10/3/2011

 

The Ten Commandments

The Fall Bible Study

Lesson Three

 

A moment of review might be in order.  Thus far, we have learned that the purpose of the Commandments, called The Ten Words or the Ten Statements in Hebrew theology, was to guide the recently escaped Egyptian slaves to discover how to worship God and respect each other.  The commandments formed a code of behavior.  This was essential because they Hebrews had never lived under rules of social behavior:  for generations, they had been slaves whose only rule was imposed upon them:  get up, get out, and get your work done!

 

Three months after their “miracle in the water”, Moses is directed to bring them to Mt. Sinai where they are to meet the Lord God and receive the laws by which they might become a “covenant people”;  that is, they are to learn how they are to become “God’s holy people”.  Although there are ten commandments given here, there are 613 other “laws of Moses”, the rules Moses received at his extended encounter with God up on the mountain.

 

The Ten Commandments seem somewhat bare-boned to serve such a lofty purpose, but as we look into Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Judges, we discover that Moses expounds on each of the commandments, giving them additional meaning.  That, really, is why it is not enough to say, “I pattern my life after the Commandments” unless you understand what they mean and not just what they say in Exodus.

 

Tonight, we begin with the Third Commandment, “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.”

 

It sounds so simple at first blush:  don’t cuss!  But, it is much more.  It must be important because it is the only commandment that carries an admonition with it, a hint that God has devised punishment to fit the crime. The concept of name is mentioned twice in the commandments;  we run into it again in the ninth commandment when the word speaks of bearing a false witness. So, 20% of the commandments mention name!   So, let’s get the simple meaning out of the way first – this idea of profanity of speech – cussin’!

 

The use of the Lord’s name in vain, some people will insist, is really not much more than a revelation of poor vocabulary and weak thought processes.  It’s an admission that you haven’t mastered the use of adjectives in your speech. Profanity denotes emptiness of thought and vocabulary. As any little old lady will tell you, it has to do with upbringing.  But, really, taking the name of the Lord in vain is much more.

 

            John Killinger tells of a hospital room mate he once had who was an

            old country boy who really knew how to spin a yarn.  He told about

            a street preacher who showed up downtown every Saturday afternoon

            and would get to whoopin’ and hollerin’ about God this and God that.

            He cried out, O I got the Spirit. I can feel it acoming.  O, I wisht I had a

            snake and I could show you something about believing!  John’s old

            country boy room mate went out to the barn one Saturday morning

            and caught a long black snake, wrapped him around his arm and hid

            it in his coveralls.  Then, when the preacher got to that part about the

            snake, he threw it right up there at the preacher’s feet.  That man

            jumped three feet in the air, screamed out a profanity on the Lord’s

            name, and went running down the street.  The sheriff arrested him for

            disturbing the peace, but the people were so amused that they took

            up an offering and paid his fine. 

 

He broke the commandment twice!  First, he trivialized God’s name, God’s character, and God’s nature, with his so called preaching.  Then, he really got to name callin’ when the snake scared him.

 

Ben Lacy Rose told about a little brick building that stood just outside the back door of a large factory.  On the door of that building was a sign

 

“Danger. High Voltage. Stand in awe when you enter this place, for

there is power here – a million volts – power to run this factory, light

your business, warm your home, but power also to destroy you if you

handle it carelessly.”

 

This is what this commandment is all about!

 

Let’s talk about trivializing God’s name for a moment.  The ancient Jew was terribly afraid to use the name of God in conversation.  They were taught, as children, not to speak God’s name except in prayer.  When reading aloud from the Torah, many Jews refused to speak God’s name, preferring to substitute the word “Adonai”.  When writing it, many would not write it except as G-d.  At one time in Jewish history, the name could be spoken only one day a year, on Yom Kippur, by the High Priest and only in the Holy of Holies, that sacred room in which they believed God’s spirit dwelled.  There was a good reason the average Jew did not call out God’s name:  he was afraid God might come down to answer, and nobody was ready for God to make an appearance.  Remember, when God began to speak the commandments, his voice was so profound, so loud that it hurt their ears and they begged that God would speak only to Moses who would speak then to them.

