Swearing in the Psalms

I was reading Psalm 15 this morning and something struck me as very interesting. The Psalm opens by asking the questions, "Who may dwell on Your holy hill?" In other words, the psalmist is asking, "Who is worthy to fellowship with the Lord?" He proceeds to list several things that one must do or not do in order to be worthy to ascend the hill of God. The last part of verse four is what struck me.

The Psalmist says, "He swears to his own hurt and does not change."(Ps. 15:4 NASB) Have you ever made a promise that turned out to be inconvenient for you to fulfill? I certainly have. More often than not, I must admit, I am more likely to go back on my word. The Psalmist tells us that the righteous man does not go back on his word even when it has been to his hurt. He does not change what he has said.

Jesus paints a similar picture in the New Testament when he gives the Sermon on the Mount. He goes further and says that we shouldn't even swear. Not that we should avoid giving our word in such a way that we hurt ourselves, but that giving our word should be so trustworthy, we need not swear to convince someone that we will do what we say.

"But let you statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these of of evil." (Matt. 5:37 NASB)