Aphrahat, Demonstration 23, 63-66: On False Swearing

Aphrahat, Demonstration 23, On the Grapecluster, 63-66, February 345.

Source: Lehto, Adam Isaac. 2003. “Divine Law, Asceticism, and Gender in Aphrahat’s Demonstrations, with a Complete Annotated Translation of the Text and Comprehensive Syriac Glossary.” Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20170208203149/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk4/etd/NQ78456.PDF

Excerpt from Demonstration 23, On the Grapecluster, 63-66 

63. Above all, our Life-giver has commanded us: "Do not swear falsely. Whoever swears will be condemned at the judgement." How can the person who is convinced that there is one God swear on him and be false? Take note that it is clear that whoever strays from these commandments has denied God. For to swear and to deceive in one's oath is an exceeding evil before God, for our Saviour, with a great warning, commanded in his teaching, "Do not swear by heaven, which is the throne of God" For if you swear falsely by heaven, how can you lift your eyes to heaven and make petition to the one who sits in heaven? "And do not swear by the earth, which is a footstool beneath his feet,” lest, after you have sworn falsely by the earth, each time you pray on it, it shakes beneath you, since year have deceived the footstool of the feet of God. “And do nor swear on Jerusalem, for It is the city of the great King," lest, after you have sworn falsely on the place of worship, your face is ashamed to stand there and pray, and your prayer does not rise up from the house which you have betrayed, and your will is not accomplished. "And do not swear by you heat for you are not able to make a single strand of your hair either black or white," lest, after you have sworn on your head and have broken faith, your head is put to shame, since the name of your Lord had been commemorated on it, as the apostle said. "The head of a man is Christ,” O you who swears by your head and deceives! If the three great and glorious names (Father, Son, and Spirit of holiness) are established in you, those which were commemorated on your head when you received the sign of your life, and if baptism is established in you, then you will not betray your head. Know that you have no authority to swear by your head. Rather, "Let your words be 'Yes, yes', and 'no, no.” And he said "Anything more than this is from the Evil One.” For to deceive by swearing on God is more evil than all the sins that people do. If a person transgresses one of God's commands, he stands and prays and petitions God, so that perhaps he might forgive him. But the one who swears falsely on God, to whom can he petition? How can he petition God, of whom he is a lying servant, the God who is not established in him when he prays?

64. The kings of Israel committed great and serious sins. Some of them abandoned God and worshipped idols. Some of them committed adultery with the wives of their companions. They also murdered and fornicated. But they are not given as much blame as is placed on the heads of those who swear falsely. When the people of Israel were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the wicked king under whom the whole land was subjugated, he led hostages from among them to Babylon. [The rest of] them and their kings he left in the land, through a covenant without an oath. They established it [by saying], "We will serve you." Jehoiachim established the covenant without oaths, but afterwards rebelled and broke faith, and when he broke faith he was killed. [Nebuchadnezzar] appointed Jehoiachin his son to the kingship after him, and [Jehoiachim] established a covenant without oaths, saying "I will not rebel." But he was deceptive in his covenant and he rebelled against the king of Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar sent [men] and bound him in chains and escorted him to Babylon, and he was in prison there for thirty-seven years. And [Nebuchadnezzar] appointed Zedekiah his uncle to the kingship. Then Nebuchadnezzar thought and took counsel: "How can I leave him in the kingship and be sure that he will not rebel?" His counsellors said to him, "Ask the priests who know the Law." So Nebuchadnezzar called the priests and said to them, "How do I know that you will serve me and not rebel?" And they said to him. "We and our king swear by the God of Israel, and we establish [this] covenant through an offering which ascends on the altar." Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "I swear to you by the God of Israel: if you swear falsely on him, he will destroy you by my hand. I will not swear to you by the gods of Babylon." Then Zedekiah and the priests and the nobles brought a calf, laid their hands on its head and slaughtered it. The priests took blood from the calf and poured it around the altar, and put the fat up on the altar as a sweet fragrance. They took the calf and cut it in two, and the leaders of Judah, namely, the priests and the scribes of the people, and Zedekiah, the king, as well, passed through the halves. They established a covenant with an oath on the God of Israel. “We will not rebel." And Nebuchadnezzar believed them. But afterwards they betrayed their oaths on the God of Israel and rebelled against the king of Babylon. At that time, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were prophesying to them, Jeremiah in Jerusalem and Ezekiel in captivity in Babylon. And when they broke their oath and rebelled, Jeremiah the prophet called out to them: "O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Zedekiah, the king, and all of Judah! Serve the king of Babylon and live. Do not break the oaths that you have sworn. Remember that you cut the calf in two and passed between its halves." But they did not listen to the prophet. When he repeatedly called out to them, they took him and threw him into a muddy pit, and some of them said. "Come, let us strike him on his tongue and not listen to what he is saying"

65. Ezekiel also sent word to them from Babylon: "Do not break the oaths on the God of Israel that you have sworn!" But they did not listen to him. And when they did not listen to him, he spoke to them in prophecy: "Even as I live, says the Lord of lords, I will punish Zedekiah who broke faith with the God of Israel and treated my oaths with contempt and made my covenant cease." And Jeremiah called out and warned them, "Serve the king of Babylon and live, and let not this city become a desolation!" But again they did not listen to him. And when they had broken [their) oaths and had not listened to the prophets, the army of the Chaldeans came against them and surrounded Jerusalem from the ninth year of Zedekiah to the eleventh year. And when they rebelled Jeremiah also said to them, "Go out to the king of Babylon, and you will live and not die." But they did not listen to him. And the city remained in anguish for a long time: the Chaldean surrounded it for nineteen months, from the tenth [day] of the tenth month (which is January) of the ninth year [of Zedekiah], to the fifth month (which is Ab) of the eleventh year [of Zedekiah]. The city was captured on the ninth day of the fifth month. The Chaldeans entered Jerusalem and set fire to the house of God, upon which (the leaden of Judah) had sworn and deceived (Nebuchadnezzar). They overturned the altar, upon which had been offered unacceptable fragrances from the calf of oaths. They took all the utensils used in the service of the house of the Clod of Israel. They burned the houses of the nobles who had sworn falsely, and the priests were taken captive and went to Babylon. And when Zedekiah escaped and went out from the city, the army of the Chaldean, seized him in the Plain of Jericho. They bound him in chains, together with the nobles who had sworn with him. They brought him to the king of Babylon in the region of Hamath. And it is written that he spoke judgement upon him, and said to him, "Why did you falsify the oaths on the God of Israel? Now, I am putting them [back] on your head!" And he put out his eyes and bound him with chains. He killed his sons in before his eyes, and killed the nobles who had sworn falsely. And he led him bound to Babylon, and he was there until the day of [his] death. He destroyed Jerusalem because of the false oath, and their kingdom was given to Nebuchadnezzar, who believed in the God who exacts payment for oaths in his name.

66. Concerning this our Life-giver waned. "Do not swear on yourselves,” for the Lord will not acquit the one who swears falsely on his name. Otherwise, if a person teaches his mouth to utter oaths in every situation. he will stumble, since he has taught his mouth to utter oaths. His tongue becomes a conduit for oaths. We know, my friend, that many people among the brotherhood swear falsely and compel [others] to swear also. They kill themselves and their companions die, because they transgress the commandment which our Saviour taught.