Quick Update

Internet access has been a bit problematic lately, and shall be so for another week. So, to whatever readers I have (gentlemen and scholars all--and I mean that in the archaic sense of "gentlepersons" but not in the archaic sense of "knights"), I pose the following question:

What does "blessed be the name of the Lord" mean?

I currently have two theories, both of which appear ridiculous.

Linguistic theory:

"May God recieve blessings and become more complete because of what I have to bring to Him."

That one seems the natural reading of the phrase, but is rather theologically problematic, to say the least. So to counter that, I have the second theory...

Theology-Language Matching theory:

The phrase is in African American Vernacular English, so that the word "be" really could be roughly translated "is," but with the added sense of permanence. As in, if I were to say "blessed the name of the Lord," I might be talking about a Lord who is at this moment blessed, but if I were to say "blessed be the name of the Lord" I would be talking about a God who is, as of his very nature and character, blessed.

The only problem with this theory: the use of the phrase in modern hymnology seems to make the AAVE interpretation of the phrase quite an anachronism.

Any thoughts?

**Update**
Something has been brought to my attention that should have been obvious--the use of the phrase "bless the lord" throughout Scriptures as an act of worship rather than declaration of his qualities. Though that still leaves me with curiosity about how the concept of "blessings" has changed if the traditional Hebrew blessing before food was along the lines of "bless the Lord, who has given this food to us" rather than "bless this food, that it may nourish us."