Shalom, my dearest sisters and brothers,
You show who your heavenly Father is, by the conduct of your life, and what you strive and aspire to. None of us are perfect, but we show who our Sovereign and King is, by the values we hold up as important truths.
If you examine carefully the teachings of the Prophet Yeshua, you will find that there are various qualities that he exhorted his followers to aspire to. These qualities, in effect, were meant to be the hallmarks of someone who followed Yeshua – and ultimately, of someone who followed our heavenly Father, Yahveh.
When encountering difficult ethical decisions in life, we were to judge each case with compassion and mercy – as Jacob the Pious said, “Mercy triumphs over judgment”. Our lives as religious people were not to be the same as those of other religious people – “What more are you doing than others?” The followers of Yeshua had to stand out from the rest. We are to treat others in the same way that we expect to be treated ourselves – how can we expect to be treated with dignity and fairness, if we look down on others with scorn and anger?
One quality that Yeshua expected from his followers was honesty. So now, a little cultural background first, just so that you fully understand the weight of this expectation (and secondarily, so that you understand how to apply his teaching on not swearing oaths at all).
The Third Commandment tells us, “You shall not use the name of Yahveh your God for shav, for Yahveh will not acquit the one who misuses [God’s] Name.”
I’ve left the word shav untranslated here, so that I could more fully explain its meaning – because it’s meaning is very important when it comes to understanding the application of the Third Commandment. In ancient, biblical Hebrew, since the language had a limited vocabulary and a limited range of words, each word often had to serve a number of meanings, and you could only glean the specific meaning intended from the context of its use.
If you look up shav (שָׁוְא) in a dictionary of biblical Hebrew, it will give you something like the following: falsehood, deception, emptiness, evil purpose. When it comes to interpreting which meaning that shav refers to in this commandment, the answer is: all of the above; the Third Commandment is to be applied with all of these meanings – not just one (which it too often is by most people).
The meaning of ‘emptiness’ refers to making God’s Name worth nothing – that a person uses God’s Name so frequently, and for such trivial matters, that it loses all worth, and effectively becomes meaningless, without any value. This is how most people apply the commandment. When properly used, God’s Holy Name fills your soul with awe whenever you use it!
The meaning of ‘evil purpose’ refers to using God’s authority to do evil things – if more religious people realised this meaning, the world would be a better place. Killing people, doing violence against others, wilfully causing others to suffer, intentionally inflicting misery on others – if a person does any of this, and uses God or Religion to justify the evil that they do, then this breaks the Third Commandment. In Israelite culture, this was considered an unforgivable sin.
My main focus in this article is on the first meaning – that of falsehood, which refers to swearing false oaths. In a court of law, there were some cases where innocence or guilt was impossible on evidence alone to determine, and the only way forward was to swear a solemn oath in the Holy Name that you did not do what you were being accused of. Conversely, if you refused to swear such an oath, then the conclusion was that you were guilty.
For example, if you are entrusted with anything, and the thing you have been entrusted with goes missing, then in a court of law you have to swear an oath in the Holy Name that you had no hand in the loss (see Ex 22:10a; Xtian bibles 22:11a). This is one instance where Torah positively commands us to swear an oath.
The consequences of swearing falsely are serious – ‘God will not acquit the person who swears falsely in God’s Name’ – there is no forgiveness for this in this life; it is a permanent stain on one’s soul.
Isaiah 22:14b says, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die, says YHVH, God of Hosts”, and 1Sam 2:25a says, ‘If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against Yahveh, who can possibly intercede for him?’ Remember too, that this consequence also applies to doing evil things in God’s Name, and using Religion to justify it.
Yeshua said, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holiness of God can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mk 28-29).
Prov 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to YHVH, but those who act honestly are God’s delight.” Once you understand just how serious were the spiritual consequences of swearing a false oath in Yahwist Israelite culture originally, you will come to realise how it was considered a sure-fire guarantee that the person swearing the oath was telling the truth.
So this is the background; this is the weight that the original Israelite culture gave to the commandment.
However, it then happened that people even in daily life were swearing oaths in the Holy Name that they were telling the truth – outside of a courtroom. People began using oaths in God’s Name to deceive people – to feign honesty in business, to prove faithfulness when in fact they were adulterers, to pretend truth, when in fact everything coming out of their mouths was a complete and utter lie. In daily life, by Yeshua’s day, there reached a point where oaths sworn in God’s Name were being sworn left, right and centre, and they had all become meaningless.
These are the circumstances which prompted what Yeshua taught. In daily life, if a person you meet goes out of their way to swear that they are honest, even to the point of using God’s Name, then they are probably being dishonest, and you cannot trust what they say. To a faithful Yahwist, this would be a horrendous state of affairs, because it creates the situation where God’s Holiness becomes associated with something that is completely antithetical to God’s Holiness – dishonesty – and that simply cannot be allowed to happen.
A faithful Yahwist would seek to avoid this situation at all costs, so Yeshua taught us not to swear oaths at all. Considering the commandment in Ex 22:10a, I think this teaching was intended to be applied only to oaths sworn in daily life, outside of a courtroom. If in your personal faith, you feel that it is also to be applied in a courtroom, then you can make a simple declaration that you will tell the truth – both Yeshua and Jacob the Pious taught, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ’No’ be ‘No’”. I can’t speak for courts in other countries, but UK court procedures do allow for such a declaration.
Prov 6:16-19 says, “There are six things that YHVH hates, seven that are an abomination to God: a haughty demeanour, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to side with evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
Honesty therefore, was to be the hallmark of a Follower of the Way. If a Follower of Yeshua said that they were telling the truth, then the culture and character of those who followed Yeshua had to be such, that truth could be guaranteed. If the reputation of YHVH was at stake, so then also was the reputation of those who followed YHVH.
Have you ever encountered someone who promised you that they will do something, and when it came to the crunch, they left you in the lurch? I can bet that such people have learned from poor life experiences – that promises are meaningless.
The Exhortations says, “If you are dishonest towards your children, do not be surprised if your children have thereby learned to deceive others.” (Modern Writings, saying 3:60). If a parent makes a promise to their children, just to keep them quiet and get them off their backs, and then they do not keep their promise, you are effectively teaching your children that a promise is meaningless.
Trustworthiness also has to be the hallmark of someone who follows Yeshua. A promise is a promise. The lesson to be learned therefore, is this: Never make promises you can’t keep; if you say that you are going to do something, then you must ensure that you do it. This is because a child needs to take to heart that a promise is something important – something that has to be honoured.
Yeshua taught, “The one who’s honest with a little, can be trusted with much. But the one who’s dishonest with a little, can’t be trusted with greater things.” Anyone who calls themselves a Follower of Yeshua, needs to become someone who values the worth of a promise, and someone who can be trusted. If each Talmidi – each one of us – can learn to take trustworthiness to heart, then Talmidaism itself will gain a reputation for honesty and trustworthiness. And if Talmidaism gains this reputation, then how much indeed will that reputation be restored for God – One whose reputation has been sullied and trashed by dishonest religious people!
Torah tells us, “If God has said something, will God not then do it? Or if God has promised something, will God not then make good on God’s word?” (Num 23:19b). Yahveh our God fulfils everything promised, and does everything God says that God will – that is the inherent nature of who and what Yahveh is. Therefore, as Followers of Yahveh, we must strive to train ourselves to believe that promises have value, that honesty is important, and that trustworthiness is part of our character.
“One who is trustworthy in a very little matter will also be trustworthy in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little matter will also be dishonest in much.”
Biblical New Year will be either this evening (Sat 2nd Apr) or tomorrow evening (Sun 3rd Apr), depending on when the New Moon is sighted. In ancient times, before the Babylonian Exile, biblical New Year was a celebration of the Kingship of God, when Yahveh was solemnly enthroned in our hearts.
Honesty and trustworthiness are the arms of God’s throne.
An honest and trustworthy heart is a rightful and fitting place for Yahveh to be enthroned. Our journey as Followers of the Way of Yahveh, is to create a fitting place within us – each one of us – for Yahveh to be proclaimed King. It is not enough to merely say the words of allegiance and faith to Yahveh; for Yahveh knows which hearts are fitting places for God to dwell.
If Yahveh is your King – your ONLY King – then show it by the manner of your conduct, the quality of your character, and the honesty of your word.
Blessed be the Holy Name of Yahveh, our Sovereign and our King!
your brother in service and humility
Shmuliq