“Neither shall you profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you.” (Leviticus 22:32)
We cannot fully appreciate the gravity of God’s warning against profaning his name until we rightly understand the person and character of God, because God reveals aspects of his character through his various names. For example, attributes of God’s nature are expressed in these various names – Yahweh (LORD, Jehovah), El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty), and Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide). So profaning God’s name is a defiant exhibition of contempt, irreverence, and reproach of Almighty God himself – his person, his character, and his work.
God made it patently clear in the Ten Commandments he gave to Moses what he expected of his people in terms of reverence and respect for his name. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain,” (Exod. 20:7). And his penalty for breaking that commandment was death by stoning (Lev. 24:16). This singular narrative in Leviticus 24:10-16 is sufficient evidence of how seriously God responds to blasphemy. As John Seldon explains, “… to perpetrate anything against God’s Law is called profanation of it, which was a description of cursing God by using his name in a profane manner….”
God’s response to blasphemy exists throughout Scripture. An additional Old Testament example can be found in Isaiah 36 and 37. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, challenged the God of Israel with this question, “Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (Isa. 36:20). With such a question, Sennacherib is profaning the one true God, the very LORD God Almighty, by presuming he was just another among all the false gods of the surrounding nations.
In response to Sennacherib’s affront, Hezekiah (kind of Judah) prayed to God and asked him to deliver them from the army of Assyria in order to defend his divine honor. And God did exactly that. “Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp,” (Isa. 37:36-37).
A New Testament example of God’s response to blasphemy is found in Acts 5. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and God killed both of them on the spot for their blasphemy. Yet another example is warned against by Paul in Romans 2. He exhorts believers to live righteously because our ungodly behavior can influence others to blaspheme God, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” (Rom. 2:24). May such a statement never be said of us!
Christians tