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Blessing Instead of Cursing
The Divine Concept
of Blessing
Genesis 48:20
He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel
pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put
Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
The Concepts of Blessing
As Peter explains in 1 Peter 3:8-10, we are created by
God with a love of life to enjoy it. Jesus came that we might have abundant life. A part
of "seeing good days" is returning a blessing when we are insulted. Peter says
that this is so we may "inherit a blessing." In fact, the righteous must impart
blessing and must be open to receive the blessing of God.
There are two types of blessing. The blessing of
Abraham and the verbal blessing. The blessing of Abraham is the blessing of salvation
through faith (Galatians 3:13,14). The other type of blessing is the verbal blessing. It
is the spoken blessing and it carries with it something more than just words.
The basis for this teaching begins in Genesis 1:28
where God blessed Adam and Eve. By God's speaking the blessing, an enabling, a release is
bestowed and imparted. This blessing is spoken--"and he blessed them and
SAID...."
This teaching can also be seen in Moses. God gave
Moses 3 instruments to achieve his duty to lead the people of God. He first gave the blood
covenant which is the means of deliverance from bondage. He second gave the word of God
which gives direction and a pattern of life to follow that will provide blessing. And he
third gave Moses the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:22-27.
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons,
'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: "The Lord bless you and
keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his
face toward you and give you peace."' So they will put my name on the Israelites, and
I will bless them."
So a divine principle is revealed. When we speak
blessing, we are not just speaking words: something spiritual is going on.
How has blessing been handed down over the ages? The
blessing is usually given to the firstborn son. In fact, the blessing of the firstborn far
exceeds the inheritance of the subsequent children. Yet in scripture, we find an
occasional Divine preference made for the second-born over the firstborn. It is a curious
phenomenon, but nonetheless, it occurs. It even starts with Cain and Abel where God favors
the offering of Abel over Cain.
This Divine preference occurs with Jacob and Esau and
in this storyline provides key information in understanding the power of the spoken
blessing. When Rebekah "inquired of the Lord," he answered her and explained
that the elder would not receive the blessing, but instead the younger. God's wording is
even stronger in Malachi 1 where he states that Jacob he loved but Esau, the firstborn, he
hated. In Genesis 27 we find that Jacob receives the verbal blessing instead of the
firstborn and when Esau confronts his father, Isaac says that the verbal blessing is
irrevocable. Consider Genesis 27:33 where Isaac strongly states that because of the
blessing, Jacob will indeed be blessed. He then speaks a curse over Esau. In the eyes of
God, the blessing fell, as prophesied in Genesis 25, on Jacob.
This divine preference again is evident when Jacob
blesses the sons of Joseph in Genesis 48:20. The text says that when Joseph brought his
two sons to Jacob (Israel) to receive his blessing, he brought his firstborn, Manasseh,
under his father's right hand (which is the hand for bestowing the blessing of the
firstborn) and his second-born, Ephraim, under his father's left hand. At that moment,
Israel crosses his arms and places his right hand on Ephraim's head and places his left
hand on Manasseh's head. He then proclaims the blessing of the firstborn on Ephraim. The
text says that from that point on, Israel will pronounce the blessing: May God make you
like Ephraim and Manasseh. Since that time, for 3000 years, many Jewish (and even
Christian) fathers have spoken this verbal blessing over their children.
Why did God make this Divine preference? Romans
9:13-14 recounts the Malachi 1 strong statement. Paul then says in verse 15 that God says,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion." Upon whom has God bestowed mercy and compassion?
Upon us. How has he achieved that? Jesus.
Who is Jesus? Colossians 1:15 says "He is the image of the invisible
God, firstborn over all creation." Jesus is "the firstborn among many
brothers." (Romans 8:29)
The principle is that Jesus came up under
his right hand as the firstborn, and I came up under his left hand as
the second-born. God then made a Divine preference and crossed his arms,
placing his right hand, the hand of blessing upon my head and placing
his left hand, the hand of cursing, on Jesus' head. God gave me the
blessing of the firstborn son instead of giving it to Jesus.
What did God give Jesus? He gave him the curse of
Esau! Esau he hated! Galatians 3:13 says that Jesus "became a curse for us."
Isaiah 53:10 says it was the Lord's will to crush him.
Thus the verbal blessing of "God make you like
Ephraim and Manasseh" is actually a verbal message of salvation! Fathers have spoken
this powerful, verbal blessing over their children for 3000 years. And God honors the
spoken blessing.
Having seen above that Jesus, who is at
the right hand of the Father, received my curse because of the Divine preference—the
crossing of the arms—in bestowing the blessing of the firstborn, what now is the
general application of the power of the verbal blessing?
James speaks of the power of the tongue
in his third chapter. Verses 9 and 10 state that we use our tongues to praise God and
curse men made in his image. This should not be. The tongue, like a small rudder, steers
the large vessel to which it is attached. And cursing steers us down the path of
destruction. Jesus told us to return curses with blessing. In doing this, he was actually
giving us a tool of spiritual warfare.
Proverbs 26:2 says that an undeserved curse does not alight.
The imagery is of a bird attempting to land. But such creatures will only land on familiar
territory. Jewish rabbis have taught for thousands of years this passage shows that when a
curse is issued, it alights on the object of the curse when that object itself issues a
curse. For example, when a person learns of a curse someone has spoken about them, how
that person responds determines whether the curse alights. Does the cursed return a curse
(if told someone made a derogatory remark, does the cursed then denegrate the originator)?
Or does the cursed turn to God and speak forgiveness for the originator ("God, bless
them, I forgive them...)? The rabbis believed that when the cursed speaks blessing, the
curse itself returns to the originator and finds familiar territory on which to alight.
Jesus teaches in Luke 6:27 that we are to bless those who
curse us. Paul explains in Romans 12:14-21 that by blessing our enemies, we actually heap
burning coals on their head. How is that? Suppose I and my enemy are standing in front of
each other, and God is beside me. If my enemy curses me and I retaliate, we face off and
fight it out. Where is God? To the side and out of the way. God will let us fight it out
ourselves. But suppose when my enemy curses me, I kneal in a humble position before God
and pray for that person's forgiveness and speak blessing. The curses of the enemy now go
over my head and directly confront God who is beside me. Now who is my enemy really
cursing? God is able to handle the cursing. God will fight for us. This is how we heap
burning coals on their head. When we truly forgive and bless, the curses are undeserved
and God returns them to the originator.
In 1 Peter 2:23 we learn that Jesus did not retaliate against
those mistreating him, but instead, entrusted himself to God. This is the example for us.
When we speak forgiveness ("Forgive them for they know not what they do...") and
blessing, God comes to our aid. God will avenge. Remember Job? His friends kept cursing
him and telling him how bad he was although he was really righteous. The text is careful
to explain that AFTER Job prayed for his friends, the favor of the Lord was again upon him
(42:10).
The power of the spoken blessing is the power of spiritual
warfare. It enables. It releases. And God honors the power of the verbal blessing. May we
always bless our children with the blessing of Israel and may we always speak forgiveness
and blessing to those who curse us.
And now: May the Lord make you, our readers, like Ephraim and
Manasseh. |
