“As the Lord Liveth and As I Live”

Nibley describes the nature of an oath that could assure Zoram’s cooperation:

“What astonishes the western reader is the miraculous effect of Nephi’s oath on Zoram, who upon hearing a few conventional words promptly becomes tractable, while as for the brothers, as soon as Zoram ”made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth.. Our fears did cease concerning him." (1 Nephi 4:35,37.)

The reaction of both parties makes sense when one realizes that the oath is the one thing that is most sacred and inviolable among the desert people and their descendants: “Hardly will an Arab break his oath, even if his life be in jeopardy,” for “there is nothing stronger, and nothing more sacred than the oath among the nomads,” and even the city Arabs, if it be exacted under special conditions...

But not every oath will do. To be most binding and solemn an oath should be by the life of something, even if it be but a blade of grass. The only oath more awful than that “by my life” or (less commonly) “by the life of my head,” is the wa hayat Allah “by the life of God,” or “as the Lord Liveth,” the exact Arabic equivalent of the ancient Hebrew hai Elohim. (Nibley An Approach to the Book of Mormon p. 110).

George Lamsa describes a similarly binding oath:

“I have lifted up my hand” is an Eastern saying which means “I have sworn before God.” Easterners, when taking an oath, lift their hands toward heaven and invoke the name of God, whom they make a witness of the oath, “... as a faithful witness in heaven” [Psalms 89:37; 1 Samuel 12:5].

When treaties and agreements were made in the name of God they were generally respected and kept even by the future generations. Other treaties and covenants were easily broken and repudiated, just as they are broken today [Joshua 9:18]. (Lamsa, George M. Old Testament Light.Harper & Row. 1964, p. 44.)