“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7).

 To properly understand this verse, one needs some background information:  In the ancient world the name of a person was connected to and descriptive of his/her character and/or nature and/or personality.  That is why we read in the Bible of individuals whose names were changed in recognition of a new relationship or a new phase of life or of their changed status.  We read, for example, in Genesis 17 that after the institution of the covenant, Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah.  We also read in Genesis 32 that after Jacob’s  all-night wrestling with a divine being, his name was changed to Israel.  To know the name of a person was very important because it also meant that one had power over the person.  Knowing someone’s name was equivalent to know the essence of the person.  God’s name therefore carries his personal identity.

When one gives one’s name to somebody, one establishes a relationship with that person.  The fact that God revealed his Name to his people, shows us the intimacy of his relationship with his people.  We are very privileged that God allows us to know and to use his Name.  But God also set a condition to the use of his Name.  He said that we “shall not take the name of the Lord our God in vain”.  The meaning of the Hebrew word which is translated here with “in vain”, is “without reason” or “for a worthless purpose”.  In the ancient world the name of a deity was often used in oath-taking, curses and sorcery.  The aim of this command is to warn against the insincere and the evil use of God’s Name in any matter whatsoever.

This verse is therefore not primarily concerned with what is nowadays called swearing or profanity.  The basis of this prohibition is that we may not use God’s name for our own purposes.  We may use God’s Name in prayer, but it is quite possible to use even prayer for personal ends, for example to impress people.  Then this command also applies.  This command therefore is very general and reaches beyond the sphere of magic, or of profanity.  But it does include swearing as well.  In short, it forbids any misuse of God’s Name for one’s personal ends.  It means that one may not use God’s name frivolously in everyday conversation just to express your anger, feelings or emotions.  On the contrary, one must use His Name to praise Him and to ascribe honour to Him.  To dishonour His Name, means to dishonour God, and therefore we may never take lightly the misuse of God’s Name.

The way we use his name shows what we feel about God.  We should respect his Name, and this includes that we should not allow other people (including pagans) to dishonour the Name of God.  God wants us to be the salt of the earth, and our influence should permeate our society.  Therefore Christians will act against any misuse of the wonderful Name of our God and our Lord Jesus.

Professor Hennie Stander

Dept. of Ancient Languages

University of Pretoria

Pretoria

0002

South Africa

 (Prof. Hennie Stander is also editor of a Christian lifestyle magazine called Maksiman).