Adjure

Sometimes I wonder why these words were chosen to be included in this Guide. There are so many words in the scriptures and not all of them are included. I'm not asking the question to question whether or not this word or that word should have been added, but instead to figure out what I can learn and come away with.

According to the dictionary, Adjure means:

"urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something."

It's origins literately mean "to swear" or to make an oath.

In today's day and age the concept of a promise or an oath does not have that much weight. We are focused a lot more on the physical world and its constraints. When I was in high school I was telling a guy friend of mine about these playing cards my brother had left behind when he went to college. He asked if he could have them and I rather jokingly said he could. Then he made me promise and I didn't think much of it. Later he showed up at my house to collect my brother's cards and I told him that I couldn't, they weren't actually mine to give. He became very angry and left feeling betrayed since I had promised them to him and did not deliver. The experience taught me that making a promise and giving my word to someone actually does hold weight and I should be careful in how I go about giving my word.

In Christ's day, the concept of giving your word and upholding your honor already was instilled in the culture. In Matthew 26:63 Christ is put on trial and is asked if he is the Son of God. It reads:

63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Christ answer is in verse 64:

64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

The word "adjure" is used here and I'm guessing it was to emphasis Christ repose. When Christ declared himself this time it was absolute and could not be taken back. Maybe if Christ denied himself before this point they would have left him alone as merely a misguided soul, but after this response I believe his death became sure.

Christ knew what they were asking of him, and he told them the truth. He had his life and the pain he knew was coming on the line and he did the right thing. Sometimes our ability to choose keeps us from doing as he did. The thought "we always have a choice" clouds our vision until we can't see the reality that for an honest person there isn't a choice.