Genesis 24:8 (KJV) Getting Free of an Oath

Genesis 24:8 (KJV)
And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

Swearing an oath is a serious matter. Biblically it is a much greater deal than a legal contract. The terms of a contract are binding and, should a party break their contractual agreement, that issue may be taken to court and settled by the authority of the land. Fines, judgments and other penalties may be enforced upon the offender.

A biblical oath is on a level infinitely greater. The court system has no authority. If an oath is broken there will be no fines or penalties. On the surface, a person can walk away from an oath with little more than some soil on his name.

The difference is that God holds us to our oaths. Spiritually speaking, it is better not to make an oath than to make one and break it.

So the Servant had a legitimate concern. If he swore to bring a bride for Isaac and was not able to accomplish his purpose what was he to do?

We learn here the principle of how to clear an oath:

• He was to seek the Lord’s guidance
• He was to fulfill his obligation to the best of his ability and resources but then
• He was to leave the results in the hands of the Lord
• He could not force the woman God led him to, to come with him. It would be far worse to force the situation and get a woman God had not led him to. 

The fulfillment of the oath was God’s work, not his.

If he had been faithful with what he had, he would be clear of the oath no matter the results.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3800 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Pastor Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit Bible Baptist Church of Puyallup.

Genesis 24:8 (KJV) Getting Free of an Oath

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.