145, which uses four of the words, additionally includes two significant propositions of God’s goodness. (1) “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down” (v. 14), and (2) “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (v. 16). Thus wherever we find fulfillment of human desires, prosperity, or deliverance from trouble, we are looking at God’s blessing and goodness.

Propositions

The many verses listed in Tables 5.1 and 5.2 direct us to several theological generalizations. We begin with a proposition that should be obvious, but there is a human tendency to forget that (1) because God is good, He is always doing good.¹²² In other words, His nature manifests itself in His actions. The psalmist puts it quite simply: “Thou art good, and doest good” (119:68). David affirms this: “For You, Lord, are good … and abundant in lovingkindness [acts of love]” (86:5). The phrase “for the Lord is good” (יְהוָה כִּי־טוֹב) describes His nature (34:8; 100:5; 135:3). The shorter form, “for he is good” (כִּי־טוֹב), occurs five times (106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1). In the contexts of many of these verses, the psalmists mention God’s good actions, sometimes in general: “the mighty acts of the Lord” (106:2) and “magnificent, amazing deeds” (136:4, NET). Specifically, God’s good deeds include provisions for those in need (34:9), rescue from enemies (107:2), responding to someone calling in distress (118:5), and election to be a part of His special treasure (135:4).¹²³ David says, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way” (25:8). Later he exclaims about that characteristic in action: “Oh how great is thy goodness” (31:19a).

(2) God has extended His goodness to all of His creation. This proposition is explicit in 145:9. “The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” This is what theologians call common grace.¹²⁴ David announces that God provides water for the earth, thus “blessing its growth” (65:9–10, ESV). He says to God, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness” (65:11).¹²⁵ Another psalm proclaims, “The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us” (67:6, NIV). The expression of God’s benevolence to all His creatures occurs also in 85:12; 104:27–28; 136:25; and 145:15. His common grace specifically to mankind finds expression in 100:5 (“to all generations”) and 115:16b (“the earth hath he given to the children of men”). Indeed, “The earth is full of Your lovingkindness [acts of love]” (119:64a).

Yet (3) God has especially provided His goodness to those who have a special relationship to Him. Numerous times the psalmists mention God’s people as the recipients of His blessing. For example, “thy blessing is upon thy people” (3:8b). Other cases include 28:9; 29:11; 68:35; 73:1 (“Israel”); 78:24 (“gave them food from heaven,” NASB); 85:8 (“peace”); 105:44 (“gave them the lands”); and 115:12 (“he will bless the house of Israel”). God blesses those that fear Him: “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee” (31:19). The psalmists return to this point repeatedly (103:11; 111:5; 115:13; 118:4; 128:4; 147:11). These persons are the “righteous” (5:12; 24:5), “those who walk uprightly” (84:11, NASB), including “them which put their trust” in God (17:7; 32:10; 34:8b; 52:8; 59:16). They “seek the Lord” (34:10; 119:2) because they are the “needy” (132:15, NASB), who hunger and thirst (107:9). In numerous instances it is the psalmist who, speaking with first-person pronouns, is the object of God’s acts of kindness: “You have given gladness in my heart” (4:7, literal translation); “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation” (18:35a); “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (23:6a); and “the God of my mercy” (59:17c).¹²⁶

(4) God has responded with His goodness specifically to those who have asked for it. Psalm 86:5 is the best proclamation of this proposition: “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Sometimes these requests are personal, from the psalmist using first-person pronouns: “Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses;¹²⁷ … according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord” (25:6a, 7); “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness” (51:1a); “Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me” (66:20); “Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies” (69:16); “O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give [נתן, nathan] thy strength unto thy servant, … Shew me a token for good [טוֹבָה, towvah] …” (86:16–17); and “Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me” (119:122). Sometimes the requests are communal, the psalmists asking on behalf of the group: “Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever” (28:9); “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem” (51:18); “God be merciful unto us, and bless us” (67:1a); “O satisfy us early with thy mercy [חֶסֶד, khesed]” (90:14a); and “May you be blessed by the Lord” (115:15a, HCSB).¹²⁸

God has not, however, responded reluctantly. (5) God has delighted in bestowing His goodness for mankind. The book of Psalms gives no indication that God is hesitant in His giving. In contrast with 5:4a (“For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness”), we hear David say, “Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity [שָׁלוֹם, shalowm, “peace”] of his servant” (35:27b). After all, when God brought Israel out of Egypt, He said, “open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (81:10b). God’s invitation seems to imply that He wants to bless: “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (50:15).

That last verse points to another proposition. (6) God has devised a purpose in bestowing His goodness. The psalmists know what will result when God is gracious and giving: “God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him” (67:7). God’s blessing leads also to the joy of His people: “You bless; … Your servant shall be glad” (109:28, NASB); “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (90:14). Ultimately, our joy results glorifying Him with our praise (for example, 71:22–23).

(7) God has concentrated His goodness in the person and work of the Messianic King. In Psalm 2 God the Father is willing to give a great inheritance to the King (v. 8). We also find God giving to David, the type of the King (18:35). In Psalm 20, which also points from the type to the Messianic King,¹²⁹ we see a request for God to grant [נתן, nathan] favors (v. 4). Psalm 21 is similar as its description of ultimate victory indicates Christ’s end-time work.¹³⁰ Here we have an indication of God’s blessings (vv. 3, 6) and of God’s giving (v. 4). In yet another Messianic psalm God’s blessing is upon the King, “fairer than the children of men” (45:2).¹³¹ Psalm 72 continues this Messianic trend with God’s blessing of peace: “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth” (v. 7). It is through the Messiah that God will bless all people (72:17).¹³²

New Testament Echoes

By using Greek equivalents of the six main Hebrew words, the New Testament corroborates the theme of God’s blessing in Psalms. (1) ברך (barak)=εὐλογέω (eulogeō): Paul praises God the Father, “who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). He also says that believers “are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:9). God has called believers to “inherit a blessing [the noun εὐλογία, eulogia]” (1 Pet. 3:9). (2) אַשְׁרֵי (’asherey)=μακάριοϛ (makarios): James declares that “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (1:12). Paul quotes Psalm 32:1 and applies that declaration to Christians: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Rom. 4:7).