Blasphemy: Piercing God’s Name

Cursing YHWH is more than simply expressing contempt and irreverence. In the biblical world view, it is attempted deicide, and thus is punishable by death.

Prof.

Theodore J. Lewis

Prof.

Theodore J. Lewis

Categories:

Emor

Blasphemy and its consequences is a recurring theme in the Bible.^[1] For example, Naboth is executed when Jezebel trumps-up an accusation of blasphemy against him:

^{מלכים א כא:י} וְהוֹשִׁיבוּ שְׁנַיִם אֲנָשִׁים בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל נֶגְדּוֹ וִיעִדֻהוּ לֵאמֹר בֵּרַכְתָּ אֱלֹהִים וָמֶלֶךְ וְהוֹצִיאֻהוּ וְסִקְלֻהוּ וְיָמֹת.

^{1 Kgs 21:10} And seat two scoundrels opposite him, and let them testify against him: “You have reviled God and king!” Then take him out and stone him to death.^[2]

YHWH swears that the blasphemy of Eli’s sons^[3] will never be expiated by sacrifice or offering (1 Sam 3:13–14; cf. Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). Indeed, even if motivated by hunger, the blasphemer of God and king is thrust into utter darkness (Isa 8:21–22).

The Blasphemous Son in Leviticus

In the Torah, the story of the blasphemous son of Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan, begins:

^{ויקרא כד:יא} וַיִּקֹּב בֶּן הָאִשָּׁה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית אֶת הַשֵּׁם וַיְקַלֵּל וַיָּבִיאוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל מֹשֶׁה... ^כד:יב וַיַּנִּיחֻהוּ בַּמִּשְׁמָר לִפְרֹשׁ לָהֶם עַל פִּי יְ־הוָה.

^{Lev 24:11} And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed (lit. pierced) the name (of YHWH) and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses... ^24:12 Then they put him in custody, until the will of YHWH might be shown to them.

YHWH instructs Moses to take the blasphemer outside the camp to be executed:

^{ויקרא כד:טו} וְאֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר אִישׁ אִישׁ כִּי יְקַלֵּל אֱלֹהָיו וְנָשָׂא חֶטְאוֹ. ^כד:טז וְנֹקֵב שֵׁם יְ־הוָה מוֹת יוּמָת רָגוֹם יִרְגְּמוּ בוֹ כָּל הָעֵדָה כַּגֵּר כָּאֶזְרָח בְּנָקְבוֹ שֵׁם יוּמָת.

^{Lev 24:15} And to the Israelite people speak thus: “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. ^24:16 And whoever blasphemes (lit. pierces) the name of YHWH shall surely be put to death. The entire community shall certainly stone him, the migrant as well as the native born. When he blasphemes (lit. pierces) the name (of YHWH), he shall be put to death.”

The English word “blasphemy” covers a wide range of verbal actions wherein a person uses the power of words to speak contemptuously, impiously or irreverently in order to abuse, curse, reproach, revile, show contempt, cause injury (“injurious” words), slander, speak evil of, or even despise someone, typically God.

The passage here, however, contains a curious expression for the blasphemous act: “piercing (נ.ק.ב) God’s name” (vv. 11, 16). What does it mean to pierce a name, and why would it incur the severity of capital punishment?

Survival and Destruction of a Name

Names are integral to an individual’s sense of self and family, and central to identity formation as we navigate our place in society. How we use and treat the names of others is equally telling about social perception and negotiation. The significance of names was not lost on the ancients,^[4] and the obliteration of a person’s name was viewed as a profound act. Ideally, a person’s name was preserved through their offspring (cf. Deut 25:6; Judg 21:17; 2 Sam 14:7; Ruth 4:10), and even after death, with commemoration rituals binding ancestors to the living (2 Sam 18:18).^[5]

