Curse אָרַר

We are in chapter twenty-two of Exodus with our word for today. אָרַר to curse, bind with a curse, lay or be under a curse. It is used 63 times in the Old Testament. We find our word used at the very beginning of the Bible in the sense of the new state of reality because of sinful action. Genesis 3:13-19 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, אָר֤וּר “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Did you notice the cause and effect with God’s words because you have done this you are cursed no one else is to blame for what is going to happen as a result of your actions? The curse on the serpent involves a very low form of existence crawling and enmity between future generations. Then God moves on to the next person responsible for this sin. To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Even though our word is not used again it is implied that the woman is cursed because of her actions to sin. These actions will bring about childbearing pain and also the painful struggle in the marriage relationship. Then God moves on to the next person responsible for sin. To Adam he said, “Because you...ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ אֲרוּרָ֤ה “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” Like with the serpent God makes sure that Adam knows that he alone is responsible for the consequences of his sin because he disobeyed God. These consequences of sin involve painful work to produce what is needed and eventually physical death. Right away we see the blessing that God wanted to continue to provide for Adam and Eve had to be removed because of their sin. This helps us understand our word better when we see it used of one person cursing another. We see this when Balak realizes he can’t defeat God’s people in battle so he hires Balaam to curse them that is to remove God’s blessings from them so he can have an advantage over them. Numbers 22:4-6, 12 Now come and אָֽרָה put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you תָּאֹ֖ר curse יוּאָֽר is cursed … But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not תָאֹר֙ put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” This sense of invoking divine harm or evil on someone is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 22:28 You shall not revile God, nor תָאֹֽר curse a ruler of your people. This is interesting because as fallen sinful people we tend to not only complain about our leaders but even sometimes wish them harm. But God calls us to not only not curse them but also to even pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1-4). God wants us to see him working not only in his church to bring salvation but also in human government that he also set up. God uses both to accomplish his purposes. This doesn’t mean that everything government officials do is God’s will. It just means that God has set up human government to accomplish his purposes. There are numerous examples of God using unbelieving and ungodly people in human government to accomplish his ultimate will in the Bible. I’ll simply close with this great reminder. Notice the good that God brings about from none other than government. Romans 13:1, 4 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God … For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.