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The Sermon on the Mount—“Do Not Swear at All”The Watchtower—1978 | June 1
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Many vows were made by use of the word “corban,” meaning “a gift dedicated to God.” It was believed that by uttering this word, a person could declare certain things just as forbidden to themselves or others as the temple sacrifices. In this regard, Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“Adroitly you set aside the commandment of God in order to retain your tradition. For example, Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Let him that reviles father or mother end up in death.’ But you men say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother: “Whatever I have by which you may get benefit from me is corban, (that is, a gift dedicated to God,)”’—you men no longer let him do a single thing for his father or his mother, and thus you make the word of God invalid by your tradition which you handed down.”—Mark 7:9-13.a
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The Sermon on the Mount—“Do Not Swear at All”The Watchtower—1978 | June 1
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a In effect, such a man would be saying to his parents: ‘As far as you are concerned, my property is “corban,” a gift dedicated to God, and you cannot use it or benefit from it in any way.’ By saying the word “corban,” a person did not necessarily dedicate his property to God. Usually the word meant that he was merely making it like a gift dedicated to God, so that the person or persons to whom he spoke might not use it. In The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim writes: “It cannot be denied that such vows, in regard to parents, would be binding, and that they were actually made.”
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