Tuesday, October 08, 2013

The Power to Bless - Its Lineage

Humanity derived from 3 Human beings - the 3 sons of Noah.

Until today, that fact remains the bedrock of belief among many.

Shem, Yafet and Cham sprung the nations of the world, after they survived the "Great Flood". Shem's progeny led to Abraham.

It was Abraham who received a special privilege, granted by God, that no man who ever lived before him ever got! Whereas before Abraham got this rank of Blesser, only God had power to provide blessings; Afterwards, it was now up to Abraham to determine who will get blessed, and how.

This conduit of blessing from infinite source God removed from His own repertoire and charged it over to the responsibility of Abraham.

God blessed Adam; God blessed Noah;  From Abraham's time onward, Abraham or his inherited lineage receive that power.

It was as if God had said, "Abraham, you have one wish!" and Abraham said, "My wish is to have the capability of making wishes!", to which God said, "I grant you your wish!"

We note Bilaam, the Gentile prophet, too was said to have enormous powers of blessing or, as to which he had the option, one no righteous being would ever consider, the enormous power to curse.

Bilaam too was a Semite - deriving from Shem - following the lineage of Haran, Abraham's brother, but arrived on the scene many years later, when Jews were trekking the desert.

The difference between Bilaam and Abraham was, Bilaam was a token or temporary possessor of powers, whereas Abraham passed his powers to succeeding generations where certain righteous generational leaders similarly, until today, possess those divine powers of blessing.

1 comment:

Yankev said...

Not just certain righteous leaders, but EVERY Jew has this power. "Don't let the blessing of a hedyot be light in your eyes" ( שלא תהא ברכת הדיוט קלה בעיניך Brochos 7a)

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