Exodus 20:7

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT, Exodus 20:7.

7. Thou shalt not take the name If Jehovah is God alone, and if all artificial attempts to produce a likeness of him deserve such fearful visitations as the preceding verses show, it follows that his name should be held in highest honour . The Jews have a tradition that the whole world trembled when this commandment was proclaimed, and Eben Ezra, as quoted by Kalisch, enhances the seriousness of the prohibition by the consideration that, while other crimes, as murder and adultery, cannot be committed at any time, “he who has once accustomed himself to use superfluous oaths swears in one day to an infinite amount, and that habit at last becomes so familiar to him that he scarcely knows that he swears; and if you reproachfully ask him why he swore just now he will swear that he has not sworn, so great is the power of the habit; and, at last, almost his every assertion will be preceded by an oath.” The import of the commandment is seen in the three words, name, take, and vain. The word name in such texts comprehends all that is in the being and nature of God; not merely the title by which the Deity is designated, but all and every thing which is indicated by the various names, attributes, and perfections of the one true God. To take the name is to lift it up, put it into prominence. Compare the expression, “raise a false report,” in chap. xxiii, 1, where the Hebrew word is the same, ( נשׂא . ) To get the full meaning here intended we must at the same time consider the qualifying adverbial phrase in vain, ( לשׁוא . ) To lift a name in vain is to make a vain or false use of it; to employ it in a manner damaging to truth and piety . The Hebrew phrase is by many exegetes translated for falsehood, and so is nearly equivalent to לשׁקר , in Leviticus 19:12: “Thou shalt not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God . ” The prohibition contemplates, not only all vile blasphemy, but also, doubtless, all irreverent use of the divine name, and accordingly comprehends perjury also, as when “a man vows a vow unto the Lord, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond,” and then breaks his word, or profanes it by failing to observe his oath . Comp . Numbers 30:2. Hence the strictures of Jesuson this subject, Matthew 5:33-37, where see Whedon’s notes . The great remedy of all this is: “Swear not at all,” (Matthew 5:34; James 5:12,) but rather “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts . ” 1 Peter 3:15.

Will not hold him guiltless Will not treat him as innocent, and allow him to go unpunished.