Adjuration

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The judge, king, or high priest with official authority putting one on his solemn oath; entailing the obligation of witnessing ( Leviticus 5:1). So Saul adjured the people not to eat until evening ( 1 Samuel 14:24-28). And Ahab adjured Micaiah to tell the truth, which elicited from him the real result of the approaching battle, after a previous ironical reply. Compare  Song of Solomon 2:7 margin;  Mark 5:7;  Acts 19:13;  1 Thessalonians 5:27 margin.

Paul "adjuring" the Thessalonians "by the Lord that the epistle might be read to all the holy brethren." Jesus, who, as the meek "Lamb dumb before His shearers," would not reply to false charges, when "adjured ( Exorkizo Se ) by the living God," by the high priest, to tell the truth whether He be the Christ the Son of God, witnessed the truth concerning His Messiahship and His future advent in glory as the Son of man, which immediately brought on Him sentence of death. We Christians can so far join with the high priest's reply, "What further need have we of witnesses?" ( Matthew 26:63-65.) Christ's own witness alone is enough to assure us of His Godhead, the truth which He sealed with His blood.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A solemn charge by one in authority to another to speak the truth under the obligation of an oath, as when Ahab adjured Micaiah,  1 Kings 22:16 , and when the high priest adjured our Lord.  Matthew 26:63 . Also binding a person under a curse to do or not to do the thing enjoined, as in  Joshua 6:26;  1 Samuel 14:24 : cf. also  Mark 5:7;  Acts 19:13 . Also a 'solemn charge,' as in  1 Thessalonians 5:27 , in the margin.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 14:24 Joshua 6:26 1 Kings 22:16

We have in the New Testament a striking example of this ( Matthew 26:63;  Mark 5:7 ), where the high priest calls upon Christ to avow his true character. It would seem that in such a case the person so adjured could not refuse to give an answer.

The word "adjure", i.e., cause to swear is used with reference to the casting out of demons ( Acts 19:13 ).

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) The form of oath or appeal.

(2): (n.) The act of adjuring; a solemn charging on oath, or under the penalty of a curse; an earnest appeal.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ad - jū - rā´shun  : The act of requiring or taking a solemn oath. In a time of military peril Saul adjured the people (אלה , 'ālāh , "to take oath") and they took oath by saying "Amen" ( 1 Samuel 14:24 ). When Joshua pronounced a ban on Jericho ( Joshua 6:26 ) he completed it with an oath (שׁבע , shābha‛ , "to cause to swear"). Often used in the sense of a solemn charge without the administration of an oath ( 1 Kings 22:16;  2 Chronicles 18:15;  Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 5:8 ,  Song of Solomon 5:9;  1 Thessalonians 5:27 ). With reference to the withholding of testimony, see  Leviticus 5:1 and   Proverbs 29:24 . The high priest sought to put Jesus under oath (εξορκίζω , exorkı́zō , "to force to an oath,"  Matthew 26:63 ). Adjure also means to solemnly implore (ὁρκίζω , horkı́zō ) as when the man with an unclean spirit appealed to Jesus: "I adjure thee by God, torment me not" ( Mark 5:7 ); or seven sons of Sceva, exorcists, sought in the name of Jesus to expel demons ( Acts 19:13 ).

(1) The exacting of an oath has, from time immemorial, been a customary procedure in conferring civil and ecclesiastical office and in taking legal testimony. Though often allowed to become painfully trivial and a travesty on its inherent solemnity, the taking of an official oath or the swearing of witnesses is still considered essential to the moral integrity of government, secular or spiritual. False sweating, under solemn oath, constitutes the guilt and heinousness of perjury. The universality of oath-taking is humanity's tribute, whether pagan or Christian, to the sacredness of truth.

(2) Civilized nations administer oaths under three heads: political, ecclesiastical, legal. The sovereign of England receives the crown only as he or she responds affirmatively to the solemn adjuration of the archbishop or bishop: "Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern," etc., closing with the affirmation, "So help me God." A fundamental conviction of civilized nations was expressed by Lycurgus: "An oath is the bond that keeps the state together." It is the most solemn appeal to the inviolability of the human conscience, and the sacredness of a vow as witnessed both by God and men. See also Oath .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(the verb is expressed by אָלָה , Alah ’ , in Hiph., to Cause To Swear, as rendered in  1 Kings 8:31;  2 Chronicles 6:22; also שָׁבִע , Shaba ’ , in Hiph., to Make Swear, or Charge With An Oath, as often rendered; Gr. Ἐξορκίζω , to Bind By Oath), a solemn act or appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or acting as if under the solemnity of an oath ( 1 Samuel 14:24;  Joshua 6:26;  1 Kings 22:16;  2 Chronicles 18:15). (See Swear).

1. A striking example of this occurs in the N.T., where the high-priest calls upon Christ, in the presence of the Sanhedrim, to avow his character as the Messiah ( Matthew 26:63;  Mark 5:7; see  Acts 19:13; comp.  1 Thessalonians 5:27). An oath, although thus imposed upon one without his consent, was not only solemn, but binding in the highest degree; and when connected with a question, an answer appears to have been compulsory, and, if false, chargeable with perjury. Thus our Savior, who had previously disdained or declined to reply to the charges brought against him, now could not avoid an answer. The impropriety, however, of thus extorting truth must be evident; and in the case of Christ it was an outrage against the commonest principle of judicial fairness, by which a prisoner is never to be put in a position to inculpate himself. But the hierarchy, having failed to elicit any reliable evidence that would condemn Jesus, at last resorted to this base method of compelling him to declare his Messiahship, with a view to convict him upon his own testimony. (See Jesus). 2. The term also occurs ( Acts 19:13) with reference to the expulsion of daemons. (See Exorcist).

3. In the Roman Church, an act by means of which the name of God, or some other holy thing, is made use of, in order to induce any one to do what is required of him. An adjuration is said to be Express when the majesty of God, or any one of his attributes, is interposed for the purpose, as Adjuro To Per Deum Vivum; Implicit, when not the majesty of God, but any one of his more marked productions is made use of, as Adjuro To Per Evangelium Christi. (See Oath).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

This is a solemn act or appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or acting as if under the solemnity of an oath. We have an example of this in the New Testament, when the high-priest thus calls upon Christ, 'I adjure thee by the living God, tell us'etc.—( Matthew 26:63; see also  Mark 5:7;  Acts 19:13;  1 Thessalonians 5:27). An oath, although thus imposed upon one without his consent, was not only binding, but solemn in the highest degree; and when connected with a question, an answer was compulsory, which answer being as upon oath, any falsehood in it would be perjury. Thus our Savior, who had previously disdained to reply to the charges brought against him, now felt himself bound to answer the question put to him.