[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 創世記 Genesis 48-50]
1雅各叫了他的兒子來，說：「你們都來聚集，讓我把你們日後要遇到的事告訴你們。…」28 這一切是以色列的十二個支派。這是他們的父親對他們所說的話，他按照各人的福分為他們祝福。1Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come… 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
創世記 Genesis 49:1;28
雅各在生命的最後階段祝福了他的十二個兒子和約瑟的兩個兒子。
父親的祝福（barek）是猶太人生活中非常重要的一部分。內森‧歐蘇貝爾在他的《猶太知識之書》一書中這樣描述祝福：「從舊約時代到今天，祝福一直是賜給猶太兒童的重要禮物。事實上，這一直是父母對孩子的責任」。
祝福（barek）不僅僅是為孩子祈禱而已。除了言語之外，還包括身體接觸： 父親將手放在孩子的頭上。此外，人們認為，祝福（barek）將影響孩子的未來，因為父親說：「讓我把你們日後要遇到的事告訴你們。」
因此，父親在上帝設計下也扮演兩個主要功能：1）確認性別認同； 2）釋放命定。 … 在青春期，孩子需要父親的祝福才能 [完成這兩項任務]。這就是為什麼魔鬼會如此努力地在青春期將父親從孩子的生活中剔除。
~Bar Barakah：基督徒成年禮的父母指南，作者：Hill Craig
如今許多孩子都迫切地渴望並且需要父親的祝福！教會嘗試透過多種方式來吸引年輕人，但加強父親的能力，使他們能夠履行好自己在家庭中的角色，仍然是最重要和最需要的方法。願我們做父親的站起來祝福我們自己的孩子以及我們中間的許多沒有父親的孩子，以祝福來取代詛咒！
禱告：親愛的上帝，願祢讓每個父親的心轉向他的孩子，也讓孩子的心轉向他們的父親，使詛咒遠離我們的土地！奉耶穌的名，阿們。
In the final stage of his life, Jacob blessed his twelve sons and Joseph’s two sons.
A father’s blessing (barek) is a very important part of Jewish life. Nathan Ausubel, in his book The Book of Jewish Knowledge, describes the blessing in this way: “From Old Testament times to today, the blessing has been an important gift offered to Jewish children. In fact, it has been a duty of parents to their children.” A barek is more than simply a prayer for a child. Besides the words spoken, it includes physical touch: the father of the family puts his hand on the child’s head. Moreover, the understanding is that the barek will affect the child’s very future, for the father says, “I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.”
The father is then designed by God also to fulfill two main functions: 1) Confirm gender identity; and 2) Release in destiny. .. at the time of puberty the child needs the blessing of the father to [carry out these two tasks]. This is why the devil fights so hard to remove the father from the lives of the children at the time of puberty.
~Bar Barakah: A Parents Guide to a Christian Bar Mitzvah by Hill Craig
Today many children are desperately desiring and in need of their father’s blessing! There are many ways that churches try to reach out to young people, but the strengthening of fathers so they can fulfill their roles in their families is still the most important and most needed method. May we who are fathers rise up to bless both our own children and the many fatherless children in our midst to counter the curse with a blessing!
Prayer: Dear God, may you turn each father’s heart to his children and the children’s hearts to their father, to turn the curse away from our land! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
