Sound Bytes Living Torah

I Swear to G-d!

Wasting the authority of His Name

Leviticus 19:12 — ‘And do not swear falsely by My Name and so profane the Name of your Elohim. I am יהוה.

Have you ever wondered about this? It is heavily cross referenced. It is directly from the original spoken commands at Sinai:

Exodus 20:7 — You do not bring the Name of יהוה your Elohim to naught, for יהוה does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.

Leviticus 18:21 — ‘And do not give any of your offspring to pass through to Moleḵ. And do not profane the Name of your Elohim. I am יהוה.

Leviticus 20:3 — ‘And I, I shall set My face against that man, and shall cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given of his offspring to Moleḵ, so as to defile My set-apart place and to profane My set-apart Name.

Messiah starts to hep us unravel this commandment.

Matthew 5:33–37 — “Again, you heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to יהוה.’ <Lev 19:12; Num 30:2; Deut 5:11; Deut 23:21; Eccl 5:5> “But I say to you, do not swear {vainly} at all, neither by the heaven, because it is Elohim’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool <Isa 66:1>, nor by Yerushalayim, for it is the city of the great Sovereign; <Psa 48:2> nor swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. But let your word ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ And what goes beyond these is from the wicked one. <Jas 5:12>

→ Point of clarification: This IS NOT using swear words (cussing, cursing, foul language). This specifically references the Torah and refers to making oaths, swearing a promise.←

Bringing the Name of the Father to ruin, to mean the same as any other word, to use it in such a way as to invalidate the authority His Name carries, → this is the problem.←

You see, if you make a vow in His Name — regardless of which Name or Title you use, it’s your intent — but then you do not fulfill your vow, you are not only answerable to the Father for that broken vow, but it is more significant that you wasted the power and authority of His Name in doing so.

Question:

How MANY (and even some of the FEW) have stood before Him and vowed in His Name that they would take the spouse across from them in sickness and health, in poorness and wealth, in the good times and bad; yet when it got a little difficult, they cut the cords and ran for the hills, so to speak?

Marriage is a specific example, but it may be the most significant example in all of Scripture. Do you not know that those that are His are betrothed to Him, to be His bride? Do you not see that those who follow Him in love and obedience are involved in a covenant with Him that is binding like a marriage covenant?

The covenant He makes with us through His Word is even called a marriage covenant…

…though I was a husband to them…

For what “sin” was Israel dispersed to the world? For what “sin” was Yehudah conquered and taken into captivity for 70-years? (Yes, the 70-years was to make up for the Shabbat years they had not kept, but…)

Spiritual adultery.

They cheated on the Father.

How does the Father see the covenant He makes with those of us who accept His covenant and follow Him in love and obedience?

He sees it as a marriage covenant.

That is how the Father interacts with those that are His.

When we cheat on Him: whether through idols, false worship, forgetting Him, or wasting His power and authority through misuse of His Name (and titles), we overturn our commitment to the covenant of marriage to the Father.

Remember, to be betrothed is more than “engaged.” It is essentially an unfinalized marriage. (The finalization here being the return of the Messiah for the bride.) Miriam was Yehoseph’s betrothed because she was his wife in name and authority. If another man made a move on her, said something harsh about her, hurt her, defamed her, it was Yoseph’s right and authority to act on that threat to his betrothed. She had his name. His name became her authority.

This is why in modern marriage (and for thousands of years) the woman has taken the husband’s name. It becomes her authority. Prior, she acted in the authority of her father’s name.

We act in the authority of our Father’s Name.

Had Miriam…not the best example of this… “cheated” on Yoseph against the betrothal, Yoseph would have had the right to submit her before the Sanhedrin for criminal prosecution resulting in stoning…death.

Do you know that committing adultery was a felony crime in most states until the latter 20th century? It is still an acceptable reason for the “make my day” and “heat of the moment, crime of passion” defenses for spontaneous murder. (Catch your spouse cheating in your home and end up killing one or both cheaters on the spot, no criminal charges filed in 49 states.)

Why?

Because it is the most destructive behavior within relationships. It is possible to overcome an addiction. It is possible to overcome a psychological disorder. It is possible to overcome indifference — depending on the hearts of those involved.

But cheating leads to the end of nearly every relationship it affects. Yes, there are some couples that overcome it…Yehudah was returned to the land (only to defile it yet again before the Romans purged them from the land once more). You see…once a cheater, always a cheater.

It’s a matter of the heart.

But it is a condition of the heart. Before we walked with Him in TRUTH, we did not accept the covenant — even if we walked an aisle and said a repeat after me prayer and attended doctrine classes, etcetera… Accepting the covenant is something one must do wholeheartedly and in full knowledge. I think this is part of why children may be excluded to varying degrees from measures of the Father’s covenant. It is why children are not allowed to marry, even today. Because they cannot fully understand and accept the covenant, the conditions, the requirements of such a decision.

When we make that commitment, we accept those requirements, those conditions, and enter into the covenant with the Father. Using the power of His Name as our authority, granted to us through the betrothal to Him.

When we waste it, we waste His Authority and power to exercise His right to “go to bat” for us when we need.

Do not waste the authority given to you by His Name — regardless of how you pronounce it or which title you use, it is about the intent — because it is destructive to the relationship and the marriage betrothal to the Father. It weakens the bind between us and allows “sin” to creep its way in and corrode the structure of our walk with Him.