BLESSINGS

1. To be blessed (eulogeo) is to be given good things—by people (Heb. 11:20, 21; 12:17) or by God 
(Deut. 28:2–6, 8, 12). The English word eulogy (to speak well of) comes from the Greek noun eulogia. 

2. God's blessings come from heaven (Gen. 49:25). 

3. The picture behind a blessing is: when you bend your knee in homage to God—God blesses. 
The Hebrew equivalent of eulogia is berek "knee: w. vb. kara' bend Is 45:23" (William L. Holladay, 
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 50). The verb barak means "kneel, 
bless…kneeled upon his knees 2 Ch 6:13…let us kneel before Yahweh Ps 95:6…God blesses 

a. men: …Dt 28:8…" (Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, 138). 
The noun berakah means "blessing…Dt 28:2, 8" (BDB, 139). 

4. What are some blessings? 

a. God blessed Abraham with riches—flocks, herds, silver, gold, servants, maids, camels 
and donkeys (Gen. 24:35). 

b. a blessing (eulogia) is a bumper crop equal to three years of normal crops (Lev. 25:21). 

c. children are a blessing (Gen. 49:25; cf. Psa. 127:3–5). 

d. Abraham's blessing was a title deed to the land of Palestine (Gen. 28:4). 

e. the earth receives rain as a blessing from God (Heb. 6:7). 

f. we are blessed "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). 

g. surviving tribulational saints will inherit the Kingdom as a blessing from God the Father 
(Matt. 25:34). 

h. the millennial Kingdom will be blessed more than any other kingdom (Mark 11:10). 

5. There are degrees of blessings: some are blessed more than others (Gen. 49:26). The Messiah 
has been blessed by God more than any other human being (Matt. 21:9 = Mark 11:9 = Luke 19:38 
= John 12:13; Matt. 23:39 = Luke 13:35). He was blessed before his embryo was a week old 
(Luke 1:42). The perfect passive participle (eulogemenos) indicates completed action— 
the blessings have already been given and received. 

6. You can be blessed by association (Gen. 30:27, 30; 39:5). Notice that both Laban and Jacob 
came to this conclusion. 

7. The opposite of blessing is cursing (compare Deut. 28:2–6, 8, 12 with 28:15, 16–19, 20). 

8. God can turn cursing into blessing (Neh. 13:2; cf. Deut. 23:3–6). 

9. No one can turn God's blessing into cursing (Num. 23:1–12, 25; 24:9–14). The story of Balaam 
shows God's blessing cannot be revoked through occult practices. 

10. Blessing was conditioned upon Israel's obedience (Deut. 28:2). 

11. The blessings of positional truth are given to the Church in grace (Eph. 1:3).