The importance of a person’s enduring name finds physical expression in funerary stelae where we read of curses invoking the wrath of the gods should someone efface a person’s name.^[6] See, for example, the Karatepe inscription (8^th–7^th century B.C.E.), which recounts the accomplishments of Azatiwada, a local ruler in Cilicia. Azatiwada curses the person who effaces his name by invoking the gods to efface the person and his kingdom:

Now if a king among kings or a prince among princes, if a man, who is a man of renown, who shall erase the name of Azatiwada from this gate, and shall place (his) name (on it)…then shall Baʿal Shamem and El, creator of the earth, and Shemesh, the eternal, and the whole group of the children of the gods erase that kingdom, and that king, and that man who is a man of renown.^[7]

The goal of the biblical command to destroy divine images of illicit gods is phrased in terms of ultimately destroying their names:

^{דברים יב:ג} וְנִתַּצְתֶּם אֶת מִזְבּחֹתָם וְשִׁבַּרְתֶּם אֶת מַצֵּבֹתָם וַאֲשֵׁרֵיהֶם תִּשְׂרְפוּן בָּאֵשׁ וּפְסִילֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶם תְּגַדֵּעוּן וְאִבַּדְתֶּם אֶת שְׁמָם מִן הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא.

^{Deut 12:3} Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred posts to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site.

In Zechariah, YHWH declares that he will cut off the names of the foreign gods such that they will no longer be remembered:

^{זכריה יג:ב} וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת אַכְרִית אֶת שְׁמוֹת הָעֲצַבִּים מִן הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא יִזָּכְרוּ עוֹד....

^{Zech 13:2} In that day, too—declares YHWH of Hosts—I will erase the very names of the idols (lit. effigies) from the land; they shall not be uttered any more.… (cf. Zeph 1:4).

To blot out a name, then, is identity deformation, including effacing the individual’s very existence and future memory.

God’s Name in Battle

YHWH’s identity is also manifested in his Name, not only in the Temple, but also in battle. In the account of Israel’s war with the Philistines, YHWH’s Name is attached to the Ark, which is used as a war palladium:^[8]

^{שׁמואל ב ו:ב} וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ דָּוִד וְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ מִבַּעֲלֵי יְהוּדָה לְהַעֲלוֹת מִשָּׁם אֵת אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נִקְרָא שֵׁם שֵׁם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים עָלָיו.

^{2 Sam 6:2} Then David and all the troops that were with him set out from Baalim of Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God to which the Name was attached, the name YHWH of Hosts Enthroned on the Cherubim.

In Isaiah, the hypostatic Name of YHWH comes from afar to do battle:^[9]

^{ישׁעיה ל:כז} הִנֵּה שֵׁם יְ־הוָה בָּא מִמֶּרְחָק בֹּעֵר אַפּוֹ וְכֹבֶד מַשָּׂאָה שְׂפָתָיו מָלְאוּ זַעַם וּלְשׁוֹנוֹ כְּאֵשׁ אֹכָלֶת.

^{Isa 30:27} Behold the Name of YHWH comes from afar in blazing wrath, with a heavy burden—his lips full of fury, his tongue like devouring fire.

Psalm 20 invokes the protective power inherent in the Name of YHWH three times, culminating in a comparison between the Name and the enemies’ chariots:

^{תהלים כ:ח} אֵלֶּה בָרֶכֶב וְאֵלֶּה בַסּוּסִים וַאֲנַחְנוּ בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נַזְכִּיר.

^{Ps 20:8} They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses; but we invoke the Name of YHWH our God (cf. vv. 2, 6).

Especially noteworthy is the way in which YHWH’s Name is employed as a weapon, parallel to tangible weapons that are wielded in battle, in the story of David battling Goliath:

^{שׁמואל א יז:מה} וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי אַתָּה בָּא אֵלַי בְּחֶרֶב וּבַחֲנִית וּבְכִידוֹן וְאָנֹכִי בָא אֵלֶיךָ בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר חֵרַפְתָּ.

