''Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? (Matthew 23:16-17)''
In the Second Commandment, we're commanded not to swear oaths. The Jewish leaders would not deny that oaths against God's name were sinful. Especially since the commandment reads, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). Since oaths using God's name were forbidden, the Pharisees allowed oaths to be made using God's Temple. However those oaths made using God's Temple weren't necessary to be fulfilled. However, the Temple's treasury made the oaths necessary to be fulfilled.
As with many people, the Pharisees were blinded by money. The gold of the Temple's treasury meant everything. So also those who had money were considered more important than those without. Blinded by the money, the Temple was unimportant. The place where God had promised for His name to dwell. You cannot take God's name in vain in any greater way than to say where He wanted His name to dwell.
The Pharisees were blinded so that they guided people into making vain oaths. But all oaths are binding before God. We're commanded not to take oaths to keep from making vain oaths. Jesus also tells us, "Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil" (Matthew 5:37). We're simply commanded to be definite in our words. Anything more than basing it on our creation in God's image comes from the devil. God seeks for us to have the integrity that our word is our bond. His Word is His bond. Amen.
