Same Subject Illustrated from the Third Commandment (Mt 5:33-37).
33. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself--These are not the precise words of
Ex 20:7;
but they express all that it was currently understood to condemn,
namely, false swearing
(Le 19:12,
&c.). This is plain from what follows.
But I say unto you, Swear not at all--That this was meant to condemn
swearing of every kind and on every occasion--as the Society of Friends
and some other ultra-moralists allege--is not for a moment to be
thought. For even Jehovah is said once and again to have sworn by
Himself; and our Lord certainly answered upon oath to a question put to
Him by the high priest; and the apostle several times, and in the most
solemn language, takes God to witness that he spoke and wrote the truth;
and it is inconceivable that our Lord should here have quoted the
precept about not forswearing ourselves, but performing to the Lord our
oaths, only to give a precept of His own directly in the teeth of it.
Evidently, it is swearing in common intercourse and on frivolous
occasions that is here meant. Frivolous oaths were indeed severely
condemned in the teaching of the times. But so narrow was the circle of
them that a man might swear, says
LIGHTFOOT, a hundred thousand times
and yet not be guilty of vain swearing. Hardly anything was regarded as
an oath if only the name of God were not in it; just as among ourselves,
as TRENCH well remarks, a certain lingering reverence for the name of
God leads to cutting off portions of His name, or uttering sounds nearly
resembling it, or substituting the name of some heathen deity, in
profane exclamations or asseverations. Against all this our Lord now
speaks decisively; teaching His audience that every oath carries an
appeal to God, whether named or not.
neither by heaven; for it is God's throne--(quoting
Isa 66:1);
JFB.
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