{"id":398,"date":"2014-09-19T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=398"},"modified":"2014-08-30T21:22:09","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:22:09","slug":"matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Symbolism)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 5:35 quotes Jesus as reaffirming the declaration of Isaiah 66:1, saying very plainly that the earth is God\u2019s \u201cfootstool.\u201d But what does that mean exactly?<\/p>\n<p>In Old Testament usage, the concept of \u201cfootstool\u201d or \u201cunder the feet\u201d carried a few important meanings. First was the assumption of ownership or full possession of whatever was \u201cunder the feet.\u201d An example of this is found in Deuteronomy 11:24 where God promised the Israelites that, \u201cEvery place where you set your foot will be yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Second, and similar to the idea of possession, was the assumption of absolute dominion or rule over whatever was \u201cunder the feet.\u201d One Ancient Egyptian drawing illustrates this concept in a casually-cruel way: It shows a child Pharaoh sitting on his nurse\u2019s lap. His feet rest firmly on the heads of bound and groveling enemies. They are a literal footstool of conquered foes over whom he now exercises complete dominion.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of the earth being God\u2019s footstool is not as cruel as the Egyptian imagery, but Jesus\u2019 meaning here appears to be much the same. God is Lord of all, period. He not only created our earth\u2014he possesses every inch of it. And what\u2019s more, he is complete and total master over our world and everything in it. Therefore using his earth\u2014or anything he possesses, including our own heads\u2014as a pretext for frivolous oaths is both presumptuous and offensive.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[DBI, 906]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 5:35 quotes Jesus as reaffirming the declaration of Isaiah 66:1, saying very plainly that the earth is God\u2019s \u201cfootstool.\u201d But what does that mean exactly? In Old Testament usage, the concept of \u201cfootstool\u201d or \u201cunder the feet\u201d carried a few important meanings. First was the assumption of ownership or full possession of whatever was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13],"tags":[161,159,111],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-symbolism","tag-gods-footstool","tag-oaths","tag-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matthew 5:35 quotes Jesus as reaffirming the declaration of Isaiah 66:1, saying very plainly that the earth is God\u2019s \u201cfootstool.\u201d But what does that mean exactly? 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In Old Testament usage, the concept of \u201cfootstool\u201d or \u201cunder the feet\u201d carried a few important meanings. First was the assumption of ownership or full possession of whatever was&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-09-19T12:00:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-30T21:22:09+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html","name":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-19T12:00:12+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-30T21:22:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/09\/matthew-533-37-oaths-symbolism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 5:33-37; Oaths (Symbolism)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. 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