In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

Amen.

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Exodus 20:7

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Perhaps the most under-appreciated and widely mis-applied commandment, Exodus 20:7 seems fairly black and white at first glance and neither begs nor even peaks one’s curiosity for a closer look at what is truly meant.

With most english translations displaying a close likeness to the NAS version above, its quite easy to come to the conclusion that flippant use of the name of God (such as “Oh my God” or “God damn it”) is expressly forbidden; something that is first taught as early as the earliest Sunday schools classes, and instilled in kids by their God-fearing parents throughout their childhood, and on.

While there is merit to such assertations, there is also a world of interpretation left unsaid.

Such as (to name ONLY a few):

The Crusades and Jihad.

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 with the battle cry “Deus Vult” (God wills it), a mandate to destroy infidels in the Holy Land.
As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux declared in launching the Second Crusade: “The Christian glories in the death of a pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified.”

Islamic jihads (holy wars), mandated by the Koran, killed millions over 12 centuries. And continue to do so.

Anti-Semitism.

With roots as far back as the 1st century, and with the main antagonist being the Church, anti semitism is nothing new. But none will soon forget the horrors of WWII.

Reformation and Inquisition.

On Saint Bartholomew’s Day in 1572, Catherine de Medicis secretly authorized Catholic dukes to send their soldiers into Huguenot neighborhoods and slaughter families. This massacre touched off a six-week bloodbath in which Catholics murdered about 10,000 Huguenots.

The “Protestant Inquisition” is a term applied to the severities of John Calvin in Geneva and Queen Elizabeth I in England during the 1500s. Calvin’s followers burned 58 “heretics,” including theologian Michael Servetus, who doubted the Trinity. Elizabeth I outlawed Catholicism and executed about 200 Catholics.

Fundamentalism.

When Puritans settled in Massachusetts in the 1600s, they created a religious police state where doctrinal deviation could lead to flogging, pillorying, hanging, cutting off ears, or boring through the tongue with a hot iron. They weren’t so “Pure” after all.

Colonialism.

Colonialsim and its subsequent slave trade, killed and displaced millions. One of the driving forces? The spread of Christianity.

The Name of God Today

We know the obvious atrocities throughout human history.
We know that even today, people kill and divide in the name of God.
We need not look far. Africa, Asia, the Middle East and even with the borders of the great countries of the West, abuses are not uncommon.

But the enemy operates in subtle ways, and in ways so closely aligned with Truth, that it can sound as true as 2 +2 = 4, yet reveal a drastically different result.

It is increasingly common, especially in Protestant, Evangelical, Charismatic (and Pentecostal) circles to hear the name of God kicked around like a ball in a room full of footballers.

Why?

Let us look more closely at a more, perhaps Literal translation of Ex 20:7 -

“You must not raise up the name of YHWH your God for nothing, because YHWH will not aquit anyone who raises up His name for nothing.”

In other words, don’t attach the sacred to the profane, and in doing so profane the sacred.

What you begin to attach God to is exactly what this verse is addressing.
We are not to do it arbitrarily.
We are not to do it out of habitual recitation.
We are not to do it out of religious tradition.
We are not to do it simply because it sounds good or more convincing.

In fact, a return to the era of Moses and the telling of the Mosaic commandments, and we begin to see and place some historical context on to this verse.

You see, in the days of this command, the Hebrews were so in awe of God and the Name of God, that they were in fact FEARFUL to even utter the name, or anything to do with the name of God.

The Hebrews pleaded that Moses be the one to go between the people and God, for they could not bear it and would even die! (Ex. 20:19)

As we see a people, still struggling to put words to their God, we, as they, realize that any such attempt would fall so drastically short in it’s efforts to do so that the Jews, to this day, still cannot name the name of God!

How powerful is this voice of God, and how meaningful is it that people were scared for their very lives to encounter and listen to the voice of this God.

My, how times have changed.

Our mistakes, in the Name of God, are so subtle sometimes that we don’t even know we make mistakes by placing God’s name upon our actions. Of course we don’t commit the atrocities of our less civilized brethren across the world, or of our ancestors throughout history.
But I argue that our breaking of this commandment damages our witness and testimony to the fullest, as we begin to apply what we do as equal to what God says, when we are sinful and fallen, and He is beyond description.

There are similar words used in passages such as Exodus 23:1, Lev. 19:11, Deut. 5:20, Deut. 19:16, Psalm 101:5, Proverbs 19:5, Proverbs 35:11…ALL speaking the same train of thought…do not bear false witness, and in the context of Exodus 20:7, we should not claim as God that which may not be!

We should be double and triple, and 100 times SURE of what God is saying or has said before we start talking like He is.
(Keep in mind I say nothing of acting on something…but merely am focusing on the verbal witness we give. We must act on the proper direction we feel we need to go, but that is a different story than saying God has told us all of these things, only to find that when we act them out, that maybe it was last nights pizza talking to us!).

After studying for a few years in such a place, with strong emphasis on the leadings of the Spirit, and finding God’s will and hearing His voice, it amazed me the number of people who had revelations from God to do some of the craziest things!

“God told me…” and so on.
But what was even more amazing, was that in such a setting, this issue was never addressed.

Perhaps it is more the leadings of the Spirit, and call me out for arguing semantics, but let us not use the Lord’s name in vain.

Should we not then begin to be what we should, and stop trying to say what we shouldn’t.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Front. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.