Biblical examples of blessings and curses

 Now, the vehicles of blessings and curses are usually words. They may be words that are spoken,words that are written or simply words that are pronounced inwardly. However, both curses and blessings can be transferred or transmitted by objects, by physical objects. So it is not always just a question of words. To take a very simple example: In the communion that we celebrate as Christians, Paul says the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the body of Christ? So, through that cup, which is a physical object with the wine in it, God transmits to us a blessing.

In the Old Testament there were various examples of curses transmitted by objects. But particularly under the Law of Moses, if a woman was accused of being unfaithful to her husband there was a specific test. The priest would take her to the tabernacle, write out a curse and then wash off the words of the curse, the ink, into a cup of water. And the woman would be compelled to drink the water and pronounce the curse upon herself. If she was innocent nothing would happen to her. Her husband would never be free to accuse her again. But if she was guilty there would be disastrous physical consequences in her body. I merely give that as an example of a curse transmitted by something that is physical. In that case, a cup of water.