Commandment 14
“Bless Them That Curse You.” Mt. 5:44b
To bless them that curse you is to turn back malice by speaking well of those who speak against you. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” However, it is more than a strategy for diffusing a negative situation, it is recognition of the power of the tongue. The Greek word bless here is eulogeō (yoo-log-eh'-o) which means to speak well of someone or to pronounce a blessing upon them. Like a eulogy in a funeral service.
In the Jewish faith, a blessing is the highest form of affirmation. It is really another form of prayer, and to the traditional Jewish believer, all the world is a prayer.
In Jewish teaching, there are blessings that cover every aspect of daily life. A blessing from the father can set the course for a young man’s life. There are blessings upon arising, when bathing, when smelling fruit, for eating fruit, when eating bread, offering praise, drinking wine, even when smelling spices. There are blessings for affirming God’s Sovereignty, blessings to say before and after reading Torah, blessings for setting your attitude, blessings upon hearing good news and even a blessing for getting your focus in life.
The Yetzer Hara is a Jewish blessing or prayer to overcome evil inclinations in the heart. Recognizing the natural tendency or impulse to gravitate toward selfish indulgence, this prayer is for fighting against evil in the heart and in the processes of life. The word Yetzer− pronounced yay'-tser − first appears in the Bible in Genesis 6:5, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination (yetzer) of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
But why would I want to bless someone who is cursing me and wishing for my doom? The truth is that a curse gains its power from fear. The believer need not be under the power of such things, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Ti 1:7)
When we fear someone who is cursing us, we raise our faith in that person’s power above that of Almighty God who instead blesses us. We move our faith from the One who loves and blesses us, to the one who hates and curses us. Jesus gives us the perfect solution: replace fear with love. The apostle John tells us, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.” 1Jo 4:18
If we look at the word translated here as curse it is kataraomai (kat-ar-ah'-om-ahee), meaning to doom someone or pronounce a curse upon them. What Jesus is saying in fact is that to bless them that curse you is a form of taharat klalot (curse removal). We cast out fear and the power of a curse by responding in love, thereby breaking any power that fear would have produced in us. Proverb 26:2 says, “Curses cannot hurt you unless you deserve them. They are like birds that fly by and never light.” (Good News Bible)
In other words, if there is no reason for someone to place a curse upon you, you need not fear or look for any resulting calamity. However, one cannot expect such relief if there is indeed a reason for this curse. If you have done something wrong that has provoked such a powerful response, you must go to that person quickly and ask for their forgiveness.
Many have turned an enemy into a friend by following such advice. If you are harboring a guilty conscience, the sense of guilt may bring a certain fear of retribution and open you up to the negative potential that fear can produce, thereby empowering those who wish you harm. Fear is a powerful force, but it cannot stand in the face of love.
In many countries religious traditions hold curses to be very powerful and those who are seen as spiritually powerful and practice cursing can control whole villages or cities in fear. In places like Haiti, cursing is almost a profession, and many live under the fear of local witch doctors.
A recent testimony to this came from the violent earthquake that shook that Island nation in 2010 killing over 300,000 people. A Dallas medical doctor who had gone there to help was arrested and charged with kidnapping because a local witch doctor claimed that a villager’s boy, who was pronounced dead by the doctor, was actually alive and had been kidnapped by whites and taken to America. The father of the child saw his young son in a box where his body was already in a state of rigor mortis. Thinking he looked alive, the father consulted the local witch doctor that made the kidnapping claim which a local judge accepted as valid.
These kinds of stories are not uncommon in third world countries where witchcraft is still an accepted practice. There are many testimonies of witch doctors resisting Christian evangelistic and missionary efforts in African nations, and in some cases with dramatic results. Thankfully the outcome is often reversed by those who are bringing the Gospel and, in some cases, witch doctors themselves have been converted to Christ.
Fear is a powerful force. Satan is the father of lies and deception and his greatest tool is fear. Fear is the source of cursing and the opposite of blessing. God calls us to oppose the enemy through love and blessing rather than to use the tactics which fall under the domain of darkness. You cannot fight darkness with darkness lest you fall under the power of darkness. Only the light of Christ can make the darkness dissipate. When it shines in your heart, darkness cannot overcome it.
In Deuteronomy chapter 27 & 28, we read of the Laws of Blessing and Cursing. In this we see that the true power of cursing comes from disobedience to God and ill or unfair treatment to those around us. Though we are liberated from the curse of the Law in the New Covenant of Christ, this does not mean that we can practice those things which were cursed in the Old Covenant. If it was wrong for the people of the first Covenant it cannot be right for us who follow Christ.
When blessing those that curse you, make certain that you are walking in obedience to God. In this you can not only extinguish the power of an enemy’s curse but you can eliminate any negative effects of disobedience that would bring the same results into your own life.