^{1 Sam 17:45} Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword, spear and scimitar; but I come against you with the Name of YHWH of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied.”

The hypostatic use of a divine name in battle also occurs in one of the 8^th-century B.C.E. plaster inscriptions found at Kuntillet ʿAjrud in northern Sinai, which mentions “the Name of El on the day of wa[r].”^[10]

If the Name of YHWH (as a manifestation of divine presence) can go to battle, then, logically, combatants can attack and even defeat the Name of YHWH in battle. As YHWH can blot out the name of his enemies, so, logically, could his Name be blotted. How? The key is in the language of piercing.

Piercing in Divine Battle

Beyond the mundane use of the root נ.ק.ב for piercing or boring a hole (e.g., through rock),^[11] we also find the verb in divine combat myths.^[12] Habakkuk portrays YHWH as a charioteer armed for battle with bow and arrows as well as a spear with which he will pierce the (Sea) enemy:

^{חבקוק ג:יד} נָקַבְתָּ בְמַטָּיו רֹאשׁ פְּרָזוֹ [פְּרָזָיו] יִסְעֲרוּ לַהֲפִיצֵנִי עֲלִיצֻתָם כְּמוֹ לֶאֱכֹל עָנִי בַּמִּסְתָּר.

^{Hab 3:14} You will pierce [his] skull with Your bludgeon; blown away shall be his warriors, whose delight is to crush me suddenly, to devour a poor man in an ambush.^[13]

YHWH also claims to have pierced the nose and jaws of the Behemoth beast:

^{איוב מ:כו} הֲתָשִׂים אַגְמוֹן בְּאַפּוֹ וּבְחוֹחַ תִּקּוֹב לֶחֱיוֹ.

^{Job 40:26} Can you put a ring through his nose, or pierce his jaw with a barb?^[14]

A warrior deity piercing a seven-headed dragon from Tell Asmar. Courtesy of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago. See fn. 14

The Blasphemer and His Logic

The blasphemer lives in a world that does not embrace romantic notions about the inherent immortality of the gods. He sees clear indications that gods can and do die. There are the well-known myths of deities who die temporarily, descending to the underworld and then returning from the dead—the deaths of Osiris in Egypt, Baʿlu at Ugarit, and Dumuzi in Mesopotamia, for example.^[15]

Other tales tell of gods who die and do not return. For example, the Mesopotamian creation myth, Enuma Elish, contains several scenes of divine conflict and death, including Ea killing Apsu to thwart Apsu’s plan to destroy the other deities, and Marduk killing the goddess Tiamat and using her body to create the world.^[16] The musings found in Ugarit’s Kirta Epic may be even more telling. It is hard not to feel the uncertainty voiced as Kirta’s son weeps for his ailing father and wonders: ʾuʾilm tmtn “Do gods die after all?” (KTU 1.16.I.22 // KTU 1.16.II.43).

How Do You Kill a God?

Yet what deicidal strategy could a mortal employ to defeat a god? There are no legendary ancient Near Eastern traditions of mere humans, spear in hand, successfully defeating the gods. Thus, the blasphemer turns to the only power and logic he knows will work: a curse.

In ancient Near Eastern performative speech, certain words (when used correctly^[17]) were thought to have power and efficacy.^[18] Effectual words could enable a person of lesser power to bring about a desired result (by tapping into divine power) against a much greater enemy.^[19] This is perfectly illustrated by effectual words (e.g., curses, imprecations) that are used at a distance against a much greater force—indeed, even against nation states(e.g., Ps 137:7–9; Ps 79:10b–12; Obad 15–16).^[20]

Perhaps the blasphemer concludes that just as only YHWH is able to physically pierce a cosmic deity—where no human would stand a chance—so only YHWH would be able to bring about the blasphemer’s desire to pierce/kill the Name (and hence the essence) of YHWH. As already argued in the Talmud, the blasphemer is liable under the law for invoking YHWH to curse YHWH:

^{בבלי סנהדרין נו.} גמרא: תנא עד שיברך שם בשם.

