Exodus 20:7 Don't Misuse God's Name

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God,

for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless

who misuses his name."

Exodus 20:7 (NIV)

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There seem to be three major areas which commentators deal with when they examine this verse and the commandment about not using God's name in vain.  Here are the main ones:

Don't use God's name as a curse word.  This one is pretty self-explanatory.  For some reason, (probably our sinful hearts), we tend to insert God's name or titles for God into the middle of curse-filled phrases when a situation becomes overwhelmingly frustrating or enraging.  I don't need to go into excessive detail over this, for we all have heard (and perhaps said) many examples of this behavior.  It is wrong because it dishonors God, especially since instead of speaking about how incredible He is, we are using His name in the midst of an angry outburst.  Instead of praising Him, we are making His name a part of behavior which reflects our own sinful lack of self-control.

God's name is special.  Often in the Bible, a person's name reflected something about his/her character or essential nature.  A well-known example of this is Jacob.  He was Abraham's grandson, and used deceit to steal his brother's blessing as the oldest son.  He also purchased his brother's birthright by buying it from his brother for a bowl of stew.  Jacob's name means 'He grasps the heel.' (which signifies, 'He deceives.').  [Later, God changed Jacob's name to 'Israel' -- 'He struggles with God.']

In the same way, God's name reveals something of His character and nature.  God has revealed many aspects of Himself by the various names which are given for Him in the Bible.  I probably will do a post or series on that sometime, but for now, here are just a few examples of the way the names for God reveal Him:

Desire of Nations (Haggai 2:7)
Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6)
Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:14)
I AM (Exodus 3:14)
Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5)
Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6)
Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
Redeemer (Isaiah 41:14)
Refuge (Isaiah 25:4)

One list I examined had over 100 names for God from the Scriptures, and this still was not the total sum of names of God revealed in the Scriptures.  That makes sense, since we are describing God, who is infinite, and complex beyond all imagining.  God is sinless, pure, faithful, holy.  Therefore, we need to take care as to how we use His name.

Don't carelessly swear an oath in God's name.  Leviticus 19:12 says "Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God.  I am the LORD."  Such false testimony (whether in a court setting or between individuals) would dishonor God's name.  Note that the objection seems to be the fact that the oath is a false one, not simply the fact that an oath is taken.

The NIV Study Bible, in its comment on Matthew 5:33-37, notes that "The Old Testament recognized the useful role of swearing oaths in certain situations (even God swore oaths: see, e.g., Genesis 22:16; Joshua 5:6; Psalm 89:3-4,35; Isaiah 45:22; Jeremiah 22:5; Ezekiel 26:7; see also notes on Genesis 9:13; Genesis 15:17; Deuteronomy 6:13; Jeremiah 22:5; Hebrews 6:13) -- common profanity is not in view..."

In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus urged his disciples to have such integrity that swearing an oath to back up their words would not even be necessary:

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago,

'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the LORD.'

But I tell you, Do not swear at all:

either by heaven, for it is God's throne;

or by the earth, for it is his footstool;

or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

And do not swear by your head,

for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No';

anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

Matthew 5:33-37 (NIV)

I am sure that there is probably much more which can be said about this matter, but that is all I have for now.  If I find further information, I'll add it later.

Exodus 20:3-6 No Idols

"You shall not make for yourself an idol

in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath

or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,

punishing the children for the sin of the fathers

to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

but showing love to a thousand generations

of those who love me and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20:3-6 (NIV)

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In the previous post, I began to touch on some of the matters which are involved in this second commandment, namely, the making of statues or idols to pray to and how this is forbidden.  Since the first commandment forbade the worship of any other 'god', it logically follows that to pray to or worship anyone [or any thing] else is forbidden.

Following from that, it would seem obvious that we are not to construct statues or idols of anything [or any person] to pray to, for this would be violating both commandments.

