Week 4    Day 3

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Render to the Lord

Matthew 5:33

“Again, you have heard that it has been declared to the ancients, Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt render to the Lord thine oaths.”

Deuteronomy 22:21

When thou shalt vow a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it; for Jehovah thy God requiring will require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.

Apocalypse Explained 608:8

“Everyone that sweareth by God shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak a lie shall be stopped” (Ps. 63:11). “To swear by God” here signifies to speak the truth, for it is added, “the mouth of them that speak a lie shall be stopped.”

True Christian Religion 297

To swear by God and His holiness, by the Word or the Gospel, at coronations, inaugurations into the priesthood, and inductions into offices of trust, is not to take the name of God in vain, unless he who takes the oath afterwards discards his promises as vain.

Apocalypse Revealed 474:3

As a covenant was a representative of the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and, reciprocally, of the church with the Lord; and as the oath was a part of the covenant, and man was to swear from the truth in it, thus also by it, therefore the sons of Israel were permitted to swear by Jehovah, and thus by the Divine truth.

Arcana Coelestia 2842:8

Moreover, it was enjoined upon those who were of the representative Jewish Church, that when they confirmed covenants by an oath, and likewise vows, also promises and sureties, they should “swear by the name of Jehovah.” The reason why this was enjoined upon them, although it was only permitted, was that the confirmation of the internal man also would thus be represented; so that oaths at that time in the name of Jehovah, were as other things were, namely, representative.

Apocalypse Explained 608

That “to swear” signifies asseveration and confirmation, but here verity [or truth]—since it is the Lord that is meant by the angel that swears—can be seen from this, that “to swear” means to asseverate and confirm that a thing is so, and when done by the Lord it means Divine verity. For oaths are made only by those who are not interiorly in truth itself, that is, by those who are not interior but only exterior men. Consequently, they are never made by angels, still less by the Lord. But He is said in the Word to swear, and the Israelites were allowed to swear by God, because they were only exterior men, and because the asseveration and confirmation of the internal man, when it comes into the external, falls into the form of an oath. In the Israelitish Church all things were external, representing and signifying things internal. The Word in the sense of the letter is similar.

[4] Jehovah God, or the Lord, never swears, for to swear is not becoming to God Himself, or the Divine verity. But when God, or the Divine verity, wills to have anything confirmed before men, then that confirmation in its descent into the natural sphere falls into the form or formula of an oath, such as is used in the world. This shows why it is said in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is the natural sense, that God swears, although He never swears.

Genesis 31:48-49

And Laban said, This heap [is] a witness between me and thee this day; therefore he called the name of it Galeed, and Mizpah²; for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, for we shall be hidden, a man from his companion.

Arcana Coelestia 9166

“The oath of Jehovah shall be between them both.” That this signifies a search by means of truths from the Word in respect to each and all of these things, is evident from the signification of an “oath,” as being confirmation by means of truths (see n. 2842, 3037, 3375), thus “the oath of Jehovah” denotes by means of truths from the Word, for in the Word are the truths of Jehovah, or truths Divine; and from the signification of “them both,” as being in each and all things, for in the internal sense “between both” does not signify between two persons, but in each and all things, for “two” denotes conjunction into one.

²Galeed means a witness; Mizpah means to watch (AC 4196, 4198).

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