^{b. Sanh 56a} Gemara: [The sage] taught: Unless he blesses [a euphemism for curses] the name [of God] with the name [of God].

מנהני מילי אמר שמואל דאמר קרא (ויקרא כד, טז) ונוקב שם וגו' בנקבו שם יומת.

From where is this matter derived? Shmuel says that the verse states: “And he who blasphemes the Name… when he blasphemes the Name” (Lev 24:16).^[21]

Or, better nuanced, the blasphemer, with malevolent hubris, invokes a God-empowered imprecation that proclaims the hex: “May YHWH pierce the Name of YHWH!”^[22]

The Adjudication of Deicide

The blasphemer’s attempted deicide helps answer the question of why his crime would incur the severity of capital punishment. The performative cursing is deadly serious, entirely different in degree from Job’s use of caustic words to challenge God and His nature (Job 16:6–14).^[23] Raymond Westbrook and Bruce Wells state succinctly:

Blasphemy was essentially the act of putting a curse—or attempting to put a curse—upon a deity. It was the ultimate act of rebellion.^[24]

The content of the blasphemous curse—using the language of “piercing” YHWH’s Name—is that of deicide, and the illicit means—the attempted appropriation of YHWH’s power for this most extreme act—constitutes an additional act of rebellion.^[25] In response to such an act of killing, lex talionis law would require capital punishment.^[26] Thus the blasphemy narrative (Lev 24:10–14, 23), and the resulting punishment (vv. 13, 23), are positioned within the context of lex talionis laws of commensurate retribution with respect to killing:

^{ויקרא כד:יז} וְאִישׁ כִּי יַכֶּה כָּל נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם מוֹת יוּמָת.... ^כד:יטוְאִישׁ כִּי יִתֵּן מוּם בַּעֲמִיתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לּוֹ. ^כד:כ שֶׁבֶר תַּחַת שֶׁבֶר עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן שֵׁן תַּחַת שֵׁן כַּאֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מוּם בָּאָדָם כֵּן יִנָּתֶן בּוֹ.

^{Lev 24:17} If anyone kills any human being, he shall be put to death…. ^24:19 If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: ^24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him.

We could argue that the blasphemer’s act was an act of attempted killing, for God was indeed not killed due to the man’s words. Yet effectual words were perceived to be powerful and even lethal. Thus, to write anachronistically, the man had discharged what he considered to be a lethal weapon in committing his crime. In criminal law, his intention to kill and his overt actions using a lethal means make him guilty of an indictable offense that carries a maximum penalty.

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May 28, 2024

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Footnotes

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Published

May 28, 2024

Last Updated

October 21, 2024

[1] The present article is an abridgement of a much fuller treatment that can be found in Theodore J. Lewis, “Piercing God’s Name: A Mythological Subtext of Deicide Underlying Blasphemy in Leviticus 24,” in Le-maʿan Ziony: Essays in Honor of Ziony Zevit, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn and Gary A. Rendsburg (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2017), 213–238.

[2] Scholars recognize that in each of these verses, ברך, “to bless” (Piel) is used euphemistically for cursing. Cf. below, note 26. Biblical translations follow the NJPS, with modifications.

[3] Reading אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim), “God,” in 1 Samuel 3:13 for MT’s לָהֶם (lahem) in line with the LXX, the tiqqune soferim, and almost all commentators who recognize how the original text was changed for pious reasons. See, for example, P. Kyle McCarter, I Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary, Anchor Bible 8 (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), 96.

[4] The use of names in the ancient world is a constant field of study. See, for example, Rainer Albertz and Rüdiger Schmitt, Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2012), 245–386. In addition to his social analysis, Albertz includes a massive amount of data in the tables listed in §5.1–5.16.

