Oath

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

OATH

Matt 14:1-12

14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. 6 On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

NIV

Having this narrative of the death of John the Baptist does prompt us to wonder of what value or relevance it has in conjunction with the good news of the kingdom of God.  What we are being told is of the hideousness of Herod. First he was living with his brother’s wife, which was strictly forbidden in the law.

Lev 18:16

16 "'Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother.

NIV

The other despicable act we are told of is this dance done by the daughter of Herodias, who was the wife of Herod’s brother. We think of the movies of dancing woman in the courts of kings, but this was not the culture of this time or this people. This was the Middle East and even during the time of Christ women were to dress modestly, even having veils to cover their face. According to our scholars it was a principle of many of the nations in that area to keep their women from public view. So for Salome to perform a rather provocative dance before the king and his noble guests went against all propriety of that culture. To make matters worse Herod was so incestuously pleased with her luring performance, he promised her anything up to half his kingdom. This could be the only reason for this kind of an oath. Here is a man who has dishonored his own brother by having his wife for his own pleasure, and then making an oath to that woman’s daughter. We can only imagine in this oath before all the nobles he invited to the feast to celebrate his birthday, he also had ulterior motives. He was either showing off before his guests, or was thinking of how grateful this young woman would be and her showing him her gratitude. How wicked this whole situation was. The only honorable expression was in Salome honoring her mother by asking what she should ask for. What do we learn from this which is valuable or connected to the truth of the gospel message? Herod was bound by his oath. There is much within the scriptures about oaths and how they are completely binding. We do not make many oaths today, as such. Our politicians, judges and other public servants take an oath of office. Yet how many of them actually keep that oath? In some cases it seems they are more interested in their personal gain, as Herod might have, then the people who entrusted them with that position.  We do however vow to remain faithful in sickness and in health to our wedded love. We vow to stay true and to love and cherish them forever. However we have seen too many of this type of vow broken. Another word for oath, vow would be promise. This we might do all too often and too loosely. Herod was bound by his oath even though his intent was not killing John the Baptist, but just trying to silence him from speaking out against his incestuous relationship with his brother’s wife by imprisoning him.  His oath cost him dearly, as she wanted Johns head on a platter. Do we honor our promises with that much veracity? It might be a good thing not to make too many promises that we have no ability or intention to keep. While maybe we have some good intentions to keep, but when it comes to doing, or fulfilling the promise we find the cost is more than we are willing to give. Sometimes we might be a bit like Herod in the making of a promise, thinking of how that would benefit ourselves in some way. We might consider the recipient of our promise will think well of us, or highly of us because we promised to do something for them. We make promises in various situations, both in our personal life as well as in our business life. We promise to fulfill our duties to our employer and to abide by the rules of the company. We promise, perhaps through a handshake or maybe even a contract to fulfill our responsibilities to a client or employee. We promise friends and relations all sorts of things, based on the need and how we can do something for them. The lesson here is to be careful about what we promise and to who we promise. It is a promise and as such it is our word and we are bound by our word. Herod’s oath was binding, and so are our promises. Yet how often we fail at keeping our promise. This is something which needs work, work of the Holy Spirit. 
Matt 5:33-37

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes ,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. 

NIV