BLESSEDNESS (see Bless). The supreme joy produced by divine blessing, the announcement of blessing.
Material and spiritual blessedness.
God’s blessing is from the beginning of His entire creation, seen esp. in His blessing of the Sabbath, working the completion of His work (Gen 2:3; Exod 20:11; cf. the refrain “it was very good” of Gen 1). The divine curse resulting from the Fall touches not only man, but also the created order (Gen 3:16-19). Divine blessing in restoring personal fellowship is the heart of the covenant promise, “I shall be your God, and you shall be my people” (Gen 17:7), but this is not in isolation from God’s favor through His creation. Obedience to God results in general material prosperity, including supremacy over Israel’s neighbors, economic prosperity and flourishing families, while disobedience results in just the opposite (Deut 27:3). Material blessing must not be understood as having no spiritual application: Israel’s role as witness to the world of the might and love of the Lord depends upon the evidence of the Lord’s favor to her; the promise of numerous descendants rests upon agricultural and military success; the very worship of the Lord is to be centered in Jerusalem, to which exile (military defeat) is the antithesis. God’s personal choice and blessing of His people inevitably involves His blessing of the details of their lives.
What is true of Israel as a people is true of the individual believer, and his happiness and blessing also rests in obedience. Proverbs esp. indicates how happiness consists in finding wisdom (3:13), hearing the Lord (8:34), trusting in Him (16:20), and keeping His law (29:18).
The blessedness of Christ.
The blessedness of grace.
Bibliography
See Bless.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
bles’-ed-nes: This translation of makarismos (a word signifying "beatification" or "the ascription of blessing"), is used but three times, in Ro 4:6,9, and Ga 4:15, in the King James Version only. In the first two instances it refers to the happy state or condition of a man to whom Christ’s righteousness is imputed by faith, and in the last to a man’s experience of that condition.
See Happiness.
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