Exodus 20:7

_THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN; FOR THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS NAME IN VAIN._ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, х_ LASHAAW'_ (H7723)] - Thou shalt not utter the name of Yahweh to a falsehood; i:e., Thou shalt not swear falsely (Gesenius). A different meaning is attached to these words by Hengstenberg, who ('Pentateuch,' vol. 1:, p. 290) explains them thus: 'Thou shalt not attribute (carry) nothingness to the name of Yahweh thy God. Yahweh, the I AM, who had revealed Himself as such to Israel, must not be confounded with nothingness.' The commandment, according to his view, is directed against hypocrisy in general, of which the essence is falsehood-the donation of God into the sphere of nothingness, of which perjury is only one species. [Hengstenberg and Keil maintain that _ NAASAA'_ ...

Exodus 20:7._Thou shalt not take the name. _There is a manifest _synecdoche _in this Commandment; for in order that God may procure for His name its due reverence, He forbids its being taken in vain, especially in oaths. Whence we infer on the other hand an affirmative commandment, that every oath should be a testimony of true piety, whereby the majesty of God Himself should obtain its proper glory. Moreover, it is clear that not only when we swear by God, His name is to be reverently honored, but whenever mention of it is made. Thus in these words He maintains His holiness not only in His word, but also in His works, against all profane contempt of it. We shall soon see that to swear by God’s name is a species or part of religious worship, and this is manifest too from the words of Isaiah 45:23; for when he predicts t

3-11 The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship of creatures is here forbidden. Whatever comes short of perfect love, gratitude, reverence, or worship, breaks this commandment. Whatsoever ye do, do all the glory of God. The second commandment refers to the worship we are to render to the Lord our God. It is forbidden to make any image or picture of the Deity, in any form, or for any purpose; or to worship any creature, image, or picture. But the spiritual import of this command extends much further. All kinds of superstition are here forbidden, and the us...

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT Against _false swearing, blasphemy_, and _irreverent use of the name of God_. Verse Exodus 20:7. _THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN_ _vain_] This precept not only forbids all _false oaths_, but all _common swearing_ where the name of God is used, or where he is appealed to as a witness of the truth. It also necessarily forbids all _light_ and _irreverent_ mention of God, or any of his attributes; and this the original word לשוא _lashshav_ particularly imports: and we may safely add to all these, that every _prayer,_ _ejaculation_, c., that is not accompanied with _deep reverence_ and the genuine spirit of piety

The Hebrew name which is rendered in our King James Version as the ten commandments occurs in Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4. It literally means “the Ten Words.” The Ten Commandments are also called the law, even the commandment Exodus 24:12, the words of the covenant Exodus 34:28, the tables of the covenant Deuteronomy 9:9, the covenant...

EXPOSITION THE DELIVERY OF THE MORAL LAW. Every necessary preparation had now been made. The priests, as well as the people, had "sanctified themselves." A wholesome dread of "breaking" through the fence, and "touching" the mount, had spread itself among the people Moses had returned from the camp to the summit of the mount; and both he and the people were attent to hear the words of the "covenant," which had been announced to them (Exodus 19:5). Then, amid the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the smoke, and the earthquake throbs which shook the ground, a voice like that of a man, distinctly articulate, pronounced the words of that "moral law," which has been from that day to this the guide of life to thousands upon thousands, th

THOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD GOD IN VAIN,.... Make use of the name Lord or God, or any other name and epithet of the divine Being, in a light and trifling way, without any show of reverence of him, and affection to him; whereas the name of God ought never to be mentioned but in a grave and serious manner, and with an awe of the greatness of his majesty upon the mind. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan restrain this to swearing by the name of the Lord; and so the Jewish writers generally interpret it either of swearing lightly, rashly, or falsely; and to this it may very well be extended, though not limited; and so forbids, as all profane oaths; imprecations, and curses by the name of God, which the mouths of wicked men are full of, so swearing by it in matters trivial, and of no importance; for swearing even by the name of the Lord ought not to be used but in matters of mome...

Exodus 20:1. _And God spake all these words saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me._ God is the only God, and no other object of worship is to be tolerated for a moment. Exodus 20:4. _Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments._ Here we are forb

CHAPTER 20 THE COVENANT REVEALED _ 1. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1)_ 2. Jehovah's gracious provision (Exodus 20:18) This law covenant is now stated. It was given three times. First orally here, when God spake all these words. Then in Exodus 31 Moses received the tables of stone, “written with the finger of God,” the same finger which later wrote on earth in the sand (John 8). The first tables were broken and Moses was commanded to hew two tables of stone upon which Jehovah again wrote the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:1). This law was given to Israel exclu

EXODUS 20-24, 34. THE CODES IN EXODUS. Recent study has by many converging lines of argument, based on subject matter, choice of words, relation to the context, idiomatic phrasing, comparison with the historical and prophetical literature, etc., and from an immense accumulation of Biblical facts, proved the extraordinary complexity of the laws in the Pentateuch. Only results can be given here. I. Perhaps the oldest collection is the little code in Exodus 34:17 * J, all short religious laws, and called in the present text the Ten Words of the Covenant. II. Closely parallel with this, both in form and substance, is a somewhat larger collection called The Words of Yahweh (Exodus 24:3) or The Book of the Covenant (Exodus 2