The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 332

L To SWEAR BY GoD'e NAME IS COMMANDED, AB REING A REOOGNITION Oil' HIM AB SUPREME LoRD. Thus in Deuteronomy we read, "Thou ehalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his Name" (vi. 13); in the Psalms," Every one that sweareth by him shall glory (or be commended)" (I.xiii. 11); in Isaiah, "He th&t sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth " (lxv. 16); in Jeremiah "Thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness,,• (iv. 2); "Thy children have forsaken me, and swom by them that are no gods" (v. 7) • "And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people to s~ear by my Name, The Lord liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baai; then shall they be built in the midst of my people" (xii. 16). IL GoD SWEABS BY HIMSELF. "By myself have I swom, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: th&t in blessing I will bless thee" (Gen. ll.iL 16, 17). "I have swom by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isa. xlv. 23). "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he aware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee...• Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation" (Heb. vi. 13--18). Ill Gon's COMM.AND MADE OF NONE EFFECT BY JEWISH TB.ADITIONS. These are summed up in the following passage of Philo Judmus :-" Let the word of the good man be a firm oath, immovable trust, free from falsehood, based on truth. But if this be not sufficient, and necessity compel him t-0 swear, he should swear by the health or sacred age of his father or mother if they are alive, or by their memory if they are dead. For they are images and representations of Divine power, inasmuch as they brought into being those that did not exist before. They too deserve praise who, when they are compelled to swear, suggest the thought of reverence both to tha byst.a.nders and to those who impose the oath by the limitation and unwillingness which they show. For, saying aloud, 'Yes, by - - , ' and, 'No, by--,' and adding nothing, under the appearance of sudden interruption, they show that they do not swear a complete oath. But let a man add thereto what he pleases, such as the earth, the sun, the stars, the heaven, the whole world, provided he does not add the highest and most awful Cause" (' De SpeciaL Legibus '). IV. CHBIBT FOBllIDS SWEARING. "Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thon shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thiue oaths: but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil" (Matt. v, 33-37). Nearly the same words are repeated in Jas. v. 12. V. CHBIBT'B COMlliND LIMITED IN 1TB EXTENT. His prohibition refers to ordinary swearing, not to solemn oaths taken in courts of justice or under similar circumstances. This is plain by the fact that at his own trial he replied to the adjuration of the high priest, which adjuration was the Jewish manner of taking an oath in a court of justice, "Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus ~aid unto him, Thou hast said" (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64). Because the high priest's words were" the voice ofewearing" (eh. v. 1), Jesus broke his silence and spoke in obedience to the adjuration; and oaths are spoken of with approval in the Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 13-18), VL WHAT AN OATH IB. It is an appeal to the tribunal of God, the person swearing (or adjured) calling God to witness to the truth of his words. Its purpose is "an end of all strife" (Heb. vi. 16). When no circumstantial evidence is forthcoming, the only means of arriving at truth is the awe of God solemnly invoked by an oath, and the nread of offending him by perjury, Where either sophistical casuistry or a secret-still more _an opt,n-scepticism undermines or destroys the sense of the obligation o( oaths in ~ nation, that nation is hurrying on its way to destruction. ,CH. llL 1-37.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 297