[5] Karel van der Toorn notes that invoking the names of the deceased (and thereby, in part, their essence) does more than just preserve their identity: “The piety towards the forefathers endows the living with a family identity that is anchored in the past.” See Karel van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996), 48, and esp. 52. See too Theodore J. Lewis, “How Far can Texts Take Us? Evaluating Textual Sources for Reconstructing Ancient Israelite Beliefs about the Dead,” in Sacred Time, Sacred Place: Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, ed. Barry M. Gittlen (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 169–217 (p. 194–196).

[6] Given such cultural weight, only extreme situations occasion individuals to employ the severe rhetoric of blotting out (מ.ח.ה/י), cutting off (כ.ר.ת), or destroying (א.ב.ד, שׁ.מ.ד) a person’s or a people’s name—and with it their identity, essence, and memory. Cases in point include:

the desire to see the cessation of enemy nations (Exod 17:14; Deut 25:19; Isa 14:22);
the psalmist’s celebration of the eternal eradication of his enemies’ names (Ps 9:6–7); and
the psalmist who seeks to blot out the name of those who sought the death of the poor, needy, and brokenhearted (Ps 109: 13, 15–16).

[7] KAI 26 A iii 13–14,18–19, iv 1; C iv, 15ff. Translation follows “The Azatiwada Inscription,” trans. K. Lawson Younger, Jr., in Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World, vol. 2 of The Context of Scripture, ed. William W. Hallo (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 2.31:150.

[8] We also see the ritual invocation of YHWH’s Name in the “Song of the Ark” (Num 10:35–36). Editor’s note: On YHWH’s Name in the Temple, see Sandra L. Richter, “Does YHWH’s Name Dwell in the Temple?,” TheTorah (2021). On the Ark traditions, see Tzemah Yoreh, “The Two Arks: Military and Ritual,” TheTorah (2020).

[9] Hypostasization, which was common in the ancient Near East, involves the personification of objects or ideas associated with the divine, be they sanctuaries, cult objects, attributes, or abstract features. It can be taken to such an extent that the resultant hypostasis functions as a surrogate for the deity. See note 22 below.

[10] šm ʾl bym mlḥ[mh]. For a detailed study of the divine profile and crucial epigraphic readings of this important text, see Theodore J. Lewis, “A Holy Warrior at Kuntillet ʿAjrud? Kuntillet ʿAjrud Plaster Inscription 4.2,” in The Bible in the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of P. Kyle McCarter, ed. Christopher Rollston et al., Ancient Near East Monographs 27 (Atlanta: SBL, 2022), 367–407.

[11] This use of נ.ק.ב is well attested in the Bible, epigraphic Hebrew, and in various cognate languages.

[12] Known in German as Chaoskampf traditions, divine combat myths have a long pedigree and are well attested in a wide variety of texts and iconography throughout the ancient Near East, including warrior gods such as Marduk in the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish, Baʿlu in the Ugaritic Baʿlu Myth, and YHWH in the Bible. See Debra Scoggins Ballentine, The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).

[13] Editor’s note: On this passage, see Marvin A. Sweeney, “Habakkuk’s Mythological Depiction of YHWH,” TheTorah (2018).

[14] YHWH also quells the Sea and pierces (חלל) the Fleeing Serpent (Job 26:12–13). In addition, Isaiah speaks of YHWH’s piercing (חלל) the mythological tannin-Dragon (51:9–10). Piercing of a mythological seven-headed dragon by a warrior deity is known throughout the ancient Near East in text and iconography (see “Heracles and Hydra,” The Melammu Project). Photo in the article from Henri Frankfort, Iraq Excavations of the Oriental Institute 1932/33. Third Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition. Oriental Institute Communications, No. 17 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934), 49, Figure 43. Seal Impression As. 32.738.

[15] Dumuzi’s descent into the underworld evokes ritual mourning reflected in Mesopotamian literature and in the Bible (Ezek 8:14).

