Introduction: In Australia for people entering parliament, they should take their oath of obedience on the Bible. If they refuse to do so, instead they can make a solemn oath while either putting their hand on a ‘holy item’ or holding their hand high. On one occasion a senator claimed to have slurred her words so that later she said that she did not mean what she said and not what others mistakenly heard her to have said! This was deception and in my mind should have caused expulsion from parliament! What did the writers of the constitution think about when they put this swearing in on the Bible? Neither you nor I were there and we have to turn to records to assume their thinking. As I read the records I gather that basically the main purpose was to underline faithfulness to our Royal Head and, at that time her, Government. No doubt, in Australia’s case, a large part was because it was the British custom. In the seventeenth century in Britain the law had been changed so that people who refused to swear a religious oath, that is ‘on the Bible’, could make their promises on another holy book or article. Now people can just make a solemn oath, which many Australian Parliamentarians immediately break when they call for change to a ‘republican’ system of government! The oath reads “I, [Name], do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, his heirs and successors according to law. So help me God!”. I suspect that in British thinking basically the Bible was used because they believed that that the Bible set out Truth as God saw it! The Preamble to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 states, ‘the people of the colonies are humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God’.
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Comment: Why do Jews think that God gave the, what they call, the decalogue? I quote the torah – The Ten Commandments (Decalogue) function primarily as a foundational constitutional statement of the covenant between God and the nation of Israel, rather than a complete legal code. As a “constitution,” they set the core moral, ethical, and spiritual framework (e.g., prohibition of idolatry, Sabbath observance) for Israel as a distinct people. While they serve as foundational, they are also part of the broader,, 613-law Mosaic system.
Today I want to mention only the constitutional articles relating to God. This clearly states that God sees Himself as able to dictate how things ought to be! He states what He demands of His people! 1. He has brought the people to where they are. 2. He is unique, and alone is to be worshipped. 3. Idols are forbidden. 4. He means this, and is in this issue, a Jealous God. 5. (v7) As my people you are to be true to me – your lives and words are not to dishonour me! 6. He expects worship to be as He requires!
Jeremiah 10: 6 – There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
Prayer: I fall at Your feet in awe and wonder, Oh, Creator, Saving, rightly Jealous God.
As I read it! 