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Leviticus describes reckless oaths as a sin that requires confession, following ancient Near Eastern traditions such as in the Akkadian Surpu tablets that similarly include oaths made in ignorance in a list of crimes.
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Surpu II
Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations
Ancient Near East
…, saved something for the gods, but ate it, after he behaved arrogantly, he started to pray, disarranged the altar that had been prepared, made his god and his goddess angry with himself, standing up in the assembly, said inadequate words. Be it released, because he has sworn to facts of which he was ignorant, he has sworn after he took away something, he has sworn after he hid something, he has sworn in a case of a theft he committed, he has sworn in a capital case, he pointed his finger at a protecting deity, he has sworn by the protecting deity of father and mother, he has sworn by the protecting deity of elder brother and elder sister,
Date: 1200 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Leviticus 5:4
Hebrew Bible
2 Or when there is a person who touches anything ceremonially unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, he has become unclean and is guilty; 3 or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, even if he did not realize it, but he has later come to know it and is guilty; 4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths— 5 when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things he must confess how he has sinned,
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Notes and References
"... Similarities between Leviticus and Šurpu can also be detected in Leviticus 5:4 which informs of an individual who has sworn a rash oath. Swearing a rash oath is present on the list of potential sins in Šurpu tablet II:82, “May it be released, he swore to things he did not know.” A similar transgression is listed in a closely related subcategory of Šurpu, the so-called Lipšur-litanies. Here the confessional includes the phrase: “Whether he swore to a friend or a companion; whether he swore to true or false; whether he swore to something important or insignificant; whether he swore to things he knew or things he did not know.” Swearing without being able or willing to keep the oath was obviously a serious offense both in the Priestly and Assyro-Babylonian worldview ..."
Cranz, Isabel
Atonement and Purification: Priestly and Assyro-Babylonian Perspectives on Sin and Its Consequences
(pp. 45-46) Mohr Siebeck, 2017
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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