 

What does it mean to trivialize God’s name?  WWVA, a radio station out of Wheeling, West Virginia at one time broadcast one fifteen minute “religious program” after another, every evening until at least midnight.  Most of these programs featured a preacher who was selling something – blessed handkerchiefs or holy water from the Jordan River, or maybe just the promise of prayer.  One that I remember was the promise that during his Sunday service “down at the tabernacle” he would pronounce the name of Jesus “one hundred times” and what a blessing it would be to all who were present.  That is trivializing God’s name!

 

Oral Roberts once said that God told him that God would take him off the face of the earth if he failed to raise some astronomical sum of money for a pet project.  He didn’t raise the money and God did not take him off.  But what did it do?  For some people, it was the failure of God to take him and help him raise the money;  for others, it was a laughing matter, and for others, it was a failure of their own faith.  It trivialized the name of God!

 

But the commandment prohibits more.  You are not to use God’s name in an empty, insincere, or frivolous manner.  What does this mean?

 

            1.  To take an oath with God’s name but have no intention to fulfill it

     Jesus said “Do not take a vow in God’s name, or in heaven’s name, or the

     earth’s name, or in the name of Jerusalem.  Just say yes or no on your own

     account.”

 

 

2.  To take such an oath and break it.

     The Jew in the time of Jesus would not swear on God’s name,

     for fear the pledge might be broken.  But he had no hesitation

     in swearing on heaven or earth, on Jerusalem or the Temple,

     or even on his own beard – to break such an oath was

     just business, not religion.

 

            3.  As Jeremiah says, “To say that you worship God but you do not”.

                 “Run through the streets and take notes. Search the city squares

                 and see if you can find a man who does justice and seeks truth,

                 that I might pardon Jerusalem. Though they say, ‘As the Lord

                live’, yet they swear falsely”. Jeremiah  5:2

 

            4.  To accept a sacrament as anything less than an oath to God.

                  The word “sacrament” comes from the Latin “sacramentum”

                  a pledge that a Roman solder had to take, in allegiance to

                  Caesar. It was a pledge broken only by death.  To accept the

                  gift of Baptism or Communion, is to accept expectations as

                  well.

 

Still another way of misusing God’s name is to commit yourself to evil deeds and actions “in the name of God”.  This is what the Crusaders did, under the impetus of the Holy Roman Church.  It was an economic venture disguised as religion – and the crusaders themselves often acted as thugs and rapists, wearing the cross of Christ across their chest. And we still bear the animosity of those who cannot forget five century old horrors!

 

The Spanish Inquisition was mass murder for Christ’s sake!  The white robes and the burning crosses of the KKK are obvious misuse of God’s name in American society of the recent past.  Question:  when the government engraves on its coins, “In God we trust” what obligation is it assuming, when a major portion of its budget is under the heading “National Defense”?  Is this a vain use of God’s name?

 

It is deeper than simply the use of a proper noun, a name.  The concept of the name comes from the beginning pages of Genesis when God gives Adam the right to name the animals.  To name the animals was to give Adam dominion over the animals.  When we take God’s name in vain, we are trying to take dominion over  God.  When God offers his name to Moses at the burning bush, God is giving Moses a glimpse of the persona of God.  He tells Moses that his “name” is “All that I have done, all that I am doing, and all that I will do”.  This is not a proper noun, this is a revelation of who God is.  When God tells Abraham that he is “El Shaddai” he is using a word that means “vast lands and high mountains” – the definition of power!  he is telling Abraham that “I am almighty power”.

So, what does it mean to “misuse the name of God” or as one translation has it “to carry the name of God inappropriately”?   It is to use the name of God carelessly, without thought;  to claim a relationship with God you do not have (The PTL Club with Jim and Tammy lost its way in profiting making);  (see the story of Levi’s sons in the story of Samuel’s calling to become a prophet; to use God’s name in manipulation as Oral Roberts grandstand play about a partnership with God; to seek from God a change in an event as if God is a magician’s assistant, to use God’s name to make a promise you do not intend to keep, and to swear falsely in God’s name (perjury).   In short, “Don’t use God’s name unless you’re serious about it.”  Elton Trueblood said, “This commandment is a warning against taking God too lightly.”

