01-64 When You Should Swear
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Genesis 21:22-34
Genesis 21:22-34
Are you shocked? Do I have your attention with the title of the message?
I think it is evident that our society has a swearing complex. As we were coming home from SD on Monday, a man sat down a few chairs away from us talking on his phone (loud enough to be heard) and expletives were lacing his conversation. Its all around us. There are way too many people who have no idea how to speak without coloring their speech with profane words. When I hear it, I tend to think there is a laziness and lack of intelligence when people swear.
There used to be a sensitivity to swearing when in the presence of other people. Not so much today. Its like the
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4796 Epigram on Profanity
A Farmer drove his team of mules into town and was very late returning home.
“What took you so long?” asked his wife.
“Well,” the farmer explained, “on the way I had to pick up the preacher, and from there on, these mules of ours didn’t understand one word I said.”
I’ve heard people on the golf course (if there’s anywhere swearing is tempting its here) but they clean up their language when in the company of a pastor—they tend to catch themselves and apologize for it.
If you’re desensitized to swearing and hearing cuss words—or use them yourself, may the HS sanctify you in this area so that you would grow in holiness/righteousness.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Well there are times when you should swear. There are times in the Bible where God Himself swears. Our Eng language has 2 different uses of that word: swear—1) to use profane or obscene language; 2) to utter or take solemnly (an oath) and to assert as true or to promise under oath (swore to uphold the Constitution) or to assert or promise emphatically or earnestly.
Your speech is very important—the words you use. Researchers tell us that the average person speaks about 15000 words per day (women just a little higher 16K).
19 When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
With your tongue you can bless, but with it you can also curse (something our society is adept at doing).
34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
45 “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Your words are important. So the Bible stresses the importance of meaning what you say. And it has a great deal to say about oaths. Our passage the Heb for swear is used 6x—2x “swear”(23,24); 1x “oath” (31); 3x “Beersheba” (well of the oath) (31,32,33). It is a central feature of our verses. Aside from that, the instruction of God’s Words tells us:
12 ‘You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
2 “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Be careful to do what you have purposed to do.
Ps 15;
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully.
3 “I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant,
35 “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David.
11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,
Because of the importance of what we say, in NT:
37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
There was a time when a man’s word was his bond. There’s little of this going on in our world today. Because of this the Lord said:
33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
Jesus is not condemning all use of oaths but those which are made flippantly and irreverently and with no intention of fulfilling (crossing your fingers).
12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.
So many people break their oaths today. We find them in business, marriages, financial realms, in every relationship. The church must be different from the world. We must be those who keep the words we have spoken (our oaths, pledges, promises). Martyn Lloyd-Jones “The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.” Regeneration brings total newness to the believer so you are not what you once were—radically different. If you want to change the culture…be totally unlike it.
Let’s come to our vv and look at an example of when you should swear (not the profane, but the profound commitment to keep your word). I’ve got 5 headings for you in this narrative that show how solemn your words really are.
1. The Request
1. The Request
vv 22-23
“now it came about at that time”—this is a time reference to what was going on before—the account of Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael away at the insistence of his wife Sarah. This is the time Moses refers to.
Abimelech (king of Gerar) we were introduced to him in ch 20, the same one Abraham told the lie to that Sarah was his sister. This time Abimelech is accompanied by the commander of his army (Phicol). Its not clear why Phicol is with Abimelech but it could indicate that Abimelech recognized the potential for conflict and aggression and would suggest that Abimelech knew that Abraham had significant political clout. I have no doubt that news of Abraham’s slaughter of the 5 kings who kidnapped Lot in Gen 14 was well known. Abimelech had given Abraham access to his territory (20:15) and some tension was developing that called for a treaty between Abraham and the nation.
Abimelech has seen God with Abraham. This is not the reaction of a king who ruled over the place where there is no fear of God (what Abraham was afraid of—Gen 20:11). Abimelech may not have had Abraham’s justifying faith but he knew that Abraham’s success in whatever he did was b/c God was with him. God had blessed Abraham, He was protecting him and prospering him in all he did. Who could possibly stand against the man with whom is the Creator God? This pagan king recognizes this.
