A Man taketh an oath of another ignorantly, and the swearer sweareth deceitfully unto him; yet if the Lord who is the principall contracter allow or com∣mand the thing which he sweareth,* 1.1 the oath is not null, although hee that is the second contracter be deceived, as we see in the example of the Gibeonites; Ioshua was de∣ceived by them when they made an oath to him deceit∣fully; yet the oath abode firme and sure, and obliged the posterity, because the Lord God himselfe was the principall contracter.
* 1.2The Lord commanded when they came neare any citie to fight against it, first, that they should receive the seaven precepts of Noah;* 1.3 secondly, that they should become tributaries; and thirdly, that they should be∣come servants to the Iewes: but the Lord excepted still the Moabites, & Ammonites, that no peace should be of∣fered