Adjuration אָלָה

We are moving into chapter five of Leviticus with our word for today. אָלָה oath, agreement, public charge, curse, stipulation. It is used 36 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used most of the time in the sense of oath, a solemn promise usually invoking a divine witness. A good example of this is Abraham’s servant when he was assigned the duty to find a wife for his son from his own clan. Genesis 24:39-41 I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's house. Then you will be free מֵאָ֣לָתִ֔י from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free מֵאָלָתִֽי from my oath.’ We also see our word used in a court setting when one is acting as a witness. A good example of this is during Solomon’s prayer of dedication he is identifying one of the purposes of God’s altar. 1 Kings 8:31-32 If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an אָלָ֖ה oath and comes לְהַֽאֲלֹת֑וֹ and swears his אָלָ֛ה oath before your altar in this house, then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness. This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Leviticus 5:1 If anyone sins in that he hears a אָלָ֔ה public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity. Did you catch that God calls it a sin when someone knows something about a matter that could clear things up but fails to speak? The reason this is wrong is because it perverts justice. Yes, God loves mercy but He is also a just God. This reminds us of how God defines what is good and what he requires of us as seen in Micah. Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Psalm 33:5 But when someone fails to help clear up a matter that could affect someone’s life and the life of their family they participate in perverting justice. Isaiah 5:22-23 Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! Deuteronomy 16:19-20 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. God desires for us to be used by him to bring about justice. When others fail to bring about what is just here on this earth we have to be careful not to demand things be made right because we have all wronged others and especially God. We all need his mercy. I’ll close with this great passage about Jesus being both the one who is just and the one who declares us not guilty. He satisfies both of these character qualities of God Justice and Love. Romans 3:23-26 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.