BLESSING IN GENESIS

We often think of promise as the dominant motif in Genesis. But the motif of blessing may in fact be just as central. Genesis begins with God energizing creation through blessing: blessing on humanity, animals, and the seventh day (1:22, 28; 2:3).

The story closes with the last will and the testamentary activities of both Jacob and Joseph. Both include a speech of blessing:

Blessing winds its way through the narratives, sometimes surfacing as a crucial element in the story, for example, the story of Jacob and Esau. At other times the motif of blessing is hidden or absent. But the stories of Genesis never put aside for long the motif of blessing.

The bestowing of blessing regularly empowers the receiver, bringing fertility, prosperity, and vitality. Blessing strengthens the solidarity of the persons within a group, bringing life to a community as well as an individual (Scharbert: 303). The picture of Isaac and Jacob blessing their children just before their death apparently reflects a common practice in the ancient society. However, in Israel and elsewhere the bestowal of blessing becomes a special responsibility of the priest in the sanctuary. Because blessing is the power for growth of all kinds, it has a natural association with birth, death, weddings, coronation, planting season, and harvest. But blessing is also at home in the common greeting when persons gather and separate. It is a blessing from God, whether the blessing is bestowed by the companion, the parent, or the priest. Blessing designates God's constant empowering presence in nature and in the human community.

Because blessing is such a prominent motif in Genesis, it appears in a variety of different texts and situations, some of them quite surprising. The act of bestowing blessing as a part of one's last testament is common, but having only one blessing to bestow is unusual (Gen. 27). More commonly we find the practice of Jacob where each child is blessed and a mistake can be corrected (Gen. 48-49). The blessing of the seventh day in Genesis 2:6 is a very unusual use of blessing: the Sabbath day is given the power to renew and restore life. In Genesis 32 Jacob wins a blessing in combat. Traditionally, blessing is given or bestowed, not won or earned.

Precisely the tradition of bestowal makes unusual another use of blessing in Genesis, the promise of blessing. In our familiarity with Genesis, the blessing as a promise may not seem surprising. But the tradition of blessing leads us to expect blessing as a gift for the present, not as a promise for the future. Yet the saga of Abraham begins exactly with the promise of blessing (12:1-3). Abraham does not begin as one blessed, but as one promised that in his life, and the life of those around and after him, blessing will happen. For Abraham vitality and fertility, security and rest are not immediately bestowed but promised.

Through the promise of blessing, benediction becomes a part of the history of God's people. Blessing is received not only in greeting, worship, and last will and testament, but all through everyday life. Living in the promise of blessing means that one enters each day knowing that one will find benediction, if not today, then perhaps tomorrow, or at least someday. We walk into the future with the promise that the God who blesses will meet us there.

Eugene F. Roop is a member of the Church of the Brethren and is President of Bethany Theological Seminary, where he also teaches Biblical Studies. He is currently authoring the Ruth, Jonah and Esther volume of Believers Church Bible Commentary.

Reprinted from Believers Church Bible Commentary: Genesis by Eugene F. Roop, (c) 1987, Herald Press. Used by permission.

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