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One should not swear by false gods. But also, לא תישא את שם ה׳ לשווא. So is it worse (better) to casually, and without really meaning it, promise something "by G-d" or "By all the gods on Olympus"?

Joshua Fox
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  • Strongly connected: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/31897/21 – Shalom Apr 22 '20 at 05:56
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    כְּשֶׁהָיָה נִשְׁבָּע לַשֶּׁקֶר, הָיָה נִשְׁבָּע בְּחַיֵּי פַרְעֹה - when Joseph swore falsely, he swore by the name of Pharaoh (Rashi on Genesis 42:15) – b a Apr 22 '20 at 08:22
  • Swearing by a false god means that the statement made is not true. Also, as you point out, one should not mention the idol at all. – sabbahillel Apr 22 '20 at 12:31
  • @ba Please add an answer so I can upvote – Joshua Fox Apr 22 '20 at 12:32
  • @sabbahillel Quite right. You should not. Also, you should not swear by Hashem. Which is worse. (There is definitely a concept of different levels of severity of Aveirot.) Are they identically as bad? – Joshua Fox Apr 22 '20 at 12:33
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    The gemarra seems to treat lo Sisa as more stringent than the average prohibition. I assume this would include swearing by an idol – robev Apr 22 '20 at 13:22
  • @robev What is the citation for that gemarra? Do you have citations that swearing by an idol is in the latter category of "average prohibition"? Note that idol-worship is one of the three categories of Yehareg Ve-al yaavor and Lo sisa is not. – Joshua Fox Apr 22 '20 at 13:28
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    Regarding the severity of lo sisa, see here and here (at the end they say יש בו עונש גדול). Whereas swearing by an idol only gets lashes. Not sure if it's yehareg veal yaavor, so I'm not posting as an answer. I don't think it is. – robev Apr 22 '20 at 14:07
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    @JoshuaFox I don't think it's a full answer by itself because swearing by a human master might be different than swearing by another god – b a Apr 22 '20 at 16:01
  • Then again, the Egyptians treated Pharaoh as a god – Joshua Fox Apr 22 '20 at 16:23
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    @ba youre right the Chomas anach quotes the Midrash sefer hayashar that Yosef swore by the previous dead pharoh who wasn't a god and chas veshalom he would swear by the current pharoh who considerred himself a god -חי פרעה וכו׳. אמרו רז״ל כשהיה נשבע לשקר היה נשבע חי פרעה. והוא תמוה. ואפשר דח״ו יוסף לא יעשה כן כי אם גלה סודו אל עבדיו דכונתו לישבע לפרעה הראשון שמלך בכזביו ושקריו והוא רקיון כמ״ש בספר הישר. ועל שמו נקראו כלם פרעה והוא היה מכוין לפרעה הראשון: – user15464 Apr 22 '20 at 16:49
  • If you are making a real oath, it is actually a mitzvah to do it in the name of G-d. This is one of the positive commandments of the Torah according to the Rambam, ובשמו תשבע - Devarim 6:13 and Devarim 10:20. We actually say it in Aleinu: we hope for that glorious future day when "All who dwell on earth shall recognize and know that to you shall every knee bend, and every tongue swear." This would seem to be a matter of respect toward G-d, to use him as the standard by which one swears. There are many dozens of oaths to G-d in the Bible. – MichoelR Apr 23 '20 at 13:50
  • However, we are very careful about swearing in general and the custom has grown to avoid it whenever possible, because swearing falsely or vainly (שוא) in G-d's name is a terrible thing. This isn't a direct answer to your question of "which is worse", but I thought this context was needed. Swearing by G-d is essentially good, swearing by idols is terrible regardless, swearing falsely or casually by G-d is also terrible. – MichoelR Apr 23 '20 at 13:50

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