Pursuing our intention of including, in the articles appearing in this periodical,

ministry of a more simple character, as a set-off to the somewhat harder reading that the

nature of our witness often necessitates, we draw attention to a series of "Biblical

blessings" found in the Scriptures, believing that the contemplation of such cannot but be

an encouragement to us all.

At the outset we are met with the fact that the Scriptures, as translated into English,

present to the reader two words, "happy" and "blessed", as the translation of ashere in the

Hebrew, and makarios in the Greek. The two conceptions in the words "happy" and

"blessed" need to be kept apart. To be strictly applicable to the believer, "happy", in its

English constituents, contains too much the idea of that which falls out by "hap". It

would, however, introduce the very feature we wish to avoid in these particular articles,

were we to conduct the reader along the paths of enquiry that lead to a true differentiation

of ashere and barak in the Hebrew, and eulogeo-etos and makarios-izo in the Greek.

For the present, then, let it suffice that makarios was used by the Ancients for the

"Immortals", and indicates a bliss that does not draw from external sources, whereas

eulogeo, "to eulogise", means to be well spoken of by others, and therefore has more

reference to external sources.

Leaving these refinements for a more fitting occasion, we turn our attention to the

word ashere, translated both "blessed" and "happy". One or two marginal references

found in the A.V. will give us an idea of the general, underlying, meaning of ashere,

"blessed":--

Here we discover that an element of uncertainty existed in the minds of the translators,

owing to the fact that, in the Hebrew, "blessing" is derived from the idea of "going

forward". If we examine the word ashere that gives us "blessed", we discover that it