The Three Oaths
When Abraham forged a covenant with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, Abimelech declared, “Now swear to me here by G-d that you will not deal falsely with me, my children, or my grandchildren. Show me, and the land where you sojourned, the same kindness I have shown you” (Genesis 21:23).
Abraham swore. If so, though, how could Samson many generations later have fought the Philistines? Wasn’t the oath between Abraham and Abimelech still binding?
Rashi (in his commentary to Sotah 9b) explains: “The Philistines violated the oath first.” The Rabbis offer the same explanation to justify the abrogation of the treaty between Laban and Jacob. The Midrash (Tanchuma, Devarim 3) states: “When Yoav went to fight Aram-Naharaim, they came out to him and said: You are Jacob’s descendants and we are Laban’s; surely their agreement remains in force, as it says, ‘The mound shall bear witness’ (Genesis 31:52).
“When Yoav heard this, he returned to David and said, ‘What do you say? Surely Jacob swore this.’ Immediately they convened the Sanhedrin [which declared]: Such indeed was the stipulation, but they violated it first…. Once the Sanhedrin ruled this way, Yoav returned and slew them.”
Many have opposed Zionism by appealing to “the three oaths” that the Rabbis (Ketuvot 111a) say G-d set down regarding Eretz Yisrael. They argue that these oaths prohibit Israel from establishing a sovereign state until the Messiah comes.
Actually, the “three oaths” comprise two oaths for Israel and one for the nations. I suspect that few who rely on the Talmud’s words have actually seen the text and studied it. The Talmud states: “What are the three oaths? G-d made Israel swear not to go up to the land en masse [‘b’chomah,’ which Rashi explains means ‘together by force’] and not to rebel against the nations. He also made the nations swear that they would not subjugate Israel too much.”
G-d made not only Israel swear but the nations as well – and their oaths are interdependent. G-d did not wish the Exile to continue generation after generation with unbearable grief and affliction. Moreover, “too much” subjugation constitutes a terrible Chillul Hashem, for it demonstrates that the nations do not fear G-d or take Him seriously. G-d, therefore, linked Israel’s oath not to rebel to the nations’ oath not to subjugate Israel “too much.” As long as the burden of the Exile was not “too much,” Israel’s oath applied. Yet, when the nations, in their cruel malice, inflicted unimaginable suffering and holocausts upon Israel, they violated their oath, thereby freeing Israel from theirs.
The Jewish Idea