Curse

VIEW:42 DATA:01-04-2020
CURSE.—See Ban and Excommunication.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


To curse, signifies to imprecate, to call for mischief upon, or wish evil to, any one. Noah cursed his grandson Canaan, Gen_9:25 : Jacob cursed the fury of his two sons, Gen_49:7 : Moses enjoins the people of Israel to denounce curses against the violaters of the law, Deu_27:15-16, &c. Joshua pronounced a curse upon him who should undertake to rebuild Jericho. These curses were such as were either ordained by God himself, and pronounced by men under the influence of his Spirit; or they were predictions of certain evils which would happen to individuals, or to a people, uttered in the form of imprecations. They were not the effects of passion, impatience, or revenge; and, therefore, were not things condemned by God in his law, like the cursing mentioned, Exo_21:17; Exo_22:28, Lev_19:14.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Cursing in the ancient Hebrew world was not a burst of bad language as it usually is in the world of today. It was a pronouncement of judgment believed to bring the release of powerful forces against the person cursed (Num_22:6; Jdg_5:23; Job_31:30; Pro_30:10). For this reason to curse the deaf was as great a sin as to put a stumbling block in the path of the blind. For the deaf, not having heard the curse, could not take protective action by calling for the more powerful ‘blessing’ of Yahweh (Lev_19:14; Psa_109:28).
God’s curse on people or things was more than a pronouncement of devastating judgment; it was a punishment on sin (Gen_3:14; Pro_3:33; Dan_9:11; Mat_25:41; Mar_11:14; Mar_11:20-21; Heb_6:7-8). That is why the judgments upon those who disobey God’s commands are called curses, and the rewards to those who obey his commands are called blessings (Deu_27:11-26; Deu_30:19; Jos_8:33-34; Zec_5:3; see BLESSING). Those who disobey the law fall under God’s curse; but Jesus bore this curse when he himself became a curse in place of the sinner (Gal_3:10; Gal_3:13; see CROSS).
The Bible sometimes speaks of people or things that had to be destroyed as being ‘put under the curse’ or ‘devoted’. That is, they were devoted to God for destruction (Deu_7:25-26; Jos_6:17-18; Jos_7:1; Jos_7:11-12; 1Ki_20:42; Mal_4:6) and could not under any circumstances be spared.
This was the sense in which Paul was willing to be cursed (Greek: anathema) in the place of his fellow Jews. He was willing to be cut off from Christ and totally condemned, so that his fellow Jews might be saved from judgment (Rom_9:3). He called for a similar judgment on any person who preached a false gospel (Gal_1:8) or who hated Christ (1Co_16:22).
On the other hand the saying ‘Jesus be cursed’ became a common saying among the opponents of Christianity during the time of Paul. It seems that in Corinth, some who spoke in strange tongues even used the expression in Christian meetings. Paul referred to this to demonstrate that speaking in tongues was not necessarily speaking by the Holy Spirit (1Co_12:3).
A ‘woe’ pronounced on people did not have the same sense of absoluteness as a curse. It was, nevertheless, to be taken seriously. It was either a stern warning or an announcement of catastrophe or judgment (Num_21:29; Isa_5:18-22; Eze_24:9; Mat_11:21-22; Luk_6:24-26; Rev_8:13).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


