According to an article by Donald Parry, prophetic symbolic curses are well attested in the Bible. The people of the Book of Mormon demonstrated this Old World tradition of performing symbolic actions that revealed a prophetic curse. For example, according to the Bible, Isaiah was instructed by the Lord to remove his garment and shoes and walk "naked [like a slave, without an upper garment] and barefoot" among the people. Isaiah's action was to be a sign, for as Isaiah walked like a slave, even so would the Egyptians become slaves to the Assyrians (Isaiah 20:2-4) The incident of the title of liberty was much more than a rally behind a standard. Those who witnessed Moroni's symbolic activity responded in turn with another symbolic action by casting their garments at Moroni's feet and then promising not to fall into transgression lest God "cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot" (Alma 46:22). A curse is clearly implied. [Donald W. Parry, "Symbolic Action as Prophetic Curse," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 206-207] [See also Mark J. Morrise, "Simile Curses in the Ancient Near East, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Spring 1993, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 124-138]
“Even As We Have Cast Our Garments at Thy Feet to Be Trodden Under Foot”
After Moroni raised his Title of Liberty, Mormon records:
the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments. Now this was the covenant which they made, and they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression. (Alma 46:21-22)
According to Terrence Szink, the well-known title-of-liberty episode in Alma 46 of the Book of Mormon includes an example of Near Eastern and Old Testament oaths of allegiance called "simile oaths." The clearest Near Eastern example of this is the so-called Hittite Soldiers' Oath uncovered at Boghazkoy in present-day Turkey. The tablet dates roughly to the middle of the second millennium B.C. and is designated as the second in a series entitled "When they lead the troops to the oath." . . . Two sections will be cited:
Then he places wax and mutton fat in their hands. He throws them on a flame and says: "Just as this wax melts, and just as the mutton fat dissolves, whoever breaks these oaths [shows disrespect to the king] of Hatti [land], let [him] melt like [wax], let him dissolve like [mutton fat]!" [The men] declare: "So be it!"
As in the Book of Mormon, an object is "likened" to the participants in the ritual. In this case, wax and mutton fat are used instead of a piece of clothing. Should the soldiers break their oath, they would suffer the fate of the object. The second section is strikingly similar to the Book of Mormon passage:
He [the priest] presents to them [a . . . ]. Before their eyes he [throws] it on the ground; they trample it under foot and he speaks as follows: "Whosoever breaks these oaths, even so let the Hatti people come and trample that man's town under foot."
[Terrence L. Szink, "An Oath of Allegiance in the Book of Mormon," in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 35-37]