1 Nephi 4:37 "oath" "fears"

Nephi made an oath to Zoram. In this way he could show Zoram how important it was that he go with them. The oath was secure enough that he in turn made his own oath to Nephi. At this point Nephi was set at ease.These oaths were binding. It is hard for us to understand how these oaths were so binding but they were. We seem to be so able to not take our own verbal promises seriously it is hard to imagine how Nephi and Zoram felt about them.

In the times of Joshua, there were a people that feared him and his army. They disguised themselves so as to make a league with Joshua. The interesting thing was actually that once Joshua understood that they had deceived they found ways to manipulate the oath to their purposes, but still kept the oath. While they had an oath and could not fight with them, they made them servants that would chop wood and draw water. So while the oaths were taken seriously there were ways to work through them.