“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord
will not hold, him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
We pronounce the name of God when we read the Bible, when we pray, when
we take an oath, or when we speak of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness.
We take the name of God in vain when we read the Bible without
attention, or pray without devotion, or take an oath without necessity
or contrary to truth. When we utter the name of God we must bear in
mind that it is the name of the most Holy and most Perfect Being that
we are pronouncing; that it is a privilege to us to be allowed and to
be able to pronounce it.
The more we meditate on the greatness and holiness of God, the more
careful should we be “not to utter the name of God in vain.” We should
guard ourselves from falling into the bad habit of uttering it
thoughtlessly to no purpose whatever. Many people are heard to exclaim
every minute, “O God,” or similar phrases. To them the sacredness of
the name is entirely lost, and they are no longer reminded by it of the
holiness of Him who is designated by that name. Still greater is the
thoughtlessness of those who swear by God without any necessity. In
swearing by God we call upon God to bear witness that our words are
true. But such a testimony is only required when our statement is not
believed. If we swear before we know whether we are believed or not, we
indicate that, according to our estimate of ourselves, we are not
trustworthy, and it has often been observed as a fact that those who
swear most are least to be believed. The worst of all forms of swearing
is to swear falsely, that is, to swear that something is the case
without knowing that it is true, or knowing that it is not true. This
is a terrible crime, and is called “the profanation of God’s name,”
חלול השם.
There is still another kind of חלול השם “profanation of God’s name:”
if we Jews who are called by His name, the people of the Lord, or
children of the Lord, bring contempt upon God’s people by disgraceful
conduct, we profane the name of God. We sanctify it by noble and
generous deeds; by leading a pure and blameless life we cause a קדוש
השם “sanctification of the name of God.”