You shall not use or repeat the name
of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false
affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes
His name in vain. (Ex 20:7 AMP)
The honoring of God’s name is a weighty matter. As I am on
this journey to know God better and to increase in intimacy with Him, I’ve been
awed by the inconceivable nature of how He relates to us. He is the only One
who is holy. He is perfect. He is the sovereign God – there is no one who
compares to Him. He is righteous. All knowing. All seeing. He is our Creator.
Yet, somehow this awesome Being desires one-on-one, daily relationship with us!
What?!?!?!
So the command to honor His name bears even more weight with
me, than the other commands. While I desire an intimate, personal, even
familiar relationship with the Father, I do not ever want to reduce Him to the
status of being like a “homey” I can holla at however I want to or whose name I
throw out there without reverence and respect.
Here are some of Matthew Henry’s thoughts on this command:
We have here,
(1.) A strict
prohibition: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. It
is supposed that, having taken Jehovah for their [the children of Israel’s] God,
they would make mention of his name (for thus all people will walk every one in
the name of his god); this command gives a needful caution not to mention it in
vain, and it is still as needful as ever. We take God’s name in vain, [1.] By
hypocrisy, making a profession of God’s name, but not living up to that
profession… [2.] By covenant-breaking; if we make promises to God, binding our
souls with those bonds to that which is good, and yet perform not to the Lord
our vows, we take his name in vain (Mt. 5:33 ), it is folly, and God has no
pleasure in fools (Eccl. 5:4 ), nor will he be mocked, Gal. 6:7 [3.] By rash
swearing, mentioning the name of God, or any of his attributes, in the form of
an oath, without any just occasion for it, or due application of mind to it,
but as a by-word, to no purpose at all, or to no good purpose. [4.] By false
swearing, which, some think, is chiefly intended in the letter of the
commandment; so it was expounded by those of old time. Thou shalt not forswear
thyself, Mt. 5:33. One part of the religious regard the Jews were taught to pay
to their God was to swear by his name, Deu. 10:20. But they affronted him,
instead of doing him honour, if they called him to be witness to a lie. [5.] By
using the name of God lightly and carelessly, and without any regard to its
awful significancy.
2.) A severe penalty:
The Lord will not hold him guiltless…The sinner may perhaps hold himself
guiltless, and think there is no harm in it, and that God will never call him
to an account for it. To obviate this suggestion, the threatening is thus
expressed, God will not hold him guiltless, as he hopes he will; but more is
implied, namely, that God will himself be the avenger of those that take his
name in vain, and they will find it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God.
No comments:
Post a Comment