A vow is never made but in the exercise of Covenanting. The vow which Jacob vowed at Bethel was made upon the reception of God's gracious covenant promise there tendered to him. Again, "Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."[24] In this manner at Hormah, they testified that they agreed to that promise of the Covenant that had been made at Sinai, which is expressed in the words, "Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite,"[25] and thus made a covenant. From the words, "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond," it may be concluded that either a vow taken, or an oath, binds the soul. That the former binds the soul is most manifest from the language, "Every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her."[26] The bond is a covenant bond, for it is said, "I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant."[27] The word (מסרת) for _bond_, in the later prophet is a co-derivate with that (אסר) for _bond_, used by Moses, and has the same import. THE OATH. The OATH also claims consideration as related to Covenanting. "A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence: therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred."[28] To SWEAR is to give or use an oath. "The men said unto her, we will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear."[29] "I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham."[30] And to make, or to enter into an oath, being the same as to give it, each of these is also to swear.