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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - Exodus 20:7 - 20:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Or, not carry, or not take, or lift up, to wit, in or into thy mouth, as the phrase is more fully expressed, Job_4:2; Psa_16:4 50:16. So men are said to take up a proverb, or a lamentation, Isa_14:4 Eze_26:17. The name of the Lord; not only the proper name of the Lord, but any of his attributes, ordinances, and works, by which God hath made himself known. In vain; or unto vanity, or vainly. Either,
1. Falsely, or in a false oath; thou shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Lord, or not lift up the name of God into thy mouth in an oath to the confirmation of a lie. Or,
2. In vain, as we render it, and as the word schave is frequently used, as Job_7:3 15:31 Psa_60:11 89:47 Isa_1:13. You shall not use the name of God, either in oaths or in common discourse, lightly, rashly, irreverently, or unnecessarily, or without weighty or sufficient cause. Which being a duty enjoined not only in many places of sacred Scripture, but also in the apocryphal /APC Sir_23:15-17, and even by heathen authors, as Plato in his Book of Laws, and it being evident by the light of nature to man’s reason, it were strange if it were not here understood; especially considering that it is most reasonable to take these short laws in the most comprehensive sense, such as this, not the former, is; for the prohibition of using it vainly and rashly doth certainly include that of swearing by it falsely, but this latter doth not include the former. Besides, the former exposition restrains the words to swearing, whereas the words are more general, and speak of any taking God’s name into their mouths, either by oaths or any other way. And it becomes not us to set limits to God’s words where God hath set none. It is also here to be observed, as well as in the other commands, that when this sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded, to wit, to use the name of God, both in swearing and otherwise, holily, cautiously, and reverently.
Guiltless, or, innocent, i.e. free from guilt, and the punishment of it: the meaning is, the Lord will look upon him as a guilty person, and will severely punish him. And so this or the like phrase is used 1Ki_2:9. And it is a common figure, called meiosis, where more is understood than is expressed, as 1Sa_12:21 Psa_25:3 Pro_10:2. And this reason is here added, because sinners of this sort are usually held innocent by men, either because they cannot discover their fault when they forswear themselves, or because they take no care to punish the abusers of God’s name by vain and customary oaths, curses, or blasphemies: q.d. Though men spare them, I will assuredly punish them.