RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Blessing Bliss
xxvii, 10 sqq., xlviii, 8 sqq., xlix, 2 sqq.). Under special stress the power to bless or curse, especially the latter, is attributed to almost any one, as when the Arabs assert that one influenced by anger may effectively pronounce a curse. Such a case is presented in II Sam. xvi, 5 (cf . verse 10), and another in the narrative of II Sam. xxi, 1 sqq. Prov. xxvii, 14 presents a peculiar case, in which the early and loud call may be thought of as arousing the spirits of malice and letting them loose on the object of the call. A similar conception is involved in Amos vi, 10. The name of Yahweh, who lingers near occupied in the work of the plague, is not to be spoken lest by the mere utterance he be summoned to the spot and slay the only surviving member of the household.
Investigation into the way in which blessing and cursing operate in the Old Testament shows a lower and a higher view. Not infrequently the mere vocal expression of the wish works out the fulfilment in a kind of blind compulsion such as takes place in ethnic magic (cf. Gen. xxvii, 33 sqq. — the blessing has been uttered over Jacob and can not be recalled — and Num. xxii sqq., especially xxii, 6, " I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest 3. Higher is cursed," the words of Balak to and Balaam). An illuminating case is Lower given in the connection of Josh, vi, View. 26 with I Kings xvi, 34, in which the ancient curse pronounced upon him who should rebuild Jericho works itself out in the death of the youngest and the eldest sons of Hiel the Bethelite. And a similar instance is Saul's breach of the treaty with the Gibeonites in which the curse operates after his death until reparation is made with blood (II Sam. xxi). David's charge to Solomon (I Kings ii, 5 sqq.; cf. II Sam. xvi, 13) furnishes other examples. Solomon is to take vengeance on Shimei and on Joab. The former had pronounced a heavy curse on David. Since it was yet operative but had not fallen on David himself, it must work itself out on his house. But it can be so diverted as to fall on the head of its formulator and become changed into a blessing for David's family. On the other hand, Joab's deeds of blood laid David, Joab's lord, under a curse which could be relieved only by expiation exacted from the perpetrator of the deeds [cf. on this EB, i, 1034, note 1].
While this inevitability is to be recognized in the Old Testament as inherent by the mere formulation of blessing and cursing or curse, the act takes on more and more the character of the expression of a wish to be fulfilled by Yahweh, and so it becomes distinguished in form and character from magic and witchcraft. And while the method of operation is thus transferred, the character of the blessing sought changes from the material to the spiritual. Thus in the priestly blessing of Num. vi, 24-26 there is doubtless in mind the highest good of God's grace and peace, and in this light is to be «onstrued verse 27. A similar content is to be recognized in Gen. xii, 3 and parallel passages:
In thee shall all families of the earth bless themselves," i.e., shall wish for themselves the very blessing which Abraham had obtained.
As oracles were quoted among the heathen, so sayings attributed to Yahweh or spoken in his name were cited among the Hebrews, and blessings and curses appear almost in profusion in the Old Testament, derived from prophetic or ancestral authority. These take on often a cryptic character and anticipate the more extended apocalyptic writings of later times (cf. the sayings ascribed to Moses and to Jacob in Gen. xlix and Deut. xxxiii).
The uncertainty of the original significance of the practise is disclosed by an examination of the etymology of the words used. The technical Hebrew term for cursing is arar. the meaning of which was evidently to press heavily upon one. Alongside this was used for the curse a word derived from alah, connected with the word el, " God." This last implies a calling upon deity or a reference to him as agent, a meaning which recalls the idea in the German segnen, " to (make the) sign (of the cross over one)." But another root also used, kalal, had no inherent reference to the deity, meaning simply " to vilify." So the original sense of the word kababh, meaning " to curse," is uncertain. Not less obscure is the original meaning of the word for blessing, berakhah. It has been referred to berekh, " knee," suggesting the meaning " to bow the knee." But that the idea of worship was originally connected with the word or that it meant " to pray " does not appear probable. It is possible to relate it to berekhah, meaning an accumulation of the growth and fruitfulness attributed to water and then the attainment of prosperity.
A noteworthy expression is that which appears quite frequently (e.g., Gen. ix, 26), " Blessed be Yahweh." Is this only a manner of speech equivalent to " Yahweh be praised "? While this may be the sense in later ages, it was hardly so in early times. It has doubtless come down as a survival of the conception that even deity might be blessed by the utterance of some highly endowed individual.