Philo of Alexandria's De specialibus legibus 2.252-254 as a parallel to Matthew 5:33-36

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

 

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. (Matt 5:33-36)

 

Such warnings against false oaths were rather common before the time of Jesus. For instance, in his De specialibus legibus 2.252-254, Philo wrote:

 

τοῖς μάρτυρα καλοῦσιν ἐπὶ μὴ ἀληθεῖ θεὸν ὥρισται δίκη θανάτου· προσηκόντως· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος τῶν μετρίων ἀνέξεταί ποτε παρακληθεὶς συνεπιγράψασθαι ψεύδεσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐχθρὸν ἄπιστον ὑπολαβεῖν ἂν μοι δοκεῖ τὸν εἰς ταῦτα προτρέποντα. ὅθεν ῥητέον· τὸν ὀμνύντα μάτην ἐπ᾽ ἀδίκῳ θεὸς ὁ τὴν φύσιν ἵλεως οὔποτε τῆς αἰτίας ἀπαλλάξει δυσκάθαρτον καὶ μιαρὸν ὄντα, κἂν διαφύγῃ τὰς ἀπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων τιμωρίας. διαδράσεται δ᾽ οὐδέποτε· μυρίοι γὰρ ἔφοροι, ζηλωταὶ νόμων, φύλακες τῶν πατρίων ἀκριβέστατοι, ἐπὶ καταλεύσει τι δρῶσιν ἀμειλίκτως ἔχοντες· εἰ μὴ ἄρα ἐπὶ μὲν ἀτιμίᾳ πατρὸς ἢ μητρὸς φονᾶν ἄξιον, ἐπὶ δ᾽ ὀνόματι τῷ καὶ αὐτῆς εὐκλεεστέρῳ σεμνότητος ὑπ᾽ ἀσεβῶν ἀτιμουμένῳ μετριώτερον οἰστέον.  ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ οὕτως ἐστί τις ἀνόητος, ὡς ἕνεκα τῶν ἐλαττόνων κτείνων τοὺς αἰτίους ἐπὶ τοῖς μείζοσιν ἐᾶν· μεῖζον δ᾽ ἀσέβημα τοῦ πρὸς γονεῖς κακηγορουμένους καὶ ὑβριζομένους τὸ περὶ τὴν ἱερὰν πρόσρησιν θεοῦ γενόμενον ἐκ ψευδορκίας.

 

Henry G. Bohn offered this translation of the Greek:

 

Against those who call God as a witness in favor of assertions which are not true, the punishment of death is ordained in the law [Deuteronomy 19:19]; and very properly, for even a man of moderate respectability will never endure to be cited as a witness, and to have his name registered in support of a lie. But it seems to me that he would look upon any one who proposed such a thing to him as a thoroughly faithless enemy; on which account we must say this, that him, who swears rashly and falsely, calling God to witness an unjust oath, God, although he is merciful by nature, will yet never release, inasmuch as he is thoroughly defiled and infamous from guilt, even though he may escape punishment at the hands of men. And such a man will never entirely escape, for there are innumerable beings looking on, zealots for and keepers of the national laws, of rigid justice, prompt to stone such a criminal, and visiting without pity all such as work wickedness, unless, indeed, we are prepared to say that a man who acts in such a way as to dishonor his father or his mother is worthy of death, but that he who behaves with impiety towards a name more glorious than even the respect due to one's parents, is to be borne with as but a moderate offender. But the lawgiver of our nation is not so foolish as, after putting to death men who are guilty of minor offenses, then to treat those who are guilty of heavier crimes with mildness, since surely it is a greater iniquity than even to speak disparagingly or to insult one's parents, to show a contempt for the sacred name of God by means of perjury.

 

 Commenting on this text, David Chapman and Eckhard Schnabel wrote:

 

The comments on the penalty for breaking the third commandment, i.e., for committing perjury, are parallel to pec. 2.27-28 (No. 27). This text, while not commenting on a specific Old Testament text, alludes to Exod 20:7 (Deut 5:11) and Lev 19:12; 24:16. Philo understands these texts to prohibit uttering the Tetragrammaton, which explains his reluctance to sweeping oaths in general in which God’s name may be carelessly uttered. He regards perjury as a very serious crime: it represents a subversion of the laws (νομων) and of the ancestral customs (των παρτιων [εθων]), i.e., it threatens Israel’s constitution of the people of God. The death penalty is to be carried out by the witnesses to this cries; if the offender is spared, he (she) cannot escape God, who will treat perjurers forever as impure and thus unworthy of his presence and blessing. Philo asserts that there will be countless Jews willingly and ready to take decisive action against perjurers: Jews eager to detect and remove violators of the law of God, zealous in their commitment to the law, and consistent in guarding the ancestral customs and thus the constitution of the Jewish commonwealth. Such pious Jews are pitiless (αμειλικτως) against all who violate this basic law. While Philo may have exaggerated the possibility of lynch justice exacted by Jews on Jewish violators of the commandments of Torah whose violation warranted death, his statement suggests that he regarded the scenario that Jews zealous for the law would take action against transgressors as a real )or at least desirable) possibility in Roman Alexandria. (David W. Chapman and Eckhard J. Schnabel, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus: Texts and Commentary [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2019], 50)