“For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.”

This is about the oath guarantee that God made to Abraham. We would consider the promise of God to be good without an oath. This promise is so important that God wanted to make sure that Abraham and all of Abraham’s followers would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would be kept.

It was the custom to give an oath when making an agreement. Even though this is a one-sided agreement, God treats it in a convincing way. The oath given by the parties involved would usually be based on a significant figure. When God made His oath to Abraham there was no being higher than Himself, and so He swore by Himself.

One universal truth about the swearing of oaths is that it was considered final confirmation of the agreement. For that time period, it was as binding as any signed document with witnesses would be in today’s court. We also swear oaths in courts today. That is a point at which we can be held liable for perjury.

Task for Today: Remember to make your yes, yes, and your no, no. When you do this consistently, the world will understand that your word can be trusted. As far as the truth is concerned you should not need to swear an oath. Like God, we should be trustworthy to the point that our word is sure.