Exodus 20:7

Exodus 20:7 . The third commandment is concerning the manner of our worship: where we have, 1st, A strict prohibition. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain — Supposing that, having taken Jehovah for their God, they would make mention of his name, this command gives a caution not to mention it in vain, and it is still as needful as ever. We take God’s name in vain, 1st, By hypocrisy, making profession of God’s name, but not living up to that profession. 2d, By covenant-breaking. If we make promises to God, and perform not to the Lord our vows, we take his name in vain. 3d, 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, to no good purpose, or to no good. 4th, By false swearing, which some think is chiefly intended in the letter of the commandment. 5th, By using the name of God lightly and carelessly. The profanation of the form of devotion is forbidden, as well as the profanation of the forms of swearing; as also, the profanation of any of those things whereby God makes himself known. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless — Magistrates, that punish other offences, may not think themselves concerned to take notice of this; but God, who is jealous for his honour, will not connive at it. The sinner may perhaps hold himself guiltless, and think there is no harm in it; to obviate which suggestion, the threatening is thus expressed, God will not hold him guiltless.

(7) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. —The Hebrew is ambiguous, as is to some extent the English translation. Most modern critics regard the phrase used as forbidding false swearing only; but some think that it forbids also “profane” or “vain swearing.” Our Lord’s comment in the Sermon on the Mount favours the view that false swearing alone was actually forbidden by the Law, since He proceeds to condemn profane swearing on His own authority: “But I say unto you” ( Matthew 5:34 ). False swearing is among the greatest insults that man can offer to God, and, as being such, is naturally forbidden in the first table, which teaches us our duty to God. It is also destructive of civil society; and hence it is again forbidden in the second table ( Exodus 20:16 ), which defines our duties to our neighbour. The laws of all organised States necessarily forbid it, and generally under a very severe penalty. The Jewish Law condemned the false witness to suffer the punishment which his evidence was calculated to inflict ( Deuteronomy 19:19 ). The Egyptians visited perjury with death or mutilation. The Greeks were content to punish it with a heavy fine, and ultimately with the loss of civil rights. The Romans, in the more ancient times, inflicted the death penalty.

It was generally believed, alike in Egypt, in Greece, and in Rome, that the anger of the gods was especially provoked by this crime, and that a Divine Nemesis pursued those who committed it, and made them suffer for their sin, either in their own person or in that of their posterity. The Lord will not hold him guiltless.—Punishment will assuredly overtake the perjured man, if not in this life, then in another. Jehovah will vindicate His own honour.

Or, not carry , or not take , or lift up, to wit, in or into thy mouth, as the phrase is more fully expressed, Job 4:2 ; Psalm 16:4 50:16. So men are said to take up a proverb , or a lamentation, Isaiah 14:4 Ezekiel 26:17 . The name of the Lord ; not only the proper name of the Lord, but any of his attributes, ordinances, and works, by which God hath made himself known. In vain ; or unto vanity , or vainly . Either, 1. Falsely, or in a false oath; thou shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Lord, or not lift up the name of God into thy mouth in an oath to the confirmation of a lie. Or, 2. In vain, as we render it, and as the word schave is frequently used, as Job 7:3 15:31 Psalm 60:11 89:47 Isaiah 1:13 . You shall not use the name of God, either in oaths or in common discourse, lightly, rashly, irreverently, or unnecessarily, or without weighty or sufficient cause. Which being a duty enjoined not only in many places of sacred Scripture, but also in the apocryphal /APC Sir 23:15-17 , and even by heathen authors, as Plato in his Book of Laws, and it being evident by the light of nature to man’s reason, it were strange if it were not here understood; especially considering that it is most reasonable to take these short laws in the most comprehensive sense, such as this, not the former, is; for the prohibition of using it vainly and rashly doth certainly include that of swearing by it falsely, but this latter doth not include the former.

Besides, the former exposition restrains the words to swearing, whereas the words are more general, and speak of any taking God’s name into their mouths, either by oaths or any other way. And it becomes not us to set limits to God’s words where God hath set none. It is also here to be observed, as well as in the other commands, that when this sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded, to wit, to use the name of God, both in swearing and otherwise, holily, cautiously, and reverently. Guiltless, or, innocent , i.e. free from guilt, and the punishment of it: the meaning is, the Lord will look upon him as a guilty person, and will severely punish him. And so this or the like phrase is used 1 Kings 2:9 . And it is a common figure, called meiosis, where more is understood than is expressed, as 1 Samuel 12:21 Psalm 25:3 Proverbs 10:2 . And this reason is here added, because sinners of this sort are usually held innocent by men, either because they cannot discover their fault when they forswear themselves, or because they take no care to punish the abusers of God’s name by vain and customary oaths, curses, or blasphemies: q.d. Though men spare them, I will assuredly punish them.