kûrs (אלה, 'ālāh (Num_5:21, Num_5:23, Num_5:17, etc.), מארה, me'ērāh (Pro_3:33; Mal_2:2, etc.), קללה, kelālāh (Gen_27:12, Gen_27:13); κατάρα, katára (Gal_3:10, Gal_3:13)): This word as noun and verb renders different Hebrew words, some of them being more or less synonymous, differing only in degree of strength. It is often used in contrast with ?bless? or ?blessing? (Deu_11:29). When a curse is pronounced against any person, we are not to understand this as a mere wish, however violent, that disaster should overtake the person in question, any more than we are to understand that a corresponding ?blessing? conveys simply a wish that prosperity should be the lot of the person on whom the blessing is invoked. A curse was considered to possess an inherent power of carrying itself into effect. Prayer has been defined as a wish referred to God. Curses (or blessings) were imprecations referred to supernatural beings in whose existence and power to do good or inflict harm primitive man believed. The use of magic and spells of all kinds is based on the belief that it is possible to enlist the support of the superhuman beings with whom the universe abounds, and to persuade them to carry out the suppliant's wishes. It has been suggested that spells were written on pieces of parchment and cast to the winds in the belief that they would find their way to their proper destination - that some demoniac being would act as postman and deliver them at the proper address. In Zec (Psa_5:1-3) the ?flying roll,? with curses inscribed on it ?goeth forth over the face of the whole land.? It would find its way into the house of every thief and perjurer. But it was not always possible to commit curses to writing, it was enough to utter them aloud. Generally the name of some deity would be coupled with such imprecations, as Goliath cursed David by his gods (1Sa_17:43). Such curses once uttered possessed the power of self-realization. It was customary for heads of families in their declining years to bless their children, such a blessing being, not simply a paternal wish that their children should prosper in life, but a potent factor in determining their welfare (Gen_9:25). in this case Jacob seeks his father's blessing, which was more than his father's good wishes for his future career. Such blessings and curses were independent of moraI considerations. Before moral distinctions played any part in molding theological conceptions it was not necessary, before a spell could be effectual, that the individual against whom the spell was pronounced should be deserving, on moral grounds, of the fate which was invoked on him. It was sufficient that he should be the foe of the author of the curse. We may assume that such curses signalized the commencement of a battle. But in process of time such indiscriminate imprecations would not satisfy enlightened moral judgment. In the dramatic situation depicted in Dt (Deu_11:29; Deu_27:12 f) the curse was placed on Mt. Ebal and the blessing. on Mr. Gerizim. But the curse was the penalty for disobedience, as the blessing was the reward for obedience. The Book of Prov (Mat_26:2) summarily dismisses the traditional belief - ?the curse that is causeless alighteth not.? ?In the discourses of Jesus we find blessings and curses. They are however simply authoritative declarations of the eternal connection between right doing and happiness, wrong doing and misery? (Cheyne).
Whereas curses by ordinary persons were considered more or less efficacious - some god being always only too glad to speed them on their way to their destination - yet special persons - ?holy? persons - in virtue of their special relation to Divine beings possessed special powers of pronouncing effectual curses on account of their powers of enlisting supernatural aid. Balaam, according to the narrative in Nu (22 f), was an expert in the article Balak was convinced that Balaam's curse would bring about the defeat of the Israelites (see Gray, ?Numbers,? ICC).
The term - and the thing signified - plays an important part in Paul's interpretation of the cross. In the light of the law all men are guilty. There is no acquittal through appeal to a law that commands and never forgives - prohibits and never relents. The violator of the law is under a curse. His doom has been pronounced. Escape is impossible. But on the cross Jesus Christ endured the curse - for ?cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree? (Gal_3:10, Gal_3:13) - and a curse that has overtaken its victim is a spent force. See PUNISHMENTS.
Jesus commands His disciples, ?Bless them that curse you? (Luk_6:28; compare Rom_12:14). He Himself cursed the fruitless fig tree (Mar_11:21) - a symbol of the doom of a fruitless people.
Curse as the rendering of חרם, ḥērem, implies a totally different, idea. See ACCURSED.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Curse
(the rendering of various Hebrews and Greek words). God denounced his curse against the serpent which had seduced Eve (Gen_3:14), and against Cain, who had imbued his hands in his brother Abel's blood (iv. 11). He also promised to bless those who should bless Abraham, and to curse those who should curse him. The divine maledictions are not merely imprecations, nor are they impotent wishes; but they carry their effects with them, and are attended with all the miseries they denounce or foretell. (See Zachary, Threats of Scripture, Oxford, 1653.) Holy men sometimes prophetically cursed particular persons (Gen_9:25; Gen_49:7; Deu_27:15; Jos_6:26), and history informs us that these imprecations had their fulfillment, as had those of our Savior against the barren fig-tree (Mar_11:21). But such curses are not consequences of passion, impatience, or revenge; they are predictions, and therefore not such as God condemns. SEE IMPRECATION.
No one shall presume to curse his father or his mother, SEE CORBAN, on pain of death (Exo_21:17); nor the prince of his people (22:28); nor one that is deaf (Lev_19:14); whether a man really deaf be meant here, or one who is absent, and therefore cannot hear what is said against him. Blasphemy, or cursing of God, is punished with death (Lev_24:10-11). Our Lord pronounces blessed those disciples who are (falsely) loaded with curses, and requires his followers to bless those who curse them; to render blessing for cursing, etc. (Mat_5:11). The Rabbins say that Barak cursed and excommunicated Meroz, who dwelt near the brook Kishon, but who came not to assist Israel against Jabin. Wherefore Barak excommunicated him by the sound of four hundred trumpets, according to Jdg_5:23. But Meroz is more probably the name of a place. — Calmet. The Jews were cursed by the Almighty for rejecting the Messiah (Mal_4:6; see on this the dissertation of Iken, De Anathemate, etc., Brem. 1749). SEE ANATHEMA; SEE OATH.
On the passage in Job (Job_2:9),” Curse God and die,” Mr. Roberts makes the following remarks: “Some suppose this ought to be, ‘Bless God and die' (the Hebrews is בָּרִךְ); but Job would not have reproved his wife for such advice, except she meant it ironically. It is a fact, that when the heathen have to pass through much suffering, they often ask, ‘Shall we make an offering to the gods for this?' that is, ‘Shall we offer our devotions, our gratitude for afflictions?' Job was a servant of the true God, but his wife might have been a heathen; and thus the advice, in its most literal acceptation, might have been in character. Nothing is more common than for the heathen, under certain circumstances, to curse their gods. Hear the man who has made expensive offerings to his deity, in hope of gaining some great blessing, and who has been disappointed, and he will pour out all his imprecations on the god whose good offices have, as he believes, been prevented by some superior deity. A man in reduced circumstances says, ‘Yes, yes, my god has lost his eyes; they are put out; he cannot look after my affairs.' ‘What!' said an extremely rich devotee of the supreme god Siva, after he had lost his property, ‘shall I serve him any more? What! make offerings to him? No, no; he is the lowest of all gods.' With these facts before us, it is not difficult to believe that Job's wife actually meant what she said.” SEE JOB.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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