Do you remember when the apostles were imprisoned for preaching the name of Jesus (Acts 5)? An angel opened the prison doors and gave instruction to them to go preach in the temple. The next day when the Sanhedrin Council convened they ordered the apostles to be brought to them but they weren’t in the prison. It was told them how they were preaching in the temple and they brought them and said “we gave you strict orders to stop teaching the name of Jesus.” Peter responded “we must obey God rather than men—and proceeded to preach the gospel. The council was so enraged they were intending to kill the apostles when Gamaliel (respected teacher of the Law), said: vs 35ff
Abimelech knew that he couldn’t fight against God so he makes a request of Abraham—vs 23. Falsely (like before). He doesn’t trust Abraham but he also knows that he can’t resist God so he makes the request to establish a covenant that would endure. He references the kindness that he showed Abraham back in ch 20. Abraham was not being asked to do this b/c Abimelech was a powerful king or b/c he had a large army but b/c of character. Abimelech was kind to Abraham and asked for truthfulness from the patriarch.
2. The Vow
2. The Vow
v 24
This is a simple vow as Abraham responds with 2 words in Heb (the first gives emphasis to the verb (as for me) “I swear”). I swear by God putting myself under an oath that I will be truthful with you. Now, Abraham will also ask Abimelech to swear that well of water (dug by Abraham) belongs to him (31). They both took an oath as they desired to pursue peace and justice—in a mutually beneficial way. For Abraham to have access to the well for water and for Abimelech to know that Abraham was not in his territory to deceive and to cause trouble in Gerar.
This might bring up an interesting application. Is it ever right for the believer to enter into agreement with an unbeliever? I’m thinking about 2 Cor.
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. 18 “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.
From Abraham’s example I would say emphatically “yes.” You do this all the time. You go to the bank to borrow money for a house, car, business, etc and you’ve entered into an agreement with them to pay back what you’ve borrowed. Most Xn businessmen/women do not conduct business with only other Xns. Do you have a right to do business with non-Xns? Yes—there is freedom to do this.
2 Cor 6 is forbidding the mixing of spiritual things that would hinder the work of God and compromise the gospel. While Satan loves to fight against the church he would rather join himself to it in order to weaken it. So he promotes the unequally yoked union of believers and unbelievers to keep the lost from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
This does not pertain to things which are earthly. You are free to enter agreements with unbelievers—and it is good to do so. You are ambassadors for Christ and have the privilege of presenting the gospel in these things and living as lights in this world.
Be sure you speak truth in your agreements. The church is the pillar and support of the truth. Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. Speaking the truth in love… these are admonitions that remind us that we may enter into agreements with the world—but b/c we are not of the world we must be different.
Abraham shows the way to enter agreement without compromising faith.
3. The Conflict
3. The Conflict
vv25-26
Abraham complained (to argue/rebuke) b/c the well was taken by Abimelech’s servants. Moses tells us the well was “seized” a term that emphasizes violence beyond stealing. It was taking by force—the well was seized by violence against Abraham and his servants. This was Abraham’s well. He dug it, Abimelech invited Abraham to reside in the area. Abraham’s flocks were drinking from the water and then at some point, it was taken from him.
Now, Abraham kept silent about the injustice. Abimelech notes his own ignorance in vs 26 and that Abraham failed to inform him of it—only hearing of it when Abraham brought it up.
There’s always going to be conflict—especially with the world/unbelievers (and in this case and ours, conflict with the state). How you handle that will either promote the gospel of JC or detract from it. Sometimes, in obedience to Christ you’re going to have to disobey the govt. In all other cases, we are to use the means available to our citizenship to find peaceful solutions to the problems/injustices that we face.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
Many times we narrow that to mean “all believers.” Yes we are to be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But this is much broader…to all—even (especially) unbelievers—your neighbors, your co-workers, employers, people you’ve entered into agreements with, your local (state, national) govt leaders. Be at peace (so far as it depends on you) with all.
4. The Covenant
4. The Covenant
vv 27-32
The Treaty of Beersheba is about to be struck. Abraham, having sworn to conducting himself with truthfulness toward Abimelech is going to offer terms of the treaty that would return the well to his use (though this is never confirmed in our text).
So Abraham takes sheep and oxen…made a covenant. Earlier, when God entered into a covenant with Abraham—those animals were cut in half and God passed thru the separated carcasses—lit “cut a covenant.” Though there is no indication that the animals were cut in our vv—the language is the same. A covenant was agreed upon.
Abraham then took 7 ewe lambs and Abimelech—curiously asks “what do these mean?” Abraham explains in vs 30.
