GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – NO FRAUDULENT DEALS
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God…” Ex 20:7
What does it mean to walk in the name of God?
God gave His “Ten Commandments” to a group of slaves who had trouble relating to Him and to one another because they were used to be controlled and abused by their slavedrivers. They had no dignity or humanity. God had to restore basic humanity to their thinking so that they could experience a marriage relationship with Him. People are different and God’s undertaking was to teach them to treat one another with dignity despite their differences.
To misuse God’s name is much bigger than saying God’s name in a disrespectful or inappropriate way since we are married to Him. When you marry, you take on your husband’s name, and you have power of attorney. God was instructing them not to misuse His name for their own benefit. “Don’t take my name and do things that embarrass me. Don’t misuse my name to get your own way.”
God wants a community of His people who carry the Name properly. Can we misuse God’s name without saying the Name? God was trying to teach them that life is all about levelling the playing field, about people who have, helping people who do not have. When people struggled with big sins, Jesus was there to help them, but He came down on those who looked down on others. He instructs us not to carry the name but contradict His name by the way we live, overlooking the poor, losing your temper, being unforgiving, gossiping, being judgmental etc.
The three Hebrew words used in this sentence can be translated literally like this: We can carry the name in a way that fulfils or disappoints the hope that rests upon it.
According to Hebrew thought, a person’s name was a prophetic utterance of character. In Ex 34:5, 6, God revealed His name to Moses: “Then the Lord came down in a cloud…and proclaimed His name, the Lord. And He passed in front of Him proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness.’” This definition of God’s name is quoted all the way through the Bible e.g., Psalm 103, a whole psalm expanding the name of God.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry and especially during His altercations with Jewish leaders, He insisted that He was sent by the Father to reveal His nature to His people. In John 17:6 He prayed, “I have revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world.”
As believers, we both carry and wear the name of God because we have been espoused to Jesus as His bride. To behave in a way that contradicts His nature or to use His name to try to manipulate Him for our own benefit is to abuse His name. God will not hold us guiltless for doing that!