AGAIN, YOU HAVE HEARD THAT
THE ANCIENTS WERE TOLD, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS: Palin ekousate
(2PAAI) oti errethe (3SAPI) tois archaiois, Ouk epiorkeseis, (2SFAI)
apodoseis (2SFAI)
(Mt
23:16)
Lev 17:12 'And you shall
not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I
am the LORD.
Jesus gives us the fourth of six
illustrations of a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes
and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20)
The ancients were correct in this
regard to the "letter" of the Law about vows. They had simply learned
how to worm their way around the Law and thus they perverted the truth
inherent in these laws as discussed below.
As Jesus explains, the issue is not
so much about vows per se as it is about speaking the truth from our
heart of integrity.
Kent Hughes illustrates the
desire for truth in the prayer of the chaplain of the Kansas Senate...
Omniscient Father: Help us to know who is telling the truth. One side
tells us one thing, and the other just the opposite. And if neither side
is telling the truth, we would like to know that, too. And if each side
is telling half the truth, give us
the wisdom to put the right halves together. In Jesus' name, Amen.
(Hughes, R. K.
Sermon on the Mount: The Message of
the Kingdom. Crossway Books)
This prayer highlights what we
all know to be just as true in America as it was in Israel in Jesus'
day...truth is a vanishing breed. In fact a recent book, The Day America
Told the Truth, suggests that truth may be all but an extinct breed in
our land.
Hughes agrees and goes on to
add that...
Today there is an urgent truth
shortage! There was a time when western culture was distinguished from
other cultures by at least a conventional outward sense of obligation to
tell the truth. But now there is a pervasive indifference to
truth-telling, and this has not only infected day-to-day conversation
but the most solemn pledges of life. Perjury under solemn oath is
epidemic. The sacred vows of marriage are broken almost as often as
repeated. God's name is invoked by blatant liars who purport to be
witnesses to the truth.
There is, indeed, a crisis, but we must not make the mistake of thinking
it occurs only out there because it happens among us too. It is
difficult to always tell the truth. The great preacher and writer George
Macdonald wrote to his son on December 6, 1878, "I always try - I think
I do - to be truthful. All the same I tell a great many lies." I
identify with that. I am
speaking to someone and suddenly realize that what I am saying is not
the truth. Perhaps you have experienced the same. The difficulty comes
from the combination of my own deceitful nature and the pervasive
deceptiveness of the surrounding culture. (Hughes, R. K.
Sermon on the Mount: The Message of
the Kingdom. Crossway Books)
BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS
TO THE LORD: de to kurio tous orkous sou (Exodus
20:7;
Leviticus 19:12;
Numbers 30:2-16;
Deuteronomy 5:11;
23:23;
Psalms 50:14;
76:11;
Ecclesiastes 5:4-6;
Nahum 1:15)
Keep in mind that in the Old
Testament vows were encouraged and they were especially encouraged to be
in God's Name. However, once the vow was made, it was final and could
not be rescinded without consequences.
Expositor's Greek Testament
says that...
the Scribes misplaced the
emphasis (on the significance of oaths). They had a great deal to say,
in sophistical style, of
the oaths that were binding and not binding, nothing about the
fundamental requirement of truth in the inward parts.
Ryrie helps us understand how the
scribes and Pharisees were perverting the Old Testament passages on vows
noting that...
Oaths taken
in
the name of the Lord were binding, and perjury was strongly condemned in
the law (Ex. 20:7; Lev. 19:12; Deut. 19:16-19). Every oath contained an
affirmation or promise and an appeal to God as the omniscient punisher of
falsehoods, which made the oath binding. Thus we find phrases like "as the
Lord lives" (1Sam. 14:39). The emphasis on the sanctity of oaths led to
the feeling that ordinary phrasing need not be truthful or binding. (The
Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody
Publishers) (Bolding added)
In other words, when the scribes
and Pharisees made oath in the name of the LORD, that oath must be kept.
