... 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). ...

... Esarhaddon, who ruled from about 680-669 used a “wax curse” in his famed adê-agreement. It provides a Neo-Assyrian example of this kind of anathema. Just as a figurine of wax is burnt in the fire and one of clay dissolved in water, (so) may your forms be burnt in the (fire) deity Girra and sunk in the water! The Akkadian version offers a refinement of the earlier maledictions. Instead of just melting a glob of wax as was done in the Hittite and Aramaic examples, now a wax figurine (ṣalmu ‘statuette’) of the victim is provided. The affiliation between the subordinate and the curse-act could be made even more precise if the figurine actually resembled those entering the oath-bound relationship. This could be achieved by attaching some of the person’s hair and/or a piece of clothing (perhaps the fringe of the garment) to the statuette. Word and image would then come together to make the identification very precise. ...