In that former post, we also dealt with the fact that we should not pray to 'saints' or other 'holy persons', for that would indicate that we thought that they were omnipresent [present everywhere at once] and omnipotent [all-powerful], which are attributes which only God possesses.  Since these 'saints' or 'holy persons' are not able to be everywhere at once to hear prayers, and since they do not possess all power in order to be able to answer our requests, then why not pray directly to God Himself?

In addition, I wrote of how none of these saints or holy persons could function as an intermediary or 'go-between' in the relationship between God and man, for the Scripture expressly says that there is only one such Mediator:

"For there is one God

and one mediator between God and men,

the man Christ Jesus,

who gave himself as a ransom for all men..."

I Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV)

Even though a person may have intended to be humble by going through some other mediator, God says that it is not possible.  If we know that God allows only Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and man, yet continue to attempt to use some other mediator, it is not being humble; it is being disobedient [which, rather ironically, would be evidence of pride, not humility.]

This must be a rather difficult teaching for those who have been brought up praying to saints or to ancestors for help.  It would require a whole new mindset.  However, this teaching does clearly acknowledge God's rightful place as the only One who can save or help us.  Anything less would be a descent into idolatry. 

I wanted to mention two other aspects of this passage which may seem puzzling.  In Exodus 20:5-6, God refers to Himself as "...a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."  It makes God sound like He is a jealous, 'smiting' type of God, which seems at odds with the idea of a loving God.  However, we need to keep several things in mind.  God and Israel had a covenant agreement, and, like the agreements between earthly kings and their subjects, Israel was expected to be totally loyal.  Such covenants could be compared to a marriage, where exclusivity and love are expected.  Like a husband or wife, God expected love and allegiance from His people.  Anything threatening that relationship provoked His righteous jealousy.  [Some Bible passages where the word 'jealous' is used could be translated 'zealous'; the same Hebrew word is used for both meanings.  You need to understand the context in order to know which meaning is intended.]  I think that part of our difficulty with this verse is that we always picture jealousy in a negative and selfish sense.

Secondly, although the same verses seem to indicate that God held grudges against the third and fourth generation descendants of those who 'hate' Him, this is not so.  Households could consist of three or four generations, and these family members would be affected by the head of the household's blatant disregard for his covenant obligations toward God.  While 'love' was a familiar covenant term for faithful allegiance, 'hate' was its opposite, a blatant rebellion against the LORD.  For example, in Numbers chapter 16, Korah, Dathan and Abiram (as well as 250 followers) rebel against Moses and show contempt for the LORD by rejecting His rules regarding offerings -- and they and their households are swallowed up by the earth.  Also, in Joshua chapter 7, when Achan stole some items which had been dedicated to the LORD, both he and his household were stoned and then destroyed by fire.  Sin is extremely destructive, and often has tragic results.  For example, a drunk driver might kill or injure other passengers or pedestrians.

On the other hand, it is amazing that those who do love the LORD and follow His ways can affect their families in a positive way. The LORD is described as "...showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:6)  Although each individual must choose to obey or disobey the LORD, think of the various blessings which come upon the descendants of a godly person.  Of course even believers sin, but think of the blessing of being brought up in a household which uses the Scriptures as a foundation for daily living and tries, even imperfectly, to live as God commands.  Think of the compounding effect, in a relational sense, of those families who can put the other person's interests before their own, who shun gossip and outbursts of rage, who govern financial matters according to God's principles, and generally give evidence of the fruit of the Spirit [love,joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control] in countless areas of life.  That is a treasure far beyond any earthly legacy.

Exodus 20:2-3 Only God is God

"I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out of Egypt,

out of the land of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me."

Exodus 20:2-3 (NIV)

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In the previous post, I already covered Exodus 20:1-17 briefly, but here I want to start taking each commandment individually and seeing what we can discover about it.  Note that sometimes the explanation of the first commandment below also contains information which is really more about the second commandment [about not constructing idols], but I needed to mention it here in order for the explanation to make sense.

