Hello all, and welcome back to The Moral Vision of Jesus Christ, what will be the longest and most detailed gospel study ever written by any man. If this is your first time here, and you want to start way back at the beginning of all of this, you can follow this link. Going back to the beginning is recommended for all newcomers.
Recall that last week we studied Jesus' "Teaching About Divorce," and then analyzed some statistics to come to the conclusion that American Christians don't pay much mind to Jesus' Teaching About Divorce, just like they don't pay much mind to almost any of what he says in the Sermon on the Mount.
Today, we'll read and interpret the first three-fifths of Jesus' "Teaching About Oaths" and study some of the ancient Greek words that constituted the verses at hand. We will also look at ancient Jewish traditions about oaths for context, and then consider the Christianity or anti-Christianity of some of the commonly known and taken oaths in the modern United States.
There's a lot here, so we'll get started post haste. Happy reading.
Matthew 5:33 through 5:35
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’
34 But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
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By now, you're certainly seeing the pattern without me having to point it out; much of the Sermon on the Mount is an augmentation or replacement of the old Law of Moses. We know for sure by now that Jesus did, in fact, intend to change and abrogate the old law. The old law simply wasn't good enough, in the eyes of Joshua*. Over and over he says "we've been living by such-and-such a law, but I say that such-and-such a law doesn't go far enough. I say that God demands more from us." He is laying the foundation of a new law.
In the verses at hand, Joshua follows the pattern we've been looking at for weeks on end now. Today, "such-and-such a law" is Moses' law about oaths. Moses' law about oaths, which we will look at in detail shortly, said, basically, "if you make an oath, you are required to keep it." In today's gospel verses, Jesus says, basically, "I know that Moses said you could make oaths, but I say that making an oath is a blasphemy. Moses was wrong again."
Like the vast majority of the data in the Sermon on the Mount, this requires very little interpretation. Jesus says what he means, and means what he says. That said, let's look at some Greek.
Some Greek
Let's start with the word "ancestors." In the oldest available manuscripts, the word we have here in Koine Greek is "archaios." "Archaios" is an adjective meaning "ancient" or "pertaining to the beginning." In the manuscripts, this word is pluralized and made into a noun, giving us "ancients," which is easily enough, albeit perhaps not precisely, translated into "ancestors."
The next phrasing of interest is "do not take a false oath," which we get from the Greek "ouk epiorkeó." "Ouk" means, roughly, "do not," and "epiorkeó" means "to commit perjury," "to make false pledges," or "to take false oaths." This phrasing only occurs once in the entire New Testament.
The phrasing "do not swear at all" comes from the Greek "mé omnuó holós," where "mé" means "non," "omnuó" means "to swear," and "holós" means "wholly," "completely," "generally," or "all together." All three of these words are extremely ancient, and can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European language. All three have cognates in Sanskrit.
The word we translate to "heaven" here is "ouranos," one we've discussed before. This is what we learned about it previously:
To the Greeks, "ouranos" meant "the vaulted sky," "the home of the gods above the vaulted sky," "the universe in general," or anything shaped like the sky, i.e. a vaulted ceiling or a tent. This is a Greek term that originated to describe a Greek universe, in which many pagan Gods existed. Due to ambiguities within the multiplicity of first-century Jewish belief systems, it is difficult to say exactly what Jesus means here by the term "ouranos."And that will suffice again.
"God's" in verse 34 comes from the Greek "theos," a word from the Proto-Hellenic language. Proto-Hellenic is understood to have been a dialect of the Proto-Indo-European language. Proto-Hellenic is the precursor to Mycenaean Greek, the oldest form of the Greek language. All that is to say that this word is also very old. The word "theos" meant, to the Proto-Greeks who invented it, "a god," "a deity," or "a ruler." It should go without saying that this word was not originated to denote a singular God in a one-Godded universe, but rather any one of a pantheon of gods. "Zeus" is a cognate of this word.
We could proceed with more translation, but everything else here is fairly straightforward. To be clear, the modern dictionary definition of "oath" is "a solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one's future action or behavior." By that understanding, Jesus seems to be telling his followers "don't make grandiose promises about your future behavior - especially not promises that have to be backed up with the name of God."
One more thing I'd like to point out for certain before we move on from the linguistics is that Jesus is not talking about "swearing" in the modern sense of "using coarse or foul language." In these verses, his use of "swear" is explicitly in reference to swearing an oath. Jesus never, in any of the gospels, prohibited the use of a laundry list of "cuss" words.
Moving on...
Jewish Traditions Regarding Oaths
Ancient Jewish tradition held that Moses taught the following in regard to oaths, from the Book of Numbers, chapter 30:
3 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or binds himself under oath to a pledge, he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered.
4 “When a woman makes a vow to the LORD, or binds herself to a pledge, while still in her father’s house in her youth,
5 and her father learns of her vow or the pledge to which she bound herself and says nothing to her about it, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself remains valid.
6 But if on the day he learns of it her father opposes her, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself becomes invalid; and the LORD will release her from it, since her father opposed her.
In summation, Moses says that God said that men who make oaths are absolutely obligated to carry out whatever they've promised by invoking the name of God. Women are obligated in a similar manner, unless they are still unmarried. An unmarried woman among the ancient Jews could not make an oath without her father essentially co-signing the oath. This is similar to modern American law in that a minor, male or female, is not allowed to enter into a contract without the consent of their legal guardian.
