There is a scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince when Narissa Malfoy asks Snape to help her son, Draco in a dangerous task, even taking over the task should Draco fail. She asks Snape to swear and oath with her, the unbreakable vow. If either party breaks the vow, the penalty is death.
Modern readers may have a problem getting their minds around the concept of an oath so strong, no one would dare break it, but in fact there are such oaths in the Middle East that were present historically and, in some places, still exist. One such oath is found in the Book of First Nephi, chapter 4.
After obtaining the Plates of Brass through disguising himself as Laban, Nephi leaves the city with Laban's servant, Zoram. When Zoram realizes that Nephi is not his master, he tries to run back into the city. Nephi, who is described as young but very strong, restrains him. In retelling the incident, Nephi wrote:
. . . I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that . . . we would spare his life. . . . that he need not fear; that he should be a free man like unto us if he would go down in the wilderness with us. . . And Zoram did take courage at the words which I spake . . . and he made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth. (1 Nephi 4: 32, 33, 35)
Zoram kept his oath and he stayed with Nephi to the end of his days. The key words of the oath are as the Lord liveth and I liveth. When one person in this culture of ancient Israel makes that oath, he is swearing, not only on his own life, but on the life of the Lord God. No believer would make such an oath lest he suffer spiritual death.
When the battle between the Nephites under the command of Captain Moroni and the Lamanites under the command of Zarahemnah, reached such a fever pitch, Moroni realized that if they continued to fight, they would wipe out Zarahemnah's entire army. The Nephites were well armed and wore armor. Lamanite soldiers had only loincloths. The Nephites had no desire to shed useless blood for no reason other than to shed blood; therefore, Moroni told his army to stand down and he halted the battle. He spoke with Zarahemnah about the Lamanites laying down their weapons and taking an oath to never war again. Zarahemnah laid down his sword, but refused to take the oath. This clip from Book of Mormon Central explains why. It is clear that though he was a Lamanite and hated the Nephites, he knew that such an oath would bind him to Moroni for eternity. Some of the Lamanites took the oath and were release to go home. Others didn't
Zarahemnah and the Oath
When Zarahemnah refused to take the oath, he picked up his sword to attack Moroni. He was stopped and his sword broken. The Lamanites continued to battle until one of Moroni's men cut off Zarahemnah's scalp and held it on the tip of his sword. Zarahemnah finally realized that he would lose his own life and his army would be destroyed. He agreed to make the oath with Moroni.
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Moroni's army had spiritual armor as well as physical armor. The Apostle Paul would later describe spiritual armor as what we will need to battle the unseen enemies of thrones and principalities. (Ephesians 6)
I want to note that most of the armor is protective, just like the physical armor. The only offensive weapon is the sword - the word of God - Christ - and the Holy Ghost. If we must fight evil in our day (and we must) we must protect ourselves and use the Spirit in relaying the truth to others (not Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media sites). I challenge myself to a Facebook fast. Will you join with me?
© Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson August 2020
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