[16] Stories, both East and West Semitic, that tell of the death of the gods include those in the Chaoskampf tradition, those dealing with rebellious gods, and the killing of those who were deemed guilty of some offense (e.g., Qingu in Enuma Elish VI). Compare especially the tale of Atrahasis (1.4.223–26) that tells of the slaughter of the rebel god Ilawela whose flesh, blood, spirit, and intelligence are then used as ingredients for making humans. We also have examples of religious iconography of one deity killing another. Editor’s note: On Enuma Elish, see Wayne Horowitz, “Enuma Elish: Babylonia’s Creation Myth and the Enthronement of Marduk,” TheTorah (2023).

[17] There are occasional indications that the way in which such speech was performed was essential to perceived efficacy. A perfect example can be found in the 1^st-millennium B.C.E. anti-witchcraft series known as Maqlû, which contains what Tzvi Abusch calls a non-stop “forceful alliterative style” using two parallel roots having to do with “bewitching” (kašāpu) and “practicing [sorcery]” (epēšu). Abusch’s superb sonic translation reads:

kaššāpu ikšipanni kišpī ikšipanni kišipšu

kaššaptu takšipanni kišpī takšipanni kišipši

ēpišu īpušanni ipšū īpušanni epussu

ēpištu tēpušanni ipšū tēpušanni epussi

muštēpištu tēpušanni ipšū tēpušanni epussi

A warlock has bewitched me; bewitch him with the witchcraft with which he bewitched me,

A witch has bewitched me; bewitch her with the witchcraft with which she bewitched me,

A sorcerer has ensorcelled me; ensorcell him with the sorcery with which he ensorcelled me,

A sorceress has ensorcelled me; ensorcell her with the sorcery with which she ensorcelled me,

A woman who instigates sorcery has ensorcelled me; ensorcell her with the sorcery with which she ensorcelled me.

See Tzvi Abusch, The Witchcraft Series Maqlû, Writings from the Ancient World 37 (Atlanta: SBL, 2015), 9–10, 50–53.

[18] In addition, see Sheldon Blank who argues that “the fear of the effective power of the spoken word best explains the total absence of [explicit] blasphemy in the Bible.” Blank goes on to note that the fact that “the Bible nowhere contains the curse formula directed against God, i.e. blasphemy...is all the more remarkable because the Bible is by no means lacking in passages referring to the possibility of a curse directed against God” (Blank’s emphasis). See Sheldon H. Blank, “The Curse, Blasphemy, the Spell and the Oath,” Hebrew Union College Annual 23.1 (1950–51): 73–95 (p. 83).

Blank’s point is very well taken. And yet, if the verb יֵאבַדוּ (yeʾvadu) of Jeremiah 10:11 is translated as a jussive (which is the understanding of the LXX), the following curse would result: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth—May these perish (yeʾvadu) from the earth and from under the heavens.” It is of interest that this verse is written in Aramaic, the only Aramaic to appear in the book of Jeremiah. A solution to why this may be can be found in Theodore J. Lewis, “A Magical Aramaic Curse in Jeremiah 10:11—A Performative Sociolinguistic Solution,” in “Now These Records are Ancient”—Studies in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical History, Language and Culture in Honor of K. Lawson Younger, Jr., ed. James K. Hoffmeier, Richard E. Averbeck, J. Caleb Howard and Wolfgang Zwickel, Ägypten und Altes Testament 114 (Münster: Zaphon, 2022), 341–357.

[19] Though farther afield, consider how Pharaoh Pepi I—though a believer—can nonetheless appeal to magic to threaten any god who does not assist him in his ascent to the sky. See Pyramid Text 539, §1322–1324 in James P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, 2^nd ed., Writings from the Ancient World 23 (Atlanta: SBL, 2015), 174.

