TIP OF THE DAY 78: Benedictions part 1

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day ;

QUESTION: How does Logos/Verbum define benediction?

ANSWER: from Brannan, Rick. All the Benedictions in the Bible. Faithlife Biblical and Theological Lists. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021.

The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines a benediction as “Pronouncement of God’s favor upon an assembled congregation.” This dataset uses this definition as a point of departure, widening the target of the benediction from an assembled congregation to a generic person or group that is the addressee of the utterance classified as a benediction.

From Barry, John D., David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder, eds. “Benediction.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.

Benediction A ceremonial blessing administered during a worship gathering. The descendants of Aaron offered such blessings over the Israelites in the name of God (Lev 9:22; Num 6:22–27; Deut 10:8; 2 Chr 30:27). The New Testament letters attest to the use of benedictions in the early church (e.g., 2 Cor 13:14).[1]

QUESTION: What data does Logos/Verbum collect on benedictions?

ANSWER: from Brannan, Rick. All the Benedictions in the Bible. Faithlife Biblical and Theological Lists. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021.

• Speaker: The person or people who are giving the prayer.

• Addressee: The entity to whom the prayer is addressed.

• Place: The location where the prayer occurs. This is an optional field.

Each benediction is given a title and reference. Brannan, Rick. All the Benedictions in the Bible. Faithlife Biblical and Theological Lists. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021 also lists related events. Unfortunately, the events are not integrated – you must come through the book to reach them.

It is interesting to note that Logos/Verbum did not apply any classification schemes to benedictions despite there being traditional categories. From Perplexity:

Maimonides classified benedictions as part of the category of worship ('avodah / 'ibada) in his typology. He identified three main aspects of cultic worship:

Observance of commandments

Sacrifices

Prayer (which includes benedictions)

Maimonides emphasized that these forms of worship should be performed with joy, not just perfunctorily.

While Maimonides' classification is influential, there are other traditional Jewish ways of categorizing blessings:

Blessings before enjoying something (birkat ha-nehenin)

Blessings for performing mitzvot (birkat ha-mitzvot)

Blessings of praise and thanksgiving (birkat ha-shevach ve-hoda'ah)

This three-fold classification is commonly used in Jewish liturgy and halakhic literature, though it post-dates Maimonides. The exact origin and development of this system is debated by scholars.2

QUESTION: What is the search argument for Benedictions and, indirectly, how does a benediction appear in the Context menu?

ANSWER: benediction:(addressee:person:Abraham AND place:place:"Haran (city)" AND speaker:person:God AND title:topic:"God Offers a Benediction to Abraham")

QUESTION: How does a Benediction appear in the Concordance Guide section?

SOFTWARE: In the Command box (hidden in the application icon at the top of the application tool bar) enter Open Concordance and from the selection menu open the Guide section not the Tool section entry.

On the header, a hover will reveal Settings. Click on Settings and select Benediction.

ANSWER: Using the NRSVue as the default Bible

Concordance | Benediction

Ge 12:1–3—Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a…

Addressee: Abraham

Place: Haran (city)

Speaker: God

Title: God Offers a Benediction to Abraham

QUESTION: What other speech related datasets may be viewed in the Concordance Guide section?

SOFTWARE: The following speech-related label options are available under Setting on the section heading bar.

Benediction

Command

Mitzvoth

Oath

Prayer (not yet covered)

Promise

Question

Speech (Speaking to God)

ANSWER: Using the pericope Genesis 12:1-3 as an example

Concordance | Benediction

Ge 12:1–3—Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a…

Addressee: Abraham

Place: Haran (city)

Speaker: God

Title: God Offers a Benediction to Abraham

Concordance | Command

Ge 12:1—Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

Type: Command

Verb Class: Motion

Ge 12:2—I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Type: Command

Verb Class: Seem

Concordance | Oath

Ge 12:1–3—Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a…

Addressee: Abraham

Event: God calls Abram

Location: Haran (city)

Reason: Covenants

Speaker: God

Title: Abram is called

Concordance | Promise

Ge 12:2—I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Fulfillment: Isaac is born

Theme: Child

Verb Class: Multiply

Ge 12:2—I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Theme: Blessing

Verb Class: Promote

Ge 12:2—I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Fulfillment: Isaac is born

Theme: Blessing

Verb Class: Promote

Ge 12:3—I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Theme: Blessing

Verb Class: Promote

Ge 12:3—I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Theme: Judgment

Verb Class: Judgment

QUESTION: Give some resources on the use of benedictions today e.g. the Jewish 18 Benedictions or the Christian benediction at the end of a worship service.

Drescher, John. Invocations and Benedictions for the Revised Common Lectionary. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2011.

Instone-Brewer, David. Prayer and Agriculture. Vol. 1. Traditions of the Rabbis from the Era of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.

Vasholz, Robert I. Benedictions. Geanies House, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2007.

[1] John D. Barry et al., eds., “Benediction,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

2 and and and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides and and and and https://www.jstor.org/stable/1452438 http://davidblumenthal.org/MaimMyst.html https://ccel.org/ccel/maimonides/guide/guide.iv.iii.ii.html https://iep.utm.edu/maimonid/ https://www.mhcny.org/pdf/mn/maimonides%20on%20sacrifices.pdf https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides/ https://guides.library.nymc.edu/MaimonidesPrayer

Jonathan Bradley

Thank you for this!