... Another possible example of imitative magic may be found in 2 Kings 6:1-7 where the sons of the prophets felt that their dwelling was too small. They went to Elisha to ask permission to go to the Jordan to get logs to make a place for them to dwell there. While they were busy cutting down the trees, an axe borrowed from another person fell into the river. Elisha came to their rescue. He asked: “Where did it fall?” When he was shown the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in the river and made the iron float. Here one can consider the act as an example of imitative magic. An example of imitative magic also occurs in 2 Kings 4:38-41 and is performed by Elisha. A pottage is being brewed by the prophet’s followers, and one of them goes out to gather herbs. Among the herbs gathered, there happens to be a poisonous one. This soon becomes apparent when the company begins to partake of the pottage, but Elisha calls for some meal and casts it into the brew. The immediate effect of which is to make the poison innocuous. In Oesterly’s opinion the wood floats, the iron imitates it; the meal is harmless therefore the poisonous herb will become harmless (Oesterley 1933:89). ...

... How can semolina effect purgation when it contains no blood, the ritual detergent of the purification offering (chapter 4, COMMENT B)? It may be no accident that in ancient Mesopotamia flour was indeed used in the kuppuru rituals (Geller 1980: 190-91). In the Šurpu ritual from Assur, the priest wipes off (ukappar) the patient with flour, which he throws into the fire, afterward sprinkling the patient with water. The priest then performs various acts of sympathetic magic, such as peeling an onion and ripping apart dates, matting, and wool, which are thrown into the fire; finally, the patient wipes himself off (ukappar; probably with the flour) and then throws it into the fire (Reiner 1958: II, lines 11-23). As will be explained (chapter 16, COMMENT F), the Semitic root kpr means “rub, wipe” and the pagans, as exemplified by the Šurpu ritual, above, literally wiped the magical detergent upon the body of the patient. The detergent purportedly absorbed his illness or impurity, necessitating its destruction (for example, in the fire, as above). ...