First of all, there is one issue we should discuss.  Some people number the commandments differently than others.  Some split the last commandment, which is about coveting, into two, making the coveting of a man's wife a separate commandment from coveting his possessions.  However, I believe they disregard the second commandment [the one about how we should not make images of God] by lumping it into the first and this then seems to allow them to construct [and pray to] statues of God or various saintly persons and still justify themselves by saying that since these images are 'secondary' to God that they don't violate the first command, to "...have no other gods before me".  This is an error, for the words "no other gods before me" do not mean "you can have as many gods as you like as long as the True God is in the first place in your heart."  It actually means more like "you shall not have any other 'gods' in my presence/in my sight/before my face/in opposition to me"  That is the real sense of the words.  Since it is impossible to imagine a situation where one could either 1) pray to another person besides God, or 2) construct an image of any person or thing and pray to it, without it being, as we might say, "in God's face" [both literally, for He sees all things, and figuratively,  as in 'deliberately provocative'] then the obvious conclusion is that He doesn't want us to have any other 'gods' beside Himself, the One True God.

This makes sense, because God is the one who created the world [and ourselves], and brought Israel out of Egypt, with all the miraculous wonders of crossing the Red Sea on dry ground while the hostile and unrepentant Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the same sea.  The plagues upon Egypt -- which both Egypt and Israel had witnessed -- also bore witness to God's power and work on Israel's behalf.  Since we do not know what God looks like, we can't construct an image of Him without it being something 'other' than Him.  So while I can certainly understand that it is easier to worship something which one can see or touch, it is not Him, and in the second commandment, we are expressly forbidden to do so.

Needless to say, it follows that God would not want us to pray to saints or any other type of holy person.  Some say that it is just that this saint is functioning as an intermediary, a helper, a go-between, for they do not feel worthy to just go directly to God themselves.  This sounds humble, but is wrong on several counts:

• First, there is no class of persons who are 'more godly' than any other.  The Scriptures are clear that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).  We can't get the kind of help we need from a fellow sinner.
• No one besides Jesus can function as an intermediary between God and man.  It is true that because we have all sinned, we are separated from God and need an intermediary.  However, it has to be the One who God has chosen:  "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men..." (I Timothy 2:5-6) Once we accept the salvation which Jesus Christ purchased for us by his blood, we are forgiven and then can go directly to God with our own requests.
• Besides, for such 'saints' to hear our prayers or requests, they themselves would have to have the God-like qualities of  omnipresence [being present everywhere at once] in order to hear our requests and also of omnipotence [having all power] in order to do something about our requests.  No person [even holy people] have such qualities, so we either have to stop calling out to them as though they can help us, or else admit that we are worshiping them as a 'god'.
• Some additional information:  All believers are called 'saints' in the Scriptures.  Here are some scriptures which use the term in 'saints' in this way:  I Samuel 2:9, Psalm 16:3; 30:4; 31:23; 34:9; 116:15; 149:1; Daniel 7:18; Romans 8:27; I Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 1:15; 1:18; 6:18; Philemon v.7; Revelation 5:8; and Revelation19:8.  Those are not all of the places where the term 'saints' is used this way, either, but you get the idea!

 So, to sum up the first commandment:  No other 'gods' besides the True God, no intermediaries between God and man besides the one whom God has appointed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Exodus 20:1-17 Ten Commandments

"And God spoke all these words:

'I am the LORD your God,

who brought you out of Egypt,

out of the land of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol

in the form of anything in heaven above

or on the earth beneath

or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,

punishing the children for the sin of the fathers

to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me

and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God,

for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

On it you shall not do any work,

neither you, nor your son and daughter,

nor your manservant or maidservant,

nor your animals,

nor the alien within your gates.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

but he rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother,

so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,

or his manservant or maidservant,

his ox or donkey,

or anything that belongs to your neighbor.' "

Exodus 20:1-17 (NIV)

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God gave these ten commandments to the Israelites in the pattern of a royal treaty.  These treaties had a recognizable structure:

• First, the king would identify himself ("I am the LORD your God...."),

• Next, the king would give a history of his gracious dealings with his people ("...who brought you out  of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.")

• Finally, the king would set out the covenant stipulations.  In this case, these would be the Ten Commandments, which are found in verses 3-17.