 

One more thing:  in the closing verses of the Book of John’s Revelation, we read of the saints that “God’s name shall be on their foreheads”.  Revelation 22:1-5

 

Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.  Six days

                           you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day

                           is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do

                          any work, you, or your sons, or your daughter; or you

                          manservant or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the

                         sojourner who is within your gates, for in six days the

                         Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is

                         within them, and rested on the seventh day;  therefore,

                         the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

 

                        …you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt,

                        And the Lord your God brought you out thence with a

 mighty hand and an outstretched arm;  therefore, the

Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

 

Yet, it is the only commandment put into effect before the people got to Mt. Sinai to hear God speak the Commandments.  Look back to Exodus 16:22-30

 

As you recall, the Book of Deuteronomy is the book of law.  It is interesting that, other  than in the recording of the Decalogue, the Sabbath is not mentioned in Deuteronomy.  The division of time into seven day weeks did not come from the Jews: it probably arose in Babylon when the days were set aside for the seven major divinities of the people.  Later, Romans assigned a day to each of their gods (Saturn, Diana, Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus).  The names of our days come from Scandinavian gods.  The seven day week was already in effect when the Hebrews entered Canaan, but they alone attributed the seventh day to a Sabbath and the mercies of God.

 

The Exodus listing of the Commandments gives its purpose differently than does the Deuteronomic listing.  Exodus says that we should keep it because “on the seventh day, God rested”. Actually, a better translation of this might be “God desisted” or “God ceased”. For it is difficult to understand that God wore himself out creating all those things and needed to sit under a newly created apple tree and rest from the newly created noonday sun.

 

The Deuteronomy listing tells the Hebrews that they ought to observe a Sabbath because they were once slaves in Egypt and, in remembrance, out to give everybody as rest.  The idea of remembrance is very big in the Old Testament theology of the Jews.  The remembrance is to recall God’s redemptive work on their behalf.  It is a time of worship, a moment of thanksgiving.

 

Let’s think back a moment to Exodus, chapter five, where we have the encounters with the Pharaoh who is asked to let the people go into the wilderness that they might worship their God – a kind of spiritual retreat for the slaves.  Pharaoh says “No!”.   This set the forces of human exploitation and economic gain against the request for a time to be holy.  This is what triggered the Lord’s gift of the Sabbath, what is needed to make human life humane, and not inhumane as it was in Egypt.  And this is what the Sabbath is supposed to do for us.  It is to be a time to lay aside the entanglements of the world and become holy – set aside for a purpose of God.  The Sabbath affirms God’s rule in our temporal affairs.  For the Jew it was a weekly reminder of the Passover, just as the Sabbath is a weekly reminder to the Christian of Easter.

 

Now Sabbath laws have an interesting history.  Obviously, at the very beginning, they were mandated both by the commandment but also by community pressure, for this was a social as well as a legal requirement.  Then, as we see so often in the Bible, they were somewhat ignored many times in the unfolding history, only to become rigid in the Exile experience in Babylon.  Again, when the people returned to Jerusalem and its environs, the Sabbath law was not seen as a forbiddance of business on the Sabbath;  it was seen as a mandatory time of worship.

 

Then, in the first century before Christ. We have what is called the Maccabean period, the time when a country priest and his sons took on the great Persian Empire when a warrior attempted to sacrifice a pig on the altar of the Temple to purposely defame it.  They defeated the Empire and brought in a period of extremity of religious law.  As a matter of fact, soldiers were forbidden to fight on the Sabbath, even if attacked.  On several occasions, soldiers stood at attention while being slaughtered by an enemy which did not observe the Jewish Sabbath.  To people of this period, the Sabbath was literally more dear than life.

 

We all know about the Sabbath laws that Jesus encountered and was accused by the Pharisees of breaking.  They were highly restrictive and prohibitive.  They impinged on life, and could in no way be seen as a gift of God  (as was the Sabbath supposed to be seen).  The law forbade work, but did not define it.  The Pharisees saw to this oversight. They created 39 classes of labor, each one of the classifications having sub-classes.  There was a classification called “burden”, but what was a burden.  The law allowed a father to pick up his child on the Sabbath, but not if the child was holding a stone in his hand.  Ah, but what was “a stone”.  And the law went on the define a stone!  It was forbidden to tie a knot on the Sabbath (and most clothing was secured around the body by a knot!);  you could not light a fire, go on a journey, prepare a meal, or, in the event of an injury, apply healing medicines.  In the every of sickness, a cure could not be sought on the Sabbath, but it was allowed that a medicine that allowed the patient “to hold his own” could be administered.  All of this changed the Sabbath from being a gift from God for his people to becoming a series of prohibitive actions and deeds.

