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The filet mignon of the word, Part 20, The law of public adjuration

In the time of Moses, the law of public adjuration was so well known that the law mentions it with very little explanation. Leviticus 5:1 says,

¹ Now if a person sins, after he hears a public adjuration to testify, when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt.

The law of public adjuration is a subset of the Ninth Commandment, which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Not only is it mandatory to confess the truth, but a witness is not allowed to withhold the truth. All men are required to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth under oath.

Anyone who testified in a biblical court of law was required under oath to speak the whole truth to the best of his knowledge. The Third Commandment establishes such oaths, telling us that to lie under oath is to “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” An oath links God and His character to our testimony, and so if any man lies under oath, he profanes the name (character) of God.

Leviticus 5:4, 5 makes provision for those who testified in ignorance, making them responsible to correct the court record when they discovered their error.

⁴ Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, to whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these. ⁵ So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.

Therefore, the law of public adjuration applies not only to witnesses but also to the sinner himself. There was no Fifth Amendment right in Scripture against self-incrimination. The purpose of God’s judicial system was to obtain the truth through testimony. However, the law does not allow torture as a means of obtaining confessions.

Testimony Under Oath Establishes Truth

Hebrews 6:16 says,

¹⁶ For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

There are times when testimony cannot be confirmed by a double witness. There are also times when the victim of crime may not believe the testimony. In such cases, the witness testifies under oath that his testimony is true, and everyone must then accept it as truth. This ends all disputes among men. In effect, oaths are sworn “by one greater than themselves,” and this puts the veracity of all testimony into God’s hands for judgment.

An oath, therefore, makes a man directly accountable to God if he should bear false witness. A biblical judge does not have the authority to judge testimony that is sworn under oath. He must leave it in the hands of God for judgment. This is God’s way of ensuring truth and justice when obtaining testimony from individuals in a court of law.

A good example is seen in the law of jealousy.

When There Are No (Credible) Witnesses

There are certain examples given in the law where a man might commit a “perfect crime.” That is, there are no witnesses to testify against him, and so he is able to get away with his sin. In such a case, if he later repents and confesses his sin, he is to restore to his victim that which was stolen and add one-fifth of its value to the restitution. Leviticus 5:16 says,

¹⁶ He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.

Normally, restitution is at least double (Exodus 22:4), but sinners are rewarded when they come forward voluntarily, testifying against themselves in repentance. A similar example is seen in Leviticus 6:1-5, where a man steals something entrusted to his care but where there was no witness to convict him of sin. If he repents, he was to add one-fifth of its value as restitution.

Another example (Numbers 5:12-31) is of a man or woman who suspects (without proof) that his/her spouse has committed adultery. Scripture gives an example of a jealous man who is given the option to taking his wife to the priest, where she is placed under oath. She must then swear that she is innocent, and the jealous husband must accept her sworn testimony as truth.

If she swears falsely, it is up to God to judge her. Numbers 5:27 says that God will render her barren. Numbers 5:28 concludes,

²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children.

This does not mean that a barren woman is necessarily an adulteress, of course. Sarah and Rachel were both barren for many years, and there is no indication that either was an adulteress, and neither were required to take an oath of innocence.

The Apostolic Testimony

If a witness knows something, he is required to bear witness to what he has seen or heard. If they do not give testimony, they are liable as false witnesses. The apostles appealed to this law when the Sadducees commanded them to stop testifying about Jesus Christ in Acts 4:18-20,

¹⁸ And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; ²⁰ for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.”

The apostles were not just so excited that they couldn’t help but talk. They had been adjured by Jesus Christ, the Judge, to give testimony of what they had seen and heard. They could not do anything else but to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So when the priests told them NOT to testify, it was a violation of the law found in Leviticus 5:1.

But in the end, the whole truth will be known to all, and everything that has been hidden will be laid bare. When Paul says in Philippians 2:10, 11 that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, he speaks of the final great public adjuration issued at the time of the final resurrection of the dead. All will be required to appear before the Great White Throne to testify the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Part of this truth will be to confess or acknowledge their past sins. On a more positive note, they will also acknowledge the truth of the lordship of Jesus Christ. They will agree too that His word is truth and that He is altogether righteous in His judgments.

We have seen lesser examples of this in various revivals of the past. When the Holy Spirit has moved powerfully in a meeting, men walking along the street outside have been known to fall on their faces and confess their sins to God. Men have been known to run into the meeting screaming their confessions of sin and then confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

It is as if the Holy Spirit makes a semi-public adjuration, similar to what will be seen at the Great White Throne on a larger scale. When all of humanity is adjured in that day, they will all confess their sins and will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, for that is the ultimate truth. Like those who have done so already in various revivals of the past, those at the Great White Throne will become genuine believers and will be filled with the Spirit, for Paul says no one can confess Him as Lord except by the Spirit of God.

This confession will be the basis of the Age that follows, in which the fiery law of God will rule all of creation, infusing all things with the divine presence and the character of Christ. This is the meaning of the so-called “lake of fire.” It is the divine judgment of the law, by which men serve out their sentences as slaves to the righteous, according to the laws of redemption (Leviticus 25:53). With their authority will come the responsibility to teach them the righteous ways of God. Hence, Isaiah 26:9 says, “for when the earth experiences Thy judgments, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

Caiaphas Adjures Jesus

When Jesus was put on trial before Caiaphas, His accusers brought forth many witnesses against Him. However, they could not agree among themselves (Matthew 26:59, 60). We read also that “Jesus kept silent” (Matthew 26:63), fulfilling the word in Isaiah 53:7, “yet He did not open His mouth.”

So the high priest forced Jesus to speak the truth. Matthew 26:63, 64 says,

⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

By the law of public adjuration, Jesus had no choice but to speak the truth. The high priest then convicted Jesus on the sin of blasphemy. Matthew 26:65 tells us,

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy.”

A proper response should have been to leave the judgment in the hands of God. If Jesus had truly blasphemed while under oath, God would have judged Him properly at the right time and manner. Yet Caiaphas took it upon himself to judge the case. Why? Perhaps he was so blinded by his own opinion that he could only believe that his own view was the view of God. Perhaps he was ignorant of the law of God. Perhaps he did not know that the law of adjuration appealed to God Himself to judge the case. That same ignorance of the law was manifested when the Council tried to suppress the apostolic testimony.

At any rate, Caiaphas usurped the place of God and rendered judgment by his own opinion.

One final note: The law of adjuration can be issued by those who have the authority to do so. One's level of authority determines the scope of the adjuration. A king, the high priest, or a king-priest may issue a public adjuration for everyone under his authority. But others can do so only for those under their own authority.