This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
But I say unto you,
Swear not at all;
neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool:
neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay:
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
— KJV, Matt 5:33-37
Power in the word…
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The true meaning of scripture is often different from popular, contemporary understanding (ref. “Ye Have Heard That It Was Said“).
1,500 years after Moses, Christ pointed out many flaws in the received wisdom concerning Mosaic Law.
In this case, reference is probably being made to:
And ye shall not swear by my name falsely,
neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God:
— Leviticus 19:12
The then-popular interpretation can be inferred from later verses in the Old Testament, such as:
When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it:
for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee
— Deuteronomy 23:21
“Ye shall not swear by my name falsely” was interpreted as “It is ok to swear by the Lord’s name, but take it seriously when you do” i.e. there was a narrow focus on the word “falsely”. But that there is a deeper meaning can be inferred from the additional words “Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God“.
To profane is to demean something sacred; to make it commonplace.
In several essays (e.g. “Will vs Love: A Divine Quantum Entanglement“) we have highlighted the fact that the unity of God’s Will and God’s Love is one of the key revelations given in The Word. The Jews misinterpreted the Ten Commandments because of their failure to recognize this.
The “unified” perspective prompts us to interpret commandments as loving advice. This naturally leads us to ask why such advice has been given, leading to deeper enquiry and better understanding.
So we should enquire about the spiritual meaning of names.
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Since the spiritual gives rise to the material (ref “Creating Is Perpetual“), words that have developed in human language to name spiritual concepts have a nature related to the thing they refer to.
The same logic dictates that a name has an effect that is related to the nature of that thing.
We employ words for specific purposes and in so doing we infuse them with our spiritual energy. The inherent nature of the word combined with our attitude (i.e. the type of spiritual energy we invest) influences the final effect.
This process also affects our own appreciation of the thing being referred to i.e. the effect of speaking also affects the speaker.
The more sacred a concept is to us, the more sensitive we are towards it, and the less likely we are to refer to it casually. The less sacred it is, the more commonplace it will be in everyday speech.
The highest of all concepts, the most sacred name, is the Lord God, the Almighty. Logically then, a person’s appreciation of this one concept dictates the overall level of that person’s spiritual knowledge.
It governs his world view: how he thinks Creation works, possible vs impossible, right vs wrong, etc.
The more we use His Name, the less sacred the concept of God becomes to us.
But since there is no concept higher than This, demeaning It degrades our entire world view.
The advice in Leviticus 19:12 was given to avoid such self-sabotage. It had been misinterpreted, and The Word clarified its true meaning.
We shall continue this investigation in the next essay.
Today’s Resolution:
- We shall restore the sacred name of God to a special place in our hearts, such that we will only utter it with the deepest seriousness of which we are capable.
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