 

In the early Christian period, the concept of the Sabbath was not brought into the church.  Jesus, in opposition to the legalism that had come to define the Sabbath reminded the people that “The Sabbath was made for  man, not man made for the Sabbath.”  Paul spoke against the observance of special seasons and days  (Galatians 4:10)  He told them not to get involved in arguments over new moons and festivals and Sabbaths.  Do not hold one day more holy than another, for all days are holy, says Paul. (Romans 14:5,6)   Some of this was the result of which Sabbath day should a Christian observe: the Jewish Sabbath (Friday sundown through Saturday) or the Christian Sabbath celebrating the raising of Christ from the dead “on the first day of the week” (Sunday)?  Obviously, few could do both.  The newly minted Christians felt that they had been set free from the Jewish Sabbath – and most of the early Christians were indeed Jews! 

 

Eventually, however, in the Church, it was decreed that “on the Lord’s Day come together, break bread and hold Eucharist”.  Ignatius, one of the church fathers, in 110 AD, wrote “They who walked in ancient custom have found a new hope, no longer living for the Sabbath, but for the Lord’s Day”. Friday gave way to Sunday!

 

While the argument rages in the Church, people outside laughed at the Jews to see such folly as a Sabbath. The Romans saw this as proof that the Jews were lazy.   Seneca, the first century Stoic, wrote, “To spend the seventh day without doing anything is to lose a seventh part of life, beside suffering loss in pressing matters from such idleness.”  Tacitus saw it as one of the Jews “sinister ad shameful” customs.

 

For the most part, in the early years, the Sabbath did not forbid work but encouraged worship.  Even the nuns, we read, went to mass, then returned to home and picked up their daily labors.  Then a change:  Constantine became emperor and was crowned by the church, for he became also a Christian.  He decreed, in 321 AD, that no work was to be done in the cities.  He exclude the farm lands, however, fearing that an interruption of the care of crops might bring harm.  Constantine wanted the Sabbath set aside as a time for the worship of the one true God.  Soldiers were to march to the church;  those who were not Christian, had to march also, but they kept on going when the Christians turned into the church building of their choice.  But, all soldiers had to make the same prayer as they marched, a prayer to the holy God of their choice.  This was known as “the soldiers’ parade”.

 

 

Then, in 789 AD Charlemagne forbade ordinary labor on the Sabbath as a “breach of the Fourth Commandment”.  And the commandment became the law of the land.  But, when the Reformers came along in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,  they said that the Sabbath was annulled by the New Testament, and that the “rest” that the commandment sought could be met by tradition which set aside the Sabbath for worship.  But the, human nature took over:  church attendance plummeted.  We all know King James I.  He wrote and published a book entitled (in its brief form) The Book of Sport  (1618) insisting on the right of the people to engage on the Sabbath in all manner of sport, with the exception of “bull and bear baiting”. Then the later reformers (18th and 19th centuries)  came in and turned back to the Old Testament for authority of the Sabbath.  And, of course, when a pendulum swings, it makes a wide arc.  When the English Puritans came to power, all such foolishness as rest from labors was forbidden.  They did away even with Christmas, fining anybody who did not meet the schedule of ordinary work days. This is reflected by Dickens play, Scrooge, who is loath to let his faithful employee, Tiny Tim’s father, off for the day.  This of course carried over into New England and from that we were once bound by what were called “the blue laws” many of us remember from our youth.

 

In Homestead, Pennsylvania, in 1880, workers in the steel mills, were expected to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, 363 days a year – having only Christmas and the Fourth of July off.  Over three thousand years before, the commandment forbade the treatment of animals in the manner these workers were treated just over a hundred and twenty years ago in America.

 

An ancient table hymn of the 12th century rabbis said, “I keep the Sabbath, God keeps me; a covenant eternally.”

