Unbreakable
But the king will rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him will glory, for the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped. Psalm 63:11 NASB
Swears – If you want to tie someone down, what is the most powerful restraint you can use? Certainly not rope. Maybe steel shackles? Titanium? Nope, none of these will ultimately bind. But šābaʿ, now that’s unbreakable. What is šābaʿ? It’s a vow, and oath. In other words, words are the unbreakable chains for binding someone. An idea, as Leonardo DiCaprio noted in the movie Inception, sticks. Implanted in the mind, it is the most resilient force in the universe. Ideas reshape human history, personally and corporately. If you want to really bind someone, put an irresistible idea in his head and he is yours forever.
That’s the deep meaning of šābaʿ, and perhaps why šābaʿ is “identical in its consonantal root to the word šebaʿ ‘seven.’ It is identical, of course, to the feminine form of seven—the masculine adding a fourth letter, ‘he’—and it is in the feminine in which the Hebrew counts his cardinal numbers!”[1] Abraham’s encounter with Abimelech (Genesis 21) demonstrates this connection. Abraham gives seven lambs to seal his promise. “To swear in the Old Testament was to give one’s sacred unbreakable word in testimony that the one swearing would faithfully perform some promised deed, or that he would faithfully refrain from some evil act . . .”[2] Yeshua has some harsh words concerning oaths, as you recall. The point is that seven, the number of perfection, is also a manifestation of an unbreakable commitment—a living word. God Himself makes oaths and vows—unbreakable ones. In fact, we might stretch the idea to say that every word of God’s is šābaʿ, a living unbreakable trust.
All of this Hebraic history raises a serious problem for us. What about our promises? What about all those times we promised to do something and didn’t follow through, even promises we made to God? What happened to the “unbreakable” commitment? At the moment of the vow we had every intention of faithfulness. But we are fragile, twisted beings, quite capable of ignoring the consequences of breaking unbreakable chains, of pretending that it really doesn’t matter (or some other excuse). And, not unlike our Hebrew counterparts in Scripture, we stand guilty. Now what do we do with šābaʿ?
Ah, did you think I would provide you with a nice, neat answer? Here’s what I have to say (and more about this later, I hope). The biggest problem for Christianity is the existence of evil, but the biggest problem for the faithful is history.
Topical Index: šābaʿ, seven, vow, bind, Psalm 63:11
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 899). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Ibid.
