The expression 'bless you' is often used today, even by Christians, as little more than a more 'spiritual' rendition of "Good Luck." The Scriptual use of the term is far richer than this.
'Bless in the OT'
The English word 'bless' translates two Hebrew words, barak and 'ashrey in the Old Testament. 'ashrey is the less frequently occurring—only about 40x—and mostly in the Psalms (e.g., 'Blessed is the man who does not . . . but his delight is in the law of the Lord . . .' Psm 1:1). It is never used of God. It is really a note of congratulation having the force of something like, "happy are you." To be 'ashrey is to be what every person ought and wish to be. Some modern translations use 'happy' instead of 'blessed' in recognition of this.
Barak is the verb that is associated most of our use of the term 'to bless,' 'God's blessing,' etc. The root of this word occurs 415x and is translated by different English verbs, nouns, adjectives or participles depending on the form (see Hebrew Verbal Stems) and context; 'to bless,' 'blessings,' 'blessed,' 'blessedness,' etc. So fundamental to, and, threfore, assumed in, OT is the idea of blessing, the word is never defined. From its usage, however, we see that its essence consists of "being empowerd by God with the power to be fruitful." This is notably apparent from the first use of the verb in the OT at Gen 1:22 ("God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth"). For the OT saints (in contrast to us modern for whom the most important thing in life is success) there is nothing more important in life than to have the blessings of God. The alternative is to be left to one's own resources, a idea expressed in living outside the presence of God, a very very dark prospect for the OT man (see, e.g.Abraham's deep and fervant prayer for his son, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing" (Gen 17:18; the actual words are not "under your blessing" as in the NIV, but lephaneka, "before your face," i.e., 'in your presence,' cf., NRS, NASB). Cain trembled at the very idea of being "hidden from your presence" (Gen 4:1). To be blessed one has to be in God's presence; blessing is to be found nowhere else. One cannot ask to be blessed without the readiness to live a repentant and sanctified life minded on God's purpose. Jesus is adamant, "Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matt 6:33). Central to the idea of blessing in the Bible, therefore, is the concept of God's mission. This is easily forgotten in the ever more self-centered and individualist society in which now live (made worse in many places by the influence of the Prosperity Gospel). God does not 'endow us with the power to be fruitful' for our own enjoyment. No tree ever consumes its own fruit.
The verb is also used in the OT of one person blessing another. This essentially has the sense of wishing for the other person to be empowered by God. A similar sense
Further Reading & Resources:
☰ Paul Rotenberry, "Blessing in the Old Testament, a Study of Gen. 12:3," Restoration Quarterly 2.1 (1958) 32-36.
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