Now, a quick lesson in Heb for you this morning: every Heb word has a root that is made up of 3 letters (all consonants). The word for “swear” and the word “seven” are identical. So when Abraham says “I swear” (vs 24) and the 2 of them “take an oath” (vs 31) the #7 (7 ewe lambs) are a testimonial witness to Abimelech that Abraham would keep the oath and he was asking Abimelech to do the same. So the well is called “Beersheba” lit “the well of the 7-oath.” One lexicon even has to swear is “to seven oneself.”
Now, why the number seven? Seven was the most sacred number to the Hebrews. The creation of God was completed in 7 days. So the idea of completeness is evidenced in the number. So is the concept of perfection. This is seen throughout the book of Revelation…7 Spirits; 7 Stars; churches, seals, trumpets, bowls:
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.
So you have in the number 7—completeness and perfection and you can see why this would then be a sacred number. Being such a number that is sacred, one’s own sense of responsibility to the sacred is in view when giving an oath—it is inviolable, unbreakable, enduring—solemn.
So we have a solemn oath—by means of sacrifice (doesn’t say but assumed in the language to cut a covenant)—both men participate and the place was set as a memorial of this solemn covenant—and “he” (Abraham) called it Beersheba.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Location, Climate, and Dates
Beer-Sheba is located approximately halfway between the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, 70 miles southeast of Tel Aviv/Joppa, 75 miles southwest of Jerusalem, and just over 20 miles southwest of Hebron. It lies at the intersection of two routes: a route from the Judaean Hill Country to Sinai and Egypt, and a route from Arabia to the Mediterranean.
That’s important b/c as you travel thru the wilderness you would need to take into account the need for water. So these routes would pass by the well that Abraham dug and the place where a covenant was made b/t Abraham and Abimelech.
Vs 32—Abimelech and Phicol return to the land of the Philistines. This is the 2nd time “Philistines” are mentioned in Gen (10:14—explaining they were descendants of Cush—son of Ham). They were not yet enemies as that would come later in the period of judges and the early monarchy (Saul and David).
5. The Memorial
5. The Memorial
vv 33-34
Abraham plants a tree— “Tamarisk” grows to be about 20-30 ft tall and has long feathery branches and very small leaves. It is an evergreen which would provide very good shade. Trees are an important feature as Moses develops the progression of Abraham.
The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 3. A Conflict over a Well (21:22–34)
Abraham’s first stopping place in Canaan (Shechem) was by a tree (12:6). Later he built an altar by a tree at Mamre (13:18). He lived near trees (14:13), and entertained Yahweh under a tree (18:1). Now he plants a tree.
This is where he is going to worship YHWH: “called upon the name…Everlasting God.” Abraham is expressing his devotion to God and recognition that God is the source of all his prosperity. This becomes a memorial—others have even stated that he is staking out a plot of land by planting this tree.
But it is a memorial to the everlasting God—El Olam. I think we have a very difficult time understanding “everlasting.” Yet God has set “eternity” in our hearts (Eccle 3:11—same term). But we long to have something by which “everlasting” might be practical to us. And we do have God’s self-disclosure—representing Himself (the one with whom we have fellowship) as everlasting. Scripture attests to this many places:
27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’
2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
10 But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Now all of us are limited by the moments of time. This is our experience. But it is not God’s. “God perfectly transcends all limitations of time, so that he is without beginning, without ending, and without succession of moments in the experience of his being and in his consciousness of all other reality.”
MacArthur, J., & Mayhue, R., eds. (2017). Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (p. 171). Crossway.
God is timeless in His own being (having no beginning or end—Alpha & Omega). He sees time equally vividly—unlike us who see more recent things more vividly than past:
4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.
Now, we will always exist in time—even in the eternal state where we will enjoy the presence of the everlasting God—forever:
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
This is where we encounter the glory of the gospel:
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Every person’s salvation rises from God’s purpose and grace. No one deserves this rich salvation.
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
That grace has been revealed in the appearing of JC who destroys death (everlasting death) and brings life to those who are called by God to partake of His grace. Everything is of God—the everlasting God who keeps calling the lost to trust the perfect and finished redemptive work of LJC—took our sin and God’s wrath when he died on the cross.
Do you know Abraham’s God? Do you have a relationship with Him? The only way to know Him is thru LJC—the One He sent into the world on the mission to save the lost. God has sworn that those who believe on LJC will be forgiven of their sin. If you haven’t trusted in JC—I plead with you to do that this morning so that you might also receive everlasting life.