[20] Though the blasphemer in Leviticus 24 is charged with an oral crime, at times effectual words were ritualized. See, for example Numbers 5:11–31; Jeremiah 19:1–11; 51:59–64.

[21] The Talmud’s insight was advocated already in Dennis H. Livingston, “The Crime of Leviticus XXIV 11,” Vetus Testamentum 36.3 (1986): 352–353. See too a different line of thinking by Jacob Milgrom, following David Noel Freedman, who suggests that the reciprocal logic of humans and God blessing one another (and “feeding” one another) suggests the same reciprocity could apply to the efficacy of curses. Milgrom does presume that the name of God would be used in cursing God. See Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible 3c (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 2109.

[22] Alternatively, we could posit that the blasphemer is invoking a hypostatic entity that represents YHWH (and can access His power) but at the same time can act independently—and importantly for the blasphemer’s thinking and purpose—out of accord with YHWH’s wishes as when the “Anger of YHWH” induces David to disobey YHWH’s prohibition against taking a census. See 2 Samuel 24 and the parallel in 1 Chronicles 21, and the exposition by P. Kyle McCarter, “When Gods Lose Their Temper: Divine Rage in Ugaritic Myth and the Hypostasis of Anger in Iron Age Religion,” in Divine Wrath and Divine Mercy in the World of Antiquity, ed. by Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 78–91. Anne Marie Kitz frames this as the blasphemer trying to access YHWH’s “evil” side, a position that is “untenable” and would thus have a “boomerang effect” on the blasphemer. See Anne Marie Kitz, Cursed Are You! The Phenomenology of Cursing in Cuneiform and Hebrew Texts (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 162 (n. 18). See also Blank’s (“The Curse,” 85) remarks about such cursing “backfiring.”

[23] Note that there is no indication of Job’s harsh words constituting an accusation of blasphemy deserving of capital punishment.

[24] Raymond Westbrook and Bruce Wells, Everyday Law in Biblical Israel. An Introduction (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 71.

[25] Is it just a coincidence that Zechariah juxtaposes the crimes of theft and swearing falsely by the name of YHWH as two offenses that are placed under a severe curse that destroys both violators’ homes?

^{זכריה ה:ד} הוֹצֵאתִיהָ נְאֻם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת וּבָאָה אֶל בֵּית הַגַּנָּב וְאֶל בֵּית הַנִּשְׁבָּע בִּשְׁמִי לַשָּׁקֶר וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ וְכִלַּתּוּ וְאֶת עֵצָיו וְאֶת אֲבָנָיו.

^{Zech. 5:4} [But] I have sent it forth—declares YHWH of Hosts—and [the curse] shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name, and it shall lodge inside their houses and shall consume them to the last timber and stone.”

Could it be that swearing falsely using YHWH’s name was thought of as an act of theft (i.e. stealing/ appropriating the godly name for ungodly purposes)? Cf. Jer 7:9.

[26] The same act of (attempted) cursing of the divine with (potential) lethal ramifications is reflected in Job 2:9. Here too we have ברך used euphemistically for cursing the deity (cf. above note 2). Had Job actually followed his wife’s advice and cursed God, he would have died as a result though the means by which (human or divine) are not stated. Thus, the Peshitta translators are correct to see this as an act of blasphemy (ṣ.ḥ.ʾ). For many other interpretations, see Choon Leong Seow, Job 1–21. Interpretation and Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2013), 305. Editor’s note: For an alternate interpretation of lex talionis in this passage, see also Shawna Dolansky, “The Import of Lex Talionis in the Story of the Blasphemer,” TheTorah (2019).

the desire to see the cessation of enemy nations (Exod 17:14; Deut 25:19; Isa 14:22);
the psalmist’s celebration of the eternal eradication of his enemies’ names (Ps 9:6–7); and
the psalmist who seeks to blot out the name of those who sought the death of the poor, needy, and brokenhearted (Ps 109: 13, 15–16).