 

One more thing;  The Interpreter’s Bible Commentary on Exodus says,

 

            “When mother protests that after washing, dressing,  and feeding the children,

            getting her husband’s Sunday clothes ready, preparing the Sunday dinner table,

            and arriving at church herself nearly on time,  she objects to the minister giving

            out the opening hymn, “O Day of Rest and Gladness”, her attention should be

            called to the fact that the Fourth Commandment says nothing about a mother

            resting on the Sabbath.  The Bible never asks for the impossible.”[1]

 

 

            “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long

            in the land which the Lord your God gave you.” (Ex 20:12)

 

            …that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with

            You, in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”  (Deut 5:16)

 

This commandment stands between the four that speak of our relationship to God, and the five that follow, speaking of our relationship to fellowman.  It is a theological hinge.

 

It is interesting that nowhere in the Bible is there a commandment that we must love our parents.  We are commanded to love God, to love our neighbor, even the stranger and the sinner;  but not our parents.  Is this because Scripture writers thought it would be obvious?  It is not, in this generation.  No more is Leave It To Beaver the model.  Now, we find deeply divided families and arrogant young people ruling the home.  If we are not commanded to love our parents, what does it mean to “honor thy father and mother”?

 

Although it is not present in the Torah, we have a definition in the Talmud.  Remember that the Talmud is a commentary of sorts by the Rabbis on the laws of the Torah, coming into being about 200AD by a rabbi called Judah the Prince.  It says,

 

            “Honor means that a child must give him (and him means both in this instance)

            food and drink, clothe and cover him, and lead him in and out (when parents

            are old and need a helping hand.  Revere means a child shall neither stand nor

            sit in a parent’s place, nor contradict a parent’s words, nor tip the scale against

            him in a dispute.”

 

There are no difficult and hidden meanings here:  the child owes the parents honor, for it was the parent who created the child, just as God created the world and the world owes honor to God.  However, as in many other things, the mind of man has devised ways around this commandment.  In the time of Jesus, a child could declare all his money to be Korban, that is, dedicated to God.  he could sat then to a parent, “I’m sorry but all my money is tied up and I am unable to help you.”  And the Pharisees allowed this; indeed, they created this.

 

A reward is promised to the people who follow this commandment:  they shall live long in the land which the Lord their God has given them, and all will go well with them.  But, in other parts of Scripture, there is some punishment that might be meted out.

 

            The death penalty for a child who curses his parent.

            The death penalty (stoning) to the child who cannot be disciplined.

            The death penalty for the child who strikes a parent and draws blood.

 

As harsh as were these penalties, we have no example of them ever having been carried out.  Apparently this was a stick long enough to discourage such behavior.

 

We often think of these commandments as so unique as not to be honored in other societies.  In this case however, the ancient world had many such laws.  The Greeks thought honor to the parents to be second only to honor of the gods.  Aristotle and Plato both wrote in this vein.  The Romans had something called The Law of a Father’s Power:  it stipulated that the father had total and absolute power over the son as long as he lived.  As long as the father was alive, the son could not “come of age” – therefore, own property.  A father could imprison his son for any reason, have him put to death even, no matter how rich or powerful was the son.  It was more than a simple “honor your father” as far as the Romans were concerned.

 

Paul bought into it:  “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”  (Colossians 3:20)  “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your father and your mother (this is the first commandment with a promise) that it might be well with you…” (Ephesians 6:1,2)

 

It might be obvious that Jesus honored Mary.  He spent 30 of his 33 years at home in Nazareth, presumably because his father died while Jesus was young and Jesus as the oldest son was responsible for his mother’s care.  Even from the cross, he commends his mother’s care to his disciple, John.

 

But we still have not gotten the story behind the story.  Why was this so important?  It is obvious in Scripture that God puts get care in the family unit.  This is the basis of the society the people are to form.  This is the reason for many of the commandments – keeping the family unit in tact.  Jewish custom, for instance, that a brother must marry the widow of a sibling in order for the family name to be honored and maintained in the generations to come.  This commandment is meant to keep the family from self destruction.

 

The story is told of an old rabbi whose seat mate in a long flight is an avowed atheist.  All through the flight, the rabbis children and grandchildren drop by his seat to make sure he does not need something.  The atheist finally comments: “I think the respect your children and grandchildren show you is wonderful. Mine don’t show me that kind of respect.”  The rabbi responds, “Well, think about it.  To my children and grandchildren, I am one step closer in the chain of tradition to the time when God spoke to the whole Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. To your children and grandchildren, you are one step closer to being an ape.”

 

The commandments take us one step closer to the time when God spoke to all his people and gave us the gift of living together in his presence