Blessing and Curse in Syro-Palestinian Inscriptions of the Iron Age is an examination of blessings and / or curses in all published alphabetic inscriptions from Iron II (1000-586 B.C.E.) Syria-Palestine. Inscriptions having either blessing, curse, or both (in general or specific forms) have been collected and sorted according to the presence therein of deity names. Those inscriptions which call upon Yahweh, God of Israel, for blessing or curse have been separated from those which call upon other deities and from those which did not contain a deity name. The blessings and curses in these inscriptions have then been compared and contrasted both to each other and the Hebrew Bible in order to show what the various peoples of that area and time meant by blessing and curse and how they expressed these ideas.

Jeremy Smoak presents a synthesis of recent discoveries bearing upon the early history and function of the biblical priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26. The book gives special focus to the importance of the discovery of the blessing on two silver amulets from Jerusalem dating to the late Iron Age and several other Iron Age inscriptions containing parallels to the blessing. The analysis of the inscriptions provides a new way to approach the meaning and significance of the instructions for the blessing in the biblical book of Numbers.

The aggression of the biblical God named Yhwh is notorious. Students of theology, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East know that the Hebrew Bible describes Yhwh acting destructively against his client country, Israel, and against its kings. But is Yhwh uniquely vengeful, or was he just one among other, similarly ferocious patron gods? To answer this question, Collin Cornell compares royal biblical psalms with memorial inscriptions. He finds that the Bible shares deep theological and literary commonalities with comparable texts from Israel's ancient neighbours. The centrepiece of both traditions is the intense mutual loyalty of gods and kings. In the event that the king's monument and legacy comes to harm, gods avenge their individual royal protégé. In the face of political inexpedience, kings honour their individual divine benefactor.

The practice of cursing remains a significant aspect of life in many African countries. This book addresses this practice with the seriousness it deserves, arguing that Christ is the ultimate curse remover. Dr. Elkanah K. Cheboi examines the meaning and implications of the Pauline statement in Galatians that “Christ became a curse for us.” Drawing from biblical passages referencing judicial curses, and the widespread practice of cursing and blessing within the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman world, he investigates how the crucified and cursed Christ provides the ultimate solution to the power and dominion of curses. Demonstrating the insufficiencies of curse remedies, both in the ancient world and the modern African context, this study offers christological insight into the implications of Christ’s death not simply for human sin but also human curses. Dr. Cheboi specifically examines parallels between the New Testament context and Kenya’s Marakwet culture, where curses are still deeply feared as life-threatening and generational. Offering powerful insight into aspects of contemporary African culture not always fully understood, this book integrates biblical scholarship with practical application and is an excellent resource for pastors, missionaries, and theologians alike.

This is a book about curses. It is not about curses as insults or offensive language but curses as petitions to the divine world to render judgment and execute harm on identified, hostile forces. In the ancient world, curses functioned in a way markedly different from our own, and it is into the world of the ancient Near East that we must go in order to appreciate the scope of their influence. For the ancient Near Easterners, curses had authentic meaning. Curses were part of their life and religion. They were not inherently magic or features of superstitions, nor were they mere curiosities or trifling antidotes. They were real and effective. They were employed proactively and reactively to manage life’s many vicissitudes and maintain social harmony. They were principally protective, but they were also the cause of misfortune, illness, depression, and anything else that undermined a comfortable, well-balanced life. Every member of society used them, from slave to king, from young to old, from men and women to the deities themselves. They crossed cultural lines and required little or no explanation, for curses were the source of great evil. In other words, curses were universal. Because curses were woven into the very fabric of every known ancient Near Eastern society, they emerge frequently and in a wide variety of venues. They appear on public and private display objects, on tomb stelae, tomb lintels, and sarcophagi, on ancient kudurrus and narûs. They are used in political, administrative, social, religious, and familial contexts. They are the subject of incantations. They are tools that exorcise demons and dispel disease; they ban, protect, and heal. This is the phenomenology of cursing in the ancient Near East, and this is what the present work explores.

This volume is published in honour of Professor Takamitsu Muraoka on the occasion of his retirement from the Chair of Hebrew, Israelite Antiquities and Ugaritic at Leiden University, a date which coincides with the celebration of his sixty-fifth birthday. The laureate is well known for his expertise in the languages of the Bible and cognate studies and this volume includes contributions covering as far as possible the wide field of his interests. Some of his friends and colleagues from all parts of the world are presenting him with this valuable collection of forty-two articles. They include studies on the Greek of the Septuagint; Hebrew (Biblical and Qumran); Aramaic (Old, Offical and Qumran; Syriac and Neo-Aramaic); Canaanite (Amarna, Ugaritic and Phoenician-Punic); Medieval Jewish exegesis and Karaite studies. M.F.J. Baasten and W.Th. van Peursen, two former students of Muraoka at Leiden, have edited the volume.