On the other hand if one made an
oath without expressly use the LORD's name (this is the
"catch") this oath was considered to be of lesser significance and did
not demand one to be quite to conscientious about keeping it.
The practice was to make
oaths "by heaven", "by earth",
"by Jerusalem", "by the Temple", etc. Later in Matthew Jesus again
castigates the scribes and Pharisees for their abuse of oaths
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple,
that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he
is obligated.... And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that
is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering upon it, he is
obligated." (Mt 23:16,18)
In this example of manipulation
of truth by the scribes and Pharisees, they (illogically) reasoned that
swearing by the temple, did not obligate one to fulfill their vow, but
swearing by the gold of the temple, obligated them to fulfill the vow.
Similarly, they hypocritically reasoned that swearing by the gift on the
altar was binding, but swearing by the empty altar was not. What they
did was value gold above God since the temple was the house of God.
Making a vow was used to
make an impression on, as if
they were “talking big” and making enormous promises. If the affirmation
which he made was a lie or if the promise was never even meant to be
kept, that did not disturb their conscience as long as they had not
sworn the oath “to the LORD.”
In the following verse,
Jesus clearly forbids such
hypocritical swearing (see below).
><>><>><>
F B Meyer has
the following comments on Mt 5:33-37...
SIMPLICITY IN
SPEECH
(Matt. 5:33-37.)
SPEECH! What is it? The
vibration of the air set in motion by vocal chord, tongue, and lip.
Apparently mechanical, yet how spiritual. Enriched from the voices of
nature, the dash of the breaker, the murmur of the breeze, the song of
the bird, and cry of beast, yet in its original fountains the evident
gift of the Creator.
Speech is the utterance of the
soul, and more; because the soul dyes and impregnates speech with its
emotions and inspirations, so that they are communicated to others as by
spiritual magnetism. Even when the words themselves are unintelligible
we catch the Divine afflatus, or our steps are quickened by the clarion
appeal.
God spake, and the visible
creation emerged from the realm of thought into realized fact. By speech
the Law was promulgated from Sinai; and by speech He who spake as never
man spake, and who was the Word of God incarnate, left us thoughts that
can never die. Speech has burned with the vehemence of Demosthenes,
flashed with the eloquence of Cicero, trembled with the pathos of
Chrysostom, thundered with the emphasis of Luther, rung with the high
note of Pitt, glittered with the brilliance of Sheridan, and poured like
a torrent from the lips of Burke. What a wonderful gift is this of human
speech. To what heights it may rise, to what depths descend. "Therewith
bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made
after the likeness of God. Out of the same fountain proceeds sweet water
and bitter."
The noblest form of speech is
the reflection in simple and natural words of great and good thoughts
which have been occupying the speaker's mind. Then language becomes
strong in its simplicity and majestic in its unadorned truth. There is
small need for nicely-balanced sentences or highly flavoured speech when
the soul of patriot, orator, or preacher is aglow with exalted and
inspiring conceptions. The volcanic fires that are burning within vent
themselves in burning syllables, which plough their way into the hearts
of men. When the speaker is deeply moved, his manuscript is crumpled in
his hand, the precise words which he had carefully prepared are
forgotten, and he makes a fresh way for himself in words that leap
red-hot and alive from his lips. The yeas and nays of Christ have been
sufficient to revolutionize the ages, not because of their eloquence (as
judged by human standards), but because they are weighted with the
wisdom and life of God. Terse, unadorned, and simple sentences, such,
for instance, as Abraham Lincoln was wont to utter, are sufficient when
far-reaching and profound principles of personal conduct or public
policy have to be announced.
If then we would obey this
command of our Lord as to speech, and confine ourselves to pure and
simple language, we must begin to think more deeply, to love more
tenderly, to cultivate our souls to nobler issues, and to amass
spiritual treasure. We can safely leave our words to take care of
themselves if our inner life is pure, and sweet, and strong. Let us only
imbibe our Master's spirit, and love God first and our neighbours as
ourselves, then from the pure fountain will flow pellucid streams like
those that issue from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
It must, however, be sorrowfully
confessed that for the most part the thinking of ourselves and of others
is not of that order. Men are not true, or deep, or unselfish, in their
innermost hearts, and they know it, and therefore in all ages they have
endeavoured to atone for the poverty of their thought by the
extravagance of their language.
