The Disconnect Between the Shrine and the Street in Africa: A Reflection on bērak1 as “Curse” in the Book of Job (Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9)

Abstract

There is a specific striking tradition in the Book of Job where the Hebrew verb “bērak” nuances a “curse”. This curious phenomenon deviates from the commonplace meaning of the term in the Jewish worldview. This paper seeks to unravel the motive(s) behind this rendition and how it affects the use of the word in the Jewish worldview, as well as its contextual ramifications in the African worldview. Adopting a literary-grammatical approach and the African biblical hermeneutical method, we examined the specific terms and contexts of the use of “bērak” as “curse” leading to the following conclusions: firstly, that the phenomenon reflects linguistic euphemism and antithetical polysemy in Jewish worldview and secondly, that an African biblical hermeneutical framework offers profound insights into this curious phenomenon in the context of the power of speech, communal identity and the sacredness of language in African worldview. It also reveals an existential reality on the African continent – thus, the seeming disconnect between African religiosity and the teething multifaceted crises on the African continent. These conclusions will have an immediate and far-reaching impact on further research.