Our translators make the Third commandment bear upon any profane and idle utterance of the name of God. Others give it the sense, "Thou shalt not swear falsely by the name of Jehovah thy God." The Hebrew word which answers to "in vain" may be rendered either way. The two abuses of the sacred name seem to be distinguished in Leviticus 19:12 (see Matthew 5:33 ). Our King James Version is probably right in giving the rendering which is more inclusive. The caution that a breach of this commandment incurs guilt in the eyes of Yahweh is especially appropriate, in consequence of the ease with which the temptation to take God's name "in vain" besets people in their common conversation with each other.

Verse 7. - Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain . It is disputed whether this is a right rendering. Shav in Hebrew means both "vanity" and ,'falsehood;" so that the Third Commandment may forbid either "vain-swearing" or simply "false-swearing. It is in favor of the latter interpretation, that our Lord seems to contrast his own prohibition of unnecessary oaths with the ancient prohibition of false oaths in the words - "Ye have heard that it hath been said by" (or "to") "them of old time - Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shelf perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you - Swear not at all" ( Matthew 5:33-34 ). It is also in favour of the command being levelled against false-swearing, that perjury should naturally, as a great sin, have a special prohibition directed against it in the Decalogue, while vain-swearing, as a little sin, would scarcely seem entitled to such notice. Perjury has always been felt to be one of the greatest both of moral and of social offences. It implies an absolute want of any reverence at all for God; and it destroys civil society by rendering the administration of justice impossible. There has been a general horror of it among all civilised nations. The Egyptians punished perjury with death. The Greeks thought that a divine Nemesis pursued the perjured man, and brought destruction both upon himself and upon his offspring .(Herod. 6:86).

The Romans regarded the perjurer as infamous, and the object of Divine vengeance in the other world (Cic. De Leg . 2:9). The threat contained in the words - "The Lord will not hold him guiltless" - may be taken as an argument on either side. If viewed as equivalent to "the Lord will punish severely" (Kalisch), it accords best with the view that perjury was intended; if taken literally, it would suit best a lesser sin, of which men ordinarily think little. Exodus 20:7

7 . The third commandment. The name of God to be treated with reverence. take … in vain ] properly, take up (viz. upon the lips, as Exodus 23:1 , Psalm 15:3 ; Psalm 16:4 ) … for unreality (Di. ‘zur Nichtigkeit ’)—i.e. make use of it for any idle, frivolous, or insincere purpose. The root idea of shâw ’, is what is groundless or unsubstantial : hence in a material sense it means unreal, vain ( Psalm 60:11 ); and in a moral sense it denotes what is empty, frivolous , or insincere : cf. Exodus 23:1 ‘Thou shalt not take up a groundless report’; Psalm 24:4 ‘hath not lifted up his soul (i.e. directed his desires) unto unreality ’ (i.e. to what is either frivolous or insincere): in the Psalms it is generally rendered vanity , but it often really means what we should call insincerity , as Psalm 12:3 , Psalm 41:6 (see the Glossary in the writer’s Parallel Psalter , p. 464). God’s name is to be treated with reverence; it is not to be desecrated either by false swearing ( Leviticus 19:12 (H), Jeremiah 5:2 ; Jeremiah 7:9 , Zechariah 5:4 , Malachi 3:5 ), or by being used disrespectfully for any other frivolous or idle purpose, as in cursing or reviling, or to support false pretensions of being able to use magic or divination, or to predict the future ( Jeremiah 27:15 ). hold … guiltless ] i.e. leave unpunished , as 1 Kings 2:9 shews is implied and as the word is sometimes actually rendered, e.g. Proverbs 6:29 Jeremiah 25:29 . Cf. Jeremiah 34:7 , with the note.

4, 5. Thou shalt not make … any graven image … thou shalt not bow down thyself to them—that is, "make in order to bow." Under the auspices of Moses himself, figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, oxen, and many other things in the earth beneath, were made and never condemned. The mere making was no sin—it was the making with the intent to give idolatrous worship.