Untangling Cliché: "Blessing," Part II

The post on "blessing" sparked a bit of activity in the mail-bag.  Worth opening it up.  I wish I weren't thumbing it in on my iPod (the gift of one of Touchstone's urchins, may he live forever).

From the Mail-bag:

I've reread your post.  Let me see if I understand.

Bibically and historically, the blessing was a gift FROM the king, but also
one given TO the king.

Well, it could be either.  You could "gift" the king with your daughter or military service, so "bless the LORD" amounts to saying, "render goods and services to Yahweh."  Or the king could render lands, treasure, or even a booty-call to his servant-nobles.  So "bless us, Yahweh" is equally meaningful.

Think of blessing as a gifting ceremony, if you like.

Also, "blessing" isn't actually received unless it's done so with
gratefulness.  Simply to have the "blessing" is not enough.  It must be
recognized and appreciated ~ even to the point of "jaw-dropping awe."  Love
it.

Totally, but note that the piety is in the ceremonial nature of the thing.  Both in giving and receiving you would be acknowledging a subordinate relationship.  Your response to the King's gifting is gratitude, and towards your own gifting is humility, that is a sense of subordination to the one to whom you gift.

P.S.I just had a light-bulb moment...*this* is how you read the Bible
non-theologically, isn't it?  This is a first for me, if it is.

Pretty much.... "Theological reading" as I mean it assumes a system lies behind the reading that makes coherent sense and leaves no remainder.  The Bible isn't like that.

Read it like it's poetry, like it's written: it means you don't stand under the text waiting for it to tell you what you do not know, but rather is one man, or woman, or community's recollected perception of a truth for which they had no more words than you do.

And no fewer.

And that means you are not the servant of scripture, but rather it is a note from the past telling you you are not alone.