The Arabic Blessing: Spontaneous Prayer Over Abundance

In the lands of the Middle East, travelers witnessed a custom of remarkable spiritual vitality. When passing by a fruit-tree laden with rich produce or a corn-field heavy with golden grain, the Arabs would spontaneously cry out, "Barak Allah!"—God bless you! Their blessing carried the weight of genuine prayer: "We bless you in the name of the Lord!"

This oriental practice reveals something profound about Psalm 129:8, where those who pass by refuse to offer such benediction. The refusal to bless is not merely silence; it is the withholding of prayer itself, a spiritual coldness toward the Lord's abundance in another's life. The blessed man or woman receives genuine invocation—the calling down of Jehovah's favor through the lips of travelers.

Spurgeon observed that this Arabic custom demonstrates how blessing was woven into the fabric of daily life and common courtesy. It was not reserved for priests in temples but flowed naturally from the lips of ordinary people encountering Elohim's provision. When enemies refuse to offer this benediction as they pass, they demonstrate their enmity not merely toward the individual but toward the Lord's gracious work itself.

For modern believers, this teaches us that withholding genuine prayer for another's welfare—refusing to invoke the Lord's name over their increase—marks a hardened heart. True blessing acknowledges Adonai's hand in all prosperity.