June 26, 2012—SnyderTalk Editorial: Prohibiting the Use of God’s Name is Wrong

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Prohibiting the Use of God’s Name is Wrong

As you now know, the prohibition against saying or writing God’s Name is a man-made tradition that has been handed down through the generations for more than 2000 years, ostensibly to show honor and respect for His Name.  It is NOT a directive from Yahweh, and you can be certain of this fact.  It is not respectful to ignore God’s Word, and it is dangerous, reckless, and foolish to impose an injunction against something Yahweh explicitly commands us to do.  To believe otherwise makes no sense.

Even so, many people believe that saying or writing Yahweh’s Name puts a person at risk of violating the third Commandment.  Exodus 20: 7 says,

“You shall not take the Name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His Name in vain.”[i]

The Hebrew word translated as “vain” in this verse is shav (shawv).  It means to use God’s Name in a destructive, deceptive, or false manner.  It can also mean to misuse His Name.  This is not a prohibition against saying it or writing it.  It simply means that we must be careful and honest when using the Name “Yahweh.”  Additionally, Leviticus 24: 11 says that the penalty for blaspheming His Name is death.  The Hebrew word translated as “blaspheme” in this verse is naqab (naw-kab’), and it means to curse God’s Name or to use it in a way that is incomplete, dishonest, or deceptive.  These two verses tell us that even though Yahweh bestowed upon us the privilege of sharing His Name with the world, we must do it properly.

Tradition is a Huge Obstacle

I have talked with many Jewish people about Yahweh.  With few exceptions, those who recognize His Name refuse to say it because of tradition, and they are not shy about admitting that tradition is the only reason they refrain from using God’s Name.

For most Jewish people, tradition is bigger, bolder, and more important than Yahweh’s Word.  They ignore Yahweh’s commands and hold fast to tradition apparently without giving the consequences any consideration at all.

The notion that tradition plays a more important part in the daily lives of Jewish people than the Tanach is deeply embedded in the Mishnah.  It contains the Talmudic laws that govern every aspect of Jewish life, and this is what the Mishnah says about this question:

“Greater stringency applies to the words of the Scribes than to the Torah.  If a man said, ‘There is no obligation to wear phylacteries,’ so that he transgresses the word of the Torah, he is not culpable; but if he said, ‘There should be in them five partitions,’ so that he adds to the words of the Scribes, he is culpable.”[ii]

According to Bible scholar Herbert Danby,

“The Mishnah, in other words, maintains that the authority of those rules, customs, and interpretations which had accumulated around the Jewish system of life and religion was equal to the authority of the Written Law itself, even though they found no place in the Written Law.  This, again, is but an assertion…that side by side with the written code there exists a living tradition with power to interpret the written code, to add to it, and even at times to modify it or ignore it as might be needed in changed circumstances, and to do this authoritatively.  Inevitably the inference follows that the living tradition…is more important than the Written Law, since the ‘tradition of the elders,’ besides claiming an authority and continuity equal to that of the Written Law, claims also to be its authentic and living interpretation and its essential complement.”[iii]

Yahweh will not condone our willful disobedience and our attempts to edit His Word to make it comply with our personal preferences and traditions.  To believe otherwise is foolish.  And make no mistake about this fact.  Removing God’s Name from the Scriptures and substituting titles in its place are just as wrong.  So be careful before criticizing Jewish people for their disobedience in this regard because Christians are just as guilty as they are, and neither group has a good excuse.

This is an excerpt from His Name is Yahweh.  It explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important.  It’s a book that you need to read and share.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.

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[i] Exodus 20: 7.

[ii] Sanhedrin 11: 3.

[iii] Danby, Herbert, trans.  Mishnah.  Oxford University Press, 1974, p. xvii.

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Ezekiel 4: 1-3

“Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem.  Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around.  Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.”

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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important.  It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.

  • God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
  • “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
  • “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)

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Hosea 4: 6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

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Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming.  Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days.  Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall.  Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace.  With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

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What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life?  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now.  There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

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Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide.  It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.  Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided.  They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make.  As they say, forewarned is forearmed.  Click here to order the eBook.  Click here to order the paperback.

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