In the Old Testament, the Jewish ancients can be seen taking dozens and dozens of oaths about all manner of things. There are oaths to withhold women from certain groups of people in order to end certain bloodlines. There are oaths to not eat until certain vengeances are carried out. There are oaths of truce between heads of warring States. There are false oaths and good oaths and bad oaths and oaths of every kind. The Old Testament occasionally advises people against oath-taking, while other portions, as seen above, contradict those parts and speak to the solemnity and importance of oaths.
One of the more interesting things we can learn about oaths in the Old Testament is that God himself makes oaths. To the astute reader, an oath spoken by God himself begs the question: by whom is God's oath sworn? Does God swear by himself?
God swears a number of oaths in the Old Testament. As an example, take the following from Deuteronomy, chapter 1:
34 When the LORD heard your words, he was angry, and took an oath:
35 Not a single one of this evil generation shall look upon the good land I swore to give to your ancestors,
36 except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, for to him and to his descendants I will give the land he trod upon, because he has fully followed the LORD.Here, God is swearing that all the complainers who have been doubtful and angry during the 40 years in the Sinai wilderness will not get to see the promised land of Milk and Honey, because they've been doubtful, angry complainers. Again, the question is begged: who is God swearing by here?
We're getting drawn somewhat off-course, but I'd like to postulate an answer to the question. The answer comes from later in Deuteronomy, from a couple of verses that I think many might find rather controversial. The following comes from Deuteronomy, chapter 32:
8 When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
when he separated out human beings,
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the divine beings;
9 But the LORD’s portion was his people;
his allotted share was Jacob.
Slam the brakes. Scrreeeeeech.
Put some water in your mouth and read it again so you can do a proper spit-take.
These verses indicate the existence of not a singular God, but of a pantheon of gods. Specifically, it indicates the existence of a "Most High" God - an uber-God, if you will - who apportioned out the human beings of creation to a number of lesser "divine beings," of which Yahweh was apparently one.
So, maybe, as some scholars have postulated, the most ancient Jewish tradition was more henotheistic** than monotheistic. Perhaps this is how God can be seen offering oaths throughout the Old Testament. In a henotheistic Old Testament, a human being could take an oath by swearing by the name of God, and God could take an oath by swearing by the name of the "Most High," or "uber-God." Maybe.
Mind. Blown.
Oaths and Pledges in America
Regardless of what the ancients were saying and doing regarding oath-taking, Jesus came and abrogated it totally by saying "do not swear at all." As we said above, Jesus doesn't seem to want his followers making big promises about their future behavior, especially if those promises have to be supported by invoking something sacred or truly valuable, like the name of God.
Smash-cut to millions of little kindergartners being forced to learn and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," they're forced to swear. I would say that this solemn promise of allegiance to a flag and to a State is exactly the kind of oath Jesus was talking about in today's verses. I believe that, by a strict reading of the gospel, a Christian is not permitted to pledge one's allegiance to a flag or to a State in such a solemn way. I believe that, for a Christian, to pledge allegiance to a State in such a way is to negate one's allegiance to God.
Many American Christians would say that Jesus intended for them to make this pledge of allegiance. To say that Jesus intended his followers to pledge allegiance to the United States of America is to say that Jesus has uniquely set aside the United States of America as special and blessed - a new Israel. This concept is absolutely preposterous, especially in light of all of the anti-Christian values the US has always promoted: war, mass-incarceration, capital punishment, and the worship of money, to name a few.
Let's look at another well known oath Americans sometimes take, from Article II of the Constitution:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.Interesting. Solemnly swear, does he? Oath of office, will he?
Jesus says "no!"
And let's look at one more. The following text is from Title 10 of the United States Code.
"I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."This is known as the "United States Armed Forces Oath of Enlistment," and is taken by every young man or woman entering any of the many United States military branches. I ask you: how can a young Christian man or woman take this oath, when Jesus has explicitly forbidden the taking of oaths in the midst of his most significant and focused extant moral teaching? I ask you: how can a young Christian man or woman take this oath when the oath states explicitly that the enlistee will obey whatever orders given to him, regardless of their moral quality or agreement with the teaching of Christ?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice gives no credence to the Sermon on the Mount, I assure you.
The Marine Corps has no concern for Jesus' command that his followers "love their enemy" and "resist not one who is evil." The Marine Corps teaches its enlistees to "crush the skulls" of their enemy.
These oaths are anti-Christian. They cannot be taken by a Christian in good conscience. Jesus was explicit about these things.
Next time, we'll talk a little more about oaths and promises as we finish up Joshua's Teaching About Oaths. Until then, join me in reflecting on the oaths we may or may not take on a daily basis. I will spend the interim thinking about what I swear, to whom I swear it, and by what, with a mind to try to eliminate oath-taking in my life.
Thank you for reading. Please share this writing.
Love.
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* Recall that Jesus' name, translated to English, would be "Joshua." Recall also that the name "Jesus" would have sounded foreign to Jesus, who probably pronounced his name either "Yehoshua" or "Yeshua."
** Henotheism is the exclusive worship of one god that is acknowledged to exist within a pantheon of multiple gods. It is different than paganism in that pagans ostensibly worshipped all the gods within their respective pantheon.
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