• The people were to give their king complete obedience and allegiance.  They could trust that the king would continue to care for them and provide for their needs and protection.

Therefore, although the LORD was already functioning in this way, this is a formal acknowledgment of God as Israel's King and of Israel as His covenant people.

In further posts I will discuss the ten individual commandments, or 'words' (a technical term for these types of covenant stipulations).  Both the Hebrew (        ) and Greek ('Decalogue') words for this term also mean "Ten Words".

Exodus 19:20-25 God's Further Instructions to Moses

"The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai

and called Moses to the top of the mountain.

So Moses went up and the LORD said to him,

'Go down and warn the people

so that they do not force their way through to see the LORD

and many of them perish.

Even the priests, who approach the LORD,

must consecrate themselves,

or the LORD will break out against them.'

Moses said to the LORD,

'The people cannot come up Mount Sinai,

because you yourself warned us,

"Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy." '

The LORD replied,

'Go down and bring Aaron up with you.

But the priests and the people must not force their way through

to come up to the LORD,

or he will break out against them.'

So Moses went down to the people and told them."

Exodus 19:20-25 (NIV) 

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The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to approach.  When Moses arrived at the top of the mountain, he was instructed to go back down again. (!)  This was because the LORD wanted Moses to warn the people again against trying to force their way up the mountain to see the LORD.  Even the priests, who normally officiated at sacrifices, were instructed to consecrate themselves, or they would face the wrath of the LORD.

Let me just take a moment to say that the LORD was not some wrathful God who was just awaiting to devour some poor soul who was trying to approach Him.  If He were, He would not have bothered to tell Moses that he needed to warn the people again, so that no one would dare attempt to approach on their own initiative.  It was just that He knew that sinful men and women could not stand before a holy God and live, even if their intentions were honorable and they just wanted to see God.  God also knew that the barriers which had been erected against such casual approach would be an almost irresistible attraction to some rebellious hearts.

Moses says something like, "But we already warned the people and set the mountain apart as holy."  It was true, but the LORD repeated His instructions, and Moses has to go down and warn everybody again.

Moses obeys God and returns to tell the people what the LORD told him to say.  [At least Moses is invited to bring Aaron with him when he has to turn around and go back up again.]  However, it seems that before he is quite able to go up again, God begins speaking to the multitude from the top of the mountain, for in the next passage, we will see that Moses is still at the foot of the mountain with the people when the LORD begins to give the Ten Commandments.  In a way this is very appropriate.  Moses and Aaron are the leaders which God has appointed, but they and all the people are on equal footing (physically and spiritually) when the Law is given. 

Exodus 19:16-19 Meeting with God

"On the morning of the third day

there was thunder and lightning,

with a thick cloud over the mountain,

and a very loud trumpet blast.

Everyone in the camp trembled.

Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God,

and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke,

because the LORD descended on it in fire.

The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace,

the whole mountain trembled violently,

and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him."

Exodus 19:16-19 (NIV)

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This is an amazing passage for several reasons.  In only four verses it is able to convey something of the awe that must have gripped Moses and the Israelites as they assembled before the LORD.

First of all, there were the visible aspects of this meeting.  It was a morning filled with thunder and lightning.  A thick cloud hung over the mountain.  A very loud trumpet blast filled the air.  Both sight and sound joined to set the stage for this important meeting.

The people trembled -- all of them, not just the faint of heart.  It is not every day that a person meets with God.  Fear and expectation must have filled their hearts as they approached the foot of the mountain.

Then, things seemed to get even more terrifying.  Mount Sinai was smoke-covered, for the LORD had descended upon it in fire.  The smoke was billowing up from it as though from an enormous furnace.  It probably felt like an earthquake was happening, for the whole mountain trembled violently.  The people were not on the mountain itself, but surely they felt the vibrations from this violent trembling.  Their ears were filled with the ever-increasing sound of the trumpet.  The sense of expectation must have been incredible.

Then, an even more incredible thing happened:

Moses spoke and the people heard the voice of God answer Him.