Question 59: Which is the third commandment?

Answer The third commandment is, "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."

Scripture: Exodus 20:7.

Question 62: What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

Answer: The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.

Scripture: Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 28:58,59; Malachi 2:2.

DAY 1: The Name of the LORD Represents the Character of the LORD.

God is the God of all truth. His very character is trustworthy because He is truthful. We have seen in previous lessons that God is One who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). The term used in the Titus passage is apseudes. The term carries the idea that God cannot be one who is conceiving, contemplating, and carrying out deliberate deceitfulness, lying, or falsehoods. He is a person that can be trusted to do just as He has said.

Moses knew this first hand. When God called Him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go, God told him all that He would do and then proceeded to carry out his plan both through Moses and through Pharaoh. Exodus chapter three gives us the narrative. There we see that Moses encountered God speaking to him from the midst of a burning bush that continued to burn but was not consumed (vs. 2). God identified Himself with those who were recipients of His promise, namely Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (vs. 6). Moses was concerned that the people of Israel, who were slaves to the Egyptians, would question his credentials. Therefore, he asked God whom he should say that had sent him. God then said that He was to say that I AM sent him.

This name carried a great deal of weight with the people of Israel, because it was the name that God had revealed himself to Abraham (Gen. 15:1). In the Old Testament when we see the term “LORD”, it is the Hebrew word Yehovah. We commonly pronounce it in English as Jehovah. This word came into being as many of the Jews, trying to keep God’s name holy, took out the vowels from His proper name and thus ended up with only consonants “YHWH”. In their thinking this kept the name of God from even being pronounced, which was not what God had in mind in keeping His name holy. Therefore, this name was very special. It has a long heritage with the Jewish people. God is the self existing One. He has always been and will always be.

The emphasis upon the title is found throughout Scripture. Yehovah elohiym in Hebrew speaks specifically to the true God. He is the only God of all men, but especially of His people. Just as God is the Savior of all men, but especially of those who believe (1 Tim. 4:10). For the people of Israel, He was their God and they were to reflect the glory of His name. He was the One who brought them out of the land of Egypt. He brought them out of bondage. He inflicted the plagues on the land of Egypt and caused the people of the land to give them goods when they left. In contrast to the gods of Egypt, He is powerful and trustworthy. When Moses told Pharaoh that a plague would arrive at a certain time, it did and when He told him it would be gone, it was gone. Also, in contrast to the gods of Egypt, God was merciful and gracious. He was gracious to all His people. He kept the plagues from inflicting them and then provided a means by which they could escape the final plague of the death of the first born. That deliverance became a picture of what Christ would eventually accomplish in His death: deliverance from the bondage of sin.

The name of the LORD therefore, was something that was to be hallowed. It was to be kept holy. It was not to be used in a blasphemous manner because of who it was attached to. It certainly was not to be used as a curse or some sort of profanity as in the case of the man in Leviticus 24:10-14. Here was a man who thought so little of God, His name, and His authority that he would flagrantly take the name of the LORD in vain in a dispute.

The name of the LORD is a reminder of who He is and all He has done. It was common for Jehovah to be combined with other Hebrew words to speak of what men had experienced from the LORD. For instance, Abraham called God Jehovahjireh (Jehovah sees) in Genesis 21:14 because God had provided a lamb in the place of his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Moses called the altar that he built after the defeat of the Amalekites Jehovahnissi (Jehovah is my banner). After witnessing the presence of God and seeing a display of power from God Gideon was told to not fear for he was not going to die. Rather, peace was given to him. So he built an altar and called it Jehovahshalom (Jehovah is peace). In each of these instances and others, God’s name was exalted because men had experienced Him and wanted to honor Him by honoring His name. Let’s remember this day to keep the name of the Lord Holy.

DISCUSSION: Ask members of your family if they would praise and exalt God by speaking of His name through experience. Fathers, maybe you would lead in this and speak of God from experience to help your children understand that He is real and alive and that you know Him and He knows you intimately.

DAY 2: Punishment of Law Breakers of the Third Commandment

When we went through the book of 2 Peter, we saw that God hates those who pervert His truth for the sake of dishonest gain. As a matter of fact, we should that God hates it even when it’s not for the sake of dishonest gain. We saw the false teachers and how Peter wanted to clearly define their character so that those believers in Asia Minor and we would be able to spot them. They were dangerous because of the effect they could have on those around them. (For the effect of false prophets in the Old Testament see Deuteronomy 13:12-18). We saw that their condemnation was marked out before time and that they were slaves or corruption who led others into corruption, as well as, damnation. So is the danger with breaking the third commandment.

Just as God hates the perversion of His Word and will punish those who pervert it, so too does He hate His name being used in vain. For instance, in Deuteronomy 18 Moses lays out the process for evaluating false prophets among the people of Israel. When we get to verse 20 we find that false prophets come in the name of the Lord presuming to speak His word. Therefore they are using His name in vain. What does God say will happen to them if they are found guilty of this sin? First He says He will require it of Him (vs. 19). Gill in his commentary says that as the “Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,``my Word shall require it of him, or take vengeance on him; '' as Christ the Word of God did in the destruction of the Jewish nation, city, and temple. First we can note that God does require it of those who use His name presumptuously and in vain. Deuteronomy 13 was given to tell what should be done to false prophets. In verse 9 God says the man should be killed and the one who brought the first accusation should be the first to initiate his death. Did they simply lie him on a table and administer a sleeping drug that would eventually kill him and not cause him any discomfort? No. Verse 10 says they were to stone him with stones.

They stoning process was not a pretty sight at all. As a matter of fact, the one that had brought the first accusation against the man was involved directly in his execution. This witness had to be affirmed by others for an accusation stood on the grounds of two or three witnesses. They would take the individual to a precipice about 10-12 feet high, bind his hands behind his back and then the first accuser would push him off. The other witness or witnesses would come forth and take a huge rock and drop it on his chest and then the rest of the people would through stones at him till he was dead. This was serious business. The false teachers of today who use the Lord’s name as a means of gaining filthy lucre would do well to heed this warning. They are usually, in our society, given great sums of money, drive luxurious cars and live an extravagant lifestyle, much like what Peter says. But notice that the Lord sees and will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Though foolish, sinful, and gullible men may follow these God is watching and there will come a day that payment for that sin will be required.

What about the loose using of the name of the Lord in one’s speech. We are all familiar with those who use the name of Jesus and the phraseology, which we commonly term as “GD”. Does God really speak to that? Yes He does. For instance, in a passage that we mentioned before in the previous day’s lesson, Leviticus 24:10-14, there was the flagrant disregard for the name of God. It appears that there was a fight of some sort between a man of Israel and a man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian. Evidently in his anger he blasphemed (naqab naw-kab') and he cursed (qalal kaw-lal'). We see that the words “of the LORD” are in italics. These have been added to the English translation to complete the thought of what is intended. Literally it reads that he blasphemed THE NAME. This does speak to the Holy name of God Yahweh. The word blaspheme means “to pierce, perforate, bore, appoint”. The term cursed means “to be slight, be swift, be trifling, be of little account, be light; to make despicable”. Some commentators believe this event took place because of the set up of the Israelite camp and so this Egyptian half breed didn’t like what was going on. However, what was in his heart came out of his mouth and this he took a shot a God Himself. In essence, his curse was not so much towards the Israelite as it was toward God. This evidently was the first time this had happened among the people here because they didn’t know what to do with the man except hold him (vs.12). During this time Moses sought the mind of the LORD that he might know how to act. The verdict was that the man was guilty and that he was to be stoned to death (vs. 14). Notice that God used the people that witnessed the event to have a hand in his punishment.

There then comes a warning to anyone who might want to follow in the footsteps of the curser (vs. 15-16). The punishment of the man was not to reform him, nor was it necessarily a deterrent. By this I don’t mean that it wasn’t a deterrent, but that the punishment was simply justice being brought down upon the sinner. Many people within the congregation of Israel may have used the name of the LORD as a curse or even blasphemed but had not been caught in the open doing so. This was to show that God saw their sin as well and that they would receive the just punishment they deserved as well.

Finally in Malachi 2:2 God warns Israel of failing to give glory to the name of the LORD. The people have taken lightly God, His name and the blessings He has poured out on them. They have failed to honor Him (vs. 1:6). They did this by offering defiled food on the altar (vss. 1:7-8). He speaks as though they would offer something better to their rulers. In verse ten it seems there is a call from God that someone would stop the frivolous and routine offering of unqualified sacrifices. The people are just going through motions and not even proper ones at that. So God says that He takes no pleasure in them. Then in verse 11 He states that though they have done these things, still His name will be great among the Gentiles and among all nations.

Israel had profaned the name of the LORD (1:12). The term profaned (chalal khaw-lal') here speaks of making God’s name a common thing. God and His worship had become trivial and non-important in their lives. It was just something that was tacked on and it really didn’t matter how it was performed. By the name of the LORD becoming common place and unexalted, the people had lost their fear of God. Therefore the next generation would then take it a step farther and the next farther and farther away from the true worship of the true God.

So, just as the previous examples we saw, now God pronounces judgment upon the leaders and those that follow their corrupt worship. Verse 1 of chapter 2 speaks directly to the priests and tells them that if they don’t take to heart what the LORD has told them concerning this and repent that He will make even their blessings curses. Remember all this is taking place within 100 years of being freed from their captivity in Persia. This shows the corruption of the human heart that though it is chastised and disciplined that unless God intervened within it, it will continue in its hardness and thus bring judgment upon the one it inhabits. God eventually did bring judgment via many men in history (SEE Daniel 11) including Antiochus Epiphanes. Let us remember that God is faithful and will keep His promise to not hold guiltless those who take His name in vain.

DISCUSSION: Since we are not under a sacrificial system as in the Old Testament, discuss some of the ways that God’s name might be blasphemed. Warn the members of you family against this sin. Encourage then to think highly of God. In your own thinking exalt God. Let us not be guilty of the sin of Israel in considering God’s name as something common.