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So when Professor Pirna proposed to me the title monotheistic religions, curse or blessing,

I was of course fully aware that he meant these terms in general metaphorical sense.

But I took the liberty to understand them in their literal sense.

Curse and blessing as well as ambivalence in general belong within the foundations of biblical,

that is Israelite monotheism.

They are part of the way in which biblical monotheism understands and presents itself in these writings.

They are not external concepts that are illegitimately applied to ancient texts,

but ideas that are essential for the new form of religion that these texts unfold

and which we came since the 17th century to call monotheism.

The core document concerning cursing and blessing is the book of Deuteronomy.

It is staged as a farewell speech of Moses who is to remain in Moab and to die there,

whereas the Israelites to whom the speech is addressed will cross the Jordan on the next morning.

The book starts with a brief recapitulation of the liberation and wandering from Egypt,

the experience of the great deeds of God, and then presents the people with a body of laws

and commandments that will serve as the foundation of the covenant between God and people.

As a conclusion, Moses places six tribes on Mount Gerizim to bless the people,

or six persons, and six on Mount Ebal to curse them.

The blessings are for those who keep the law and the commandments, the curses for those who break them.

Chapter 27 ends with curses that will hit those who sin in clandestinity out of reach for the arm of the law.

And chapter 28 starts with ten blessings in case the law will be strictly observed.

And then, however, follow no less than 53 verses of the most elaborate and terrible curses in case the law will be abandoned.

Thus, it is made clear right from the start that the new religion built on the covenant between God and Israel is a mixed blessing.

It contains life and death, life beyond all experience of prosperity and death beyond all experience of disaster.

Religion, to be sure, is always a very serious matter.

Mistakes in ritual performance may cause calamities and even the death of the efficient.

Blaspheming the gods may arouse their wrath and entail terrible punishment, and so on and so on.

But here, we are dealing with something categorically different.

What Yahweh ordained at Mount Sinai and what he has the people swear by the most solemn oaths

is a matter not just of correct behavior towards God or the gods and correct observance of the ritual,

but of the entire form of political, social, and individual life.

And even, and above all, of an inner engagement and attitudes such as piety, justice, equity, sincerity,

empathy, compassion, beneficence, generosity, helpfulness, and I would like to add mindfulness, and much more.

Most, if not all, of these attitudes and virtues occur also in other cultures such as Egypt, Babylonia, Greece.

However, they are not part of religion there, but of secular wisdom.

In Israel, however, they become part of religion because they are part of the covenant,

which is not just a formal alliance, but a very strong emotional bond, a bond of love, actually,

for which bridal community and matrimony are central metaphors.

Keeping a covenant requires not just outward correctness, but inner emotional and intellectual participation.

In the book of Deuteronomy, the proclamation of the laws of the covenant starts with the famous Shema confession.

Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the God your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your heart.

The concept of curse and blessing are integral elements of the idea of covenant, berit in Hebrew,

a political term meaning contract, treaty, alliance.

Yet Yahweh, the God of Israel, establishes on Mount Sinai between himself and his chosen people,

which he liberated from Egyptian bondage.

The religious concept of covenant is an absolutely new and revolutionary idea in the history of religion.

However, it has a long prehistory on the political plane.

Political treaties used to be sworn by both parties with three lemon oaths,