• Jewish Blessings

  Contributed by Perry Greene on Dec 19, 2011 (message contributor)

    (rate this sermon illustration)

   | 3,037 views

  Scripture:  None

  Tags:  Blessing

  Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

JEWISH BLESSINGS

David Stern relates in hid Jewish NT Commentary, pp.115-116 that there are many blessings given by the Hebrew people. There are blessings for wine (Matthew 26.27-29); for bread (14.19); The Talmud (circa 5th century CE) had specific formulas for dozens of blessings that the people would say all day long; these included blessings for fragrant herbs, grasses, or flowers; seeing a rainbow; seeing unusually beautiful people, trees, or fields; seeing strange-looking people or animals; hearing especially beneficial good news;

Perhaps the people in our story blessed God with the sixth blessing of the Amidah (a daily Jewish prayer) -- "Blessed are you, Adonai, who is gracious to forgive abundantly." Or the 8th -- "Blessed are you, Adonai, who heals the sick of his people, Israel." Or, maybe there was a spontaneous blessing: "Blessed are you, Adonai our God, King of the universe who cures the incurable."