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•BLASTUS chamberlain to king Herod Agrippa I. (Acts 12:20). Such persons generally had great influence with their masters.
•BLEMISH imperfection or bodily deformity excluding men from the priesthood, and rendering animals unfit to be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 21:17-23; 22:19-25). The Christian church, as justified in Christ, is “without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). Christ offered himself a sacrifice “without blemish,” acceptable to God (1 Peter 1:19).
•BLESS (1.) God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual (Genesis 1:22; 24:35; Job 42:12; Psalm 45:2; 104:24, 35).
(2.) We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Psalm 103:1, 2; 145:1, 2).
(3.) A man blesses himself when he invokes God’s blessing (Isaiah 65:16), or rejoices in God’s goodness to him (Deuteronomy 29:19; Psalm 49:18).
(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Genesis 24:60; 31:55; 1 Samuel 2:20). Sometimes blessings were uttered under divine inspiration, as in the case of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses (Genesis 9:26, 27; 27:28, 29, 40; 48:15-20; 49:1-28; Deuteronomy 33). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (Deuteronomy 10:8; Numbers 6:22-27). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 6:23,
24; 2 Thessalonians 3:16, 18; Hebrews 13:20, 21; 1 Peter 5:10, 11).
(5.) Among the Jews in their thank-offerings the master of the feast took a cup of wine in his hand, and after having blessed God for it and for other mercies then enjoyed, handed it to his guests, who all partook of it. Psalm