False Oaths

The Greek translation of Matthew inadvertently dropped the word falsely from the Hebrew Matthew. This erroneously made it appear Jesus said one is never to take an oath. (Nehemiah Gordon, Hebrew Yeshua v. Greek Jesus (Hilkia Press, 2006) at 59, 65-66, 68.)

But God commands people to take oaths in God's name. "Thou shalt fear YAHWEH thy God;... and by his name shalt thou swear." (Deu 10:20 ASV.)

Gordon, a Jewish scholar, notes the Pharisees taught you could violate an oath as long as not sworn in Yahweh's name. The Bible prohibited any false swearing in God's name. (Lev. 19:12.) By examining Jesus' criticisms, one can deduce how the Pharisees twisted this verse. The Pharisees obviously said this passage implied you could falsely swear even if you invoked objects closely associated with God, like the Temple. You supposedly would transgress the command only when God's name is used.

However, Jesus was invoking the broader principle in Zechariah 8:17 which said "love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith YAHWEH." Thus, you were not allowed to dupe others if you worded your oath carefully. Thus, the Pharisees diminished the Law once more. Gordon detected the difference in the Hebrew version of Matthew where Jesus corrected them, saying `do not swear falsely at all,' whether by the temple or anything else. The Greek translation dropped the word falsely. Then Gordon explains the instruction ending `anything beyond this is evil' was an Hebraism used in the Original Testament, meaning anything beyond (added to) the Torah was evil.