So what all does it mean to misuse the name?

Short teachings from Hillcrest Church further exploring Sunday's teachings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey Tim here. Hope you are doing well. And we are gonna dive deep into the ten words of life. So in this uh episode, I wanted to look some at uh what how the Hebrew what the Hebrew scriptures have to say about what it means to misuse the name. Um, you know, on Sunday I said uh the people of God they receive the gift of the name, they're meant to represent the name, um, that to to bear it to shav, to carry it to shav, it it can mean how we speak, but it goes beyond that. And the in the Hebrew scriptures, I think um we see we see a lot of examples in this. I thought I'd just kind of walk through some of them uh since I didn't have a chance to do this on Sunday. This is what the deep dive is, right? You get to deep dive. Um the it does seem that earlier in the, and I'm not an expert on this, just from the study that I've done, it does seem that earlier in the story of Israel, kind of to bear the name had a had a what I might say a narrower sense, and then it seems like the prophets continued to expand it. And so you you'll see what I mean here as I read through some of these. Um, and and I could be wrong on that chronological aspect, but it's just kind of comparing some of the different um scriptures about misusing the name. So let's start back in Leviticus. So here we are in the Torah, the Pentateuch, um, and uh Leviticus 18, 21. Um, yeah, a couple times in Leviticus it refers to this this type of idea. Uh do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. That's that shows up again, I think, in chapter 20, verse 3. Uh, but it's this I mean horrific idea of offering your children to uh an idol, um, and that that is profaning the name. Um let's see. Uh false oaths. This comes up a lot, uh, and this is of course a language thing, but it's um it's kind of using the name to like I swear by Yahweh. Uh but this is Leviticus 19, 12. Do not swear falsely by my name, and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. So that's uh that's using it um to kind of back up your word. Um let's see, blasphemy uh is clearly one um chapter 24 uh of Leviticus again. Say to the Israelites anyone who curses their God will be held responsible. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. And so uh blast uh blaspheme um is here. And there are these different, like um, I mean, this is kind of a side trail, but uh, you know, the ten words says don't bear the name to Shav. Shav means emptiness or nothingness. Um, and that could be just treating the name, treating the name as if it's not important, right? Um profaning the name uh is a little is more like desecration. It's taking something holy and treating it common. It's more, it's even more negative than just chav. And then blasphemy um is is kind of the the worst level. Blasphemy is you know, it's like cursing the name of God, um, speaking the name of God with utter contempt. And so these are kind of three levels of um misusing the name. Shav, chav, you know, treating it like emptiness, uh profaning, and then blasphemy. You know, so Leviticus 24, 16 here is one of these blasphemy examples. Um so there that's Leviticus, false oath, blasphemy, offering your children Molech. Um we you we see the same kind of thing show up. So in the Psalms, what was one of the Psalms? Psalm 139, uh verse 20. Um they speak of you with evil intent, your adversaries misuse your name. Uh so we get this similar, uh, similar idea there of misusing the name. And then what I think is interesting is we begin to get to the uh we get to get to some of the prophets, and that's where you really see some of the the larger ethical implications of how the name is used. So Amos, uh flipping over to Amos here, Amos chapter two uh is a really powerful example. Amos two, beginning in verse six, judge this is a chap this this is a section where Amos's uh judgment on Israel, for three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor, as on the dust of the ground, and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl, and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, in the house of their God, they drink wine taken as fines. And so, you know, that uh that's Amos 2, 6 through 8. And we, you know, you could do a whole sermon just on what one of each one of those things means. Um, but uh a couple things. One, I was I did jump into an Amos commentary, and one of the scholars I was reading um uh said, hey, this profaning the name there doesn't seem to be just about the sexual sin. It seems to be um connected to the entirety of this list of sins. This is all different ways Yahweh's name is profaned. And uh it's really it's fascinating when you look at these. He talks about um he talks about selling the innocent for silver, the need, uh, the needy for a pair of sandals. Um this is you would say economic sin. And so, and because Amos is talking to the whole people of Israel, I think it's important to think of this as both individually, these are things that individuals can do, um, but also a society, Israel as a as a whole societal culture can do. And so there's economic um sin. Uh they trample on the heads of the poor and deny justice to the oppressed, and so that would be legal sin, like law court. So now we have economic, we have legal. Um, father and son use the same girl. Now this is sexual relational sin. Um, and and then in verse 8 they lie down beside every altar uh in their house of God, they drink wine taken as fines, and there's idolatry. Um, and so it's quite a comprehensive um indictment Amos brings against Israel here: economic, uh, legal, um, sexual, idolatrous, and uh and together Amos says uh in like this is profaning um the name that is meant to rest on you. You are meant to you have received the name as a gift, you're meant to represent the name, and by doing these things you're profaning the name. Um yeah, sobering, powerful. Let's see. Um Jeremiah is an interesting one, Jeremiah 34, and I'll end on this. Um uh Jeremiah 34. There's this moment where um the uh the people in Israel were um in the Torah, in the Pentateuch, the uh the um God instructs his people particularly on the release of slaves or indentured servants. And there's a a way of, and this is tied up with the year of Jubilee, and that um the Israelites are meant to practice this. And basically what happens is in Jeremiah's day, the people said they were gonna do this, did it, and then went back on it and took the people back into slavery. Um, Jeremiah 34. Uh says, um, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says. I made a covenant with your ancestors, and when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, I said, Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served six years, you must let them go free. Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. Recently you repented and did what was right in my sight. Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people, so they did it. You made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name, that's the temple. But now you have turned around and profaned my name. Each of you have taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again. And so and how does he describe that? Sha Jeremiah 34, 16, um, you have profaned my name. And so uh I think you begin to see, uh, you I hope you get to see how um the this idea of profaning the name, you're not you're not bearing the name, you're bearing it to Shah, you're not bearing it as Kvod, you're not honoring it, you're profaning it, you're not hallowing it. Um, you're bringing down uh uh you're slanting the reputation of the Lord you're said to follow. So this is what um these are just examples uh in the Hebrew scriptures of how the misuse of the name gets talked about. Um and in the next episode I want to pick up and talk about what God does about this, because um what we'll see is this is a problem that God says he is determined to solve himself. All right, grace and peace.