Men are not true. To compensate,
therefore, for their lack of veracity, and to induce others to think
that they were neither lying nor deceiving, they have linked their words
with the awful name of God, daring the All-True to step out of His
silence to confound them if it were not as they said.
Men are not profound. To
compensate, therefore, for their lack of deep and original thoughts, and
to turn public attention from their threadbare and impoverished souls,
they employ extravagant and exaggerated speech, like that with which a
frivolous girl of the period is accustomed to express herself when for
the first time she stands in the presence of the solemn majesty of the
Alps at flush of dawn or under the touch of the silver moon.
Men are not unselfish. To
compensate, therefore, for their conscious tack of that love which
forgets itself in its devotion to the interests of others they will fill
their speech with extravagant expressions, which may impress the ear and
heart of those that hear them for the first time, but fall vain and
insipid on those who know that the love which vaunts itself most
passionately is more than likely to be scheming for its personal
advantage.
It is common enough for us to
hide our nakedness, our untruthfulness, our selfishness, under strong
asseverations and protestations, which call in the Supreme Being to
witness against us if it be not as we affirm.
The remarkable thing is that God
keeps silent. Though His verdict be invoked by the habitual liar and
blasphemer who swears that black is white, and calls on God to strike
him dead, or in some other way to prove that his words are false, yet
Heaven makes no sign. No voice speaks out of the silence, no thunderbolt
hurtles through the air; no sign is given that God is not mocked. Indeed
it might seem as though God had not heard, or that He was perfectly
indifferent.
But such is not the case. There
are many examples on record, like that, for instance, of Ananias and
Sapphira, where, in answer to some blasphemous appeal, God has
interposed to vindicate the truth which had been shamefully misstated.
God is not indifferent. He is not careless of the interest of truth and
righteousness. He hides Himself under the slow working of immutable
laws. But He is never appealed to without sooner or later answering the
appeal, vindicating innocence and exposing the liar and the profane.
With slow, silent, and inexorable precision the Divine Government deals
with all exaggerations, lies, and blasphemies, showing their hollowness,
exposing their futility, and casting them up on the beach of the
universe, to the derision of all pure and righteous souls.
In order to avoid using the Name
of God in their protestations, men have introduced into their speech
expressions which, in fact, derived all the significance they possessed
from their association with Him. It has been a mean subterfuge. They
have not liked to say, By God, or By the Life of God, and therefore they
have substituted the phrase, By Heaven. They have scrupled to say, May
God strike me dead if I lie, and therefore they have slightly modified
their speech, and said, By my life, or By my head, though they know
perfectly well that life and death are ultimately only at the disposal
of the Almighty.
In our own speech we inherit
some of these subterfuges, and apparently employ them without thought.
"Zounds," is a contraction of
"By the wounds of Christ."
"My dear," or "Dear me," is an
English form of the Italian, Dia mia, my goddess.
Good gracious, or My gracious,"
are clearly abbreviations of "My gracious God."
"By Jove" is, of course, the
Latin name for Divinity.
"Begad" is "By God."
Many similar expressions will
occur to the minds of my readers, and they all savour of the attempt to
give the impression of solemnity and reliableness to statements which
have no other claim for consideration except that they are associated
with the awful Name and Being of God.
The Jews, like all Oriental
nations, were especially given to these expletives, and sheltered
themselves with the excuse that, so long as they did not mention the
Divine Being, they might be excused. They said "Thou shalt perform to
the Lord thine oaths" meant that oaths which were not definitely made to
the Lord, or by the invocation of the name of God, were not binding.
Our Lord shows the fallacy of
this reasoning. He says that, whatever emphasis the allusions to Heaven,
or Jerusalem, or the head, may give to our speech, is derived from their
association with God; and that, therefore, if we would avoid the charge
of blasphemy, we must cease to interlard our speech with such
expressions. They are needless when our hearts are pure and our words
sincere; they are objectionable, and worse, when introduced to give a
false and unnatural emphasis to our speech.
As the disciples of Jesus, we
must avoid, in dress, in expenditure, in our household equipment,
whatever savours of extravagance. In all our behaviour, as well as in
our speech, there must be the simplicity and beauty of Jesus.
Perhaps there is more truth than
we would care to admit in the following minute of an old Friends'
meeting: "It is the judgment of Friends that we should refrain from
having fine tea-tables set with fine china, seeing it is more for sight
than service, and it's advised that Friends should not have so much
china or earthenware sett on their mantel-pieces or on their chests of
drawers, but rather set them in their closets until they have occasion
to use them. And we desire an alteration in those things that Truth's
testimony is gone out against, viz., the Friends' gowns made indecently,
one part over long and the other too short, with lead in the sleeves,
and that Friends should come to a stability and be satisfied in the
shape and compass that Truth leads into without changing as the world
changes, also that Friends' cloaths may be of a decent modest colour,
not hair cut or powdered, and neither coives to be made with gathers on
the forehead, bordering on the fashion of the world."
This prohibition of our Lord,
"Swear not at all," does not, in my judgment, touch on the subject of
taking an oath in a court of law or on the assumption of high office. He
is simply dealing with the use of expletives in ordinary speech. In His
own trial He did not scruple to be put upon His oath. When the High
Priest said unto Him, "I adjure Thee by the Living God, that Thou tell
us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God," Jesus said, "Thou hast
said."
And on one solemn occasion the Apostle Paul deliberately called God to
witness that he spoke the truth in Christ, "his conscience bearing
witness in the Holy Ghost."
It is not inadmissible that on
occasions of high and solemn importance we should bare our heads as we
stand before God and solemnly ask Him to stand with us in attesting the
truth of the words we speak and the vows we make. But there is a vast
difference between this and the incessant and thoughtless appeal to God
on every small and frivolous occasion.
The true and holy soul finds God
everywhere and in everything. Heaven above is God's throne; earth
beneath, His footstool; Jerusalem, the holy city, the residence of the
great King. Note these closing words, "the Great King." We are reminded
of the sublime words with which the last of the prophets rebuked the lax
and slovenly worship of the chosen people: "From the rising of the sun
even unto the going down of the same My Name is great among the
Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto My Name, and a pure
offering, for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and My Name is
terrible among the Gentiles" (Mal. 1:11-14).
Let us cultivate this thought,
that God is not only our Father, but a great King, and with all the
familiarity of little children will be mingled reverential awe. Wherever
we go we shall recollect the presence of God, and this will prevent us
from the spirit which is betrayed into extravagant speech. We shall not
dream of using words which come within the scope of our Lord's
condemnation when we remember that every word is spoken in the presence
of our Judge, and that of every idle word that we may speak we shall be
called to give an account.
All harsh judgments of other
people, who are God's creatures; all flippant reference to Scripture to
spice our conversation, and suggest witticisms and conundrums; all light
remarks on God's dealings with men, as in a book once published, called
"The Comic History of England "; all trifling with sacred subjects, or
exposing them to ridicule, will be impossible to those who invest them
with the thought that God is great, and greatly to be feared, and to be
had in reverence by all that are about Him. The reverent use of the Day
of God; the entrance with devout and sacred thoughts into His House; the
wary and careful participation in the Lord's Supper; the loving handling
of Scripture, and even of the Book which contains it; the honour with
which parent and friend, old and young, are treated, all these admirable
and beautiful traits, so necessary to the perfecting of character, are
due to the same origin and source. When God is treated as the Great
King, the whole life falls into symmetry and order, and becomes a
prolonged Yea to truth, a profound Nay to falsehood and error, to the
glory of Him who is God's Yea and Amen to all the needs of the human
soul. (F. B. Meyer. The Directory of the Devout Life)
