על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ב א׳On the Special Laws, Book II 1
א׳
1BOOK II
On The Special Laws Which Fall Under Three Of The Ten General Commandments, Namely The Third On The Duty Of Keeping Oaths, The Fourth On Reverencing The Seventh Day, And The Fifth On Honouring Parents
[1] In the preceding treatise we have dealt fully with two of the ten heads, one directed against the acknowledgement of other sovereign gods, the other against giving divine honours to any work of men’s hands. And we have described such among the particular enactments of the law as may be properly classed under either head. Let us now discuss the three next in the list, again subjoining those of the special ordinances which belong to them.
On The Special Laws Which Fall Under Three Of The Ten General Commandments, Namely The Third On The Duty Of Keeping Oaths, The Fourth On Reverencing The Seventh Day, And The Fifth On Honouring Parents
[1] In the preceding treatise we have dealt fully with two of the ten heads, one directed against the acknowledgement of other sovereign gods, the other against giving divine honours to any work of men’s hands. And we have described such among the particular enactments of the law as may be properly classed under either head. Let us now discuss the three next in the list, again subjoining those of the special ordinances which belong to them.
ב׳
2[2] The first of the three forbids us to take God’s name in vain: the good man’s word, it means, should be an oath, firm, unswerving, utterly free from falsehood, securely planted on truth. And if indeed occasion should force us to swear, the oath should be by a father and mother, their good health and welfare if they are alive, their memory if they are dead. For parents are copies and likenesses of the divine power, since they have brought the non-existent into existence. In the laws we read of one of our first founders,
ג׳
3[3] who are particularly admired for their wisdom, that he swore by the fear of his father, a fact recorded, I believe, for the benefit of posterity and to teach them the necessary lesson that they should honour their parents in the proper way by showing affection to them as benefactors and awe of them as rulers appointed by nature, and should not lightly essay to use the name of God.
ד׳
4[4] Those persons too deserve praise whose unwillingness, tardiness and shrinking, if they are ever forced to swear, raise qualms not only in the spectators but even in those who are administering the oath: such people are in the habit of saying “Yes, by ——” or “No, by ——” and add nothing more, and by thus breaking off suggest the clear sense of an oath without actually making it.
ה׳
5[5] But also a person may add to his “Yes” or “No” if he wish, not indeed the highest and most venerable and primal cause, but earth, sun, stars, heaven, the whole universe. For these are worthy of highest respect, since they have precedence in time over our place in creation, and also will remain for ever untouched by age according to the purpose of Him Who made them.