Should You Pray Curse-Prayers? (2 Sam 3.29, 36, 29)
“May the guilt fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house; and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge, or who is leprous, or who holds a spindle, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks food!”
David swore, saying, “So may God do to me, and more, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down!”
“…The LORD pay back the one who does wickedly in accordance with his wickedness!”
Background
Curse-prayers are a complex and perhaps troubling style of prayer for modern people of faith. They are found throughout scripture on the lips of people, from kings to commoners, from prophets to non-believers. Do they have a role in our prayer lives?
This is a curse that asks that the family of Joab be either diseased, weak and poor, killed, or starved. It is a humiliating curse, but one that would be understood as deserving to someone who betrayed a covenant of the king—it was more than insubordinate; it was traitorous and perfidious.
Meaning
This passage then, which is about betraying a promise, contains a direct curse-prayer, and two other curses that are conditional. What can we learn about prayer from this story and the three prayers? The themes of loyalty and duplicity are interwoven throughout. The curse-prayers are a response to betrayal. Is this the lesson we learn? That when someone betrays us, we are free to pronounce a curse on them? The problem with this is that it appears to contradict the teachings of Jesus about “turning the other cheek” and “blessing those who curse you,” and the words of Paul: “bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”4 As always, context usually helps us understand the purpose of the passage and a proper application.
- Matt 5.39; Luke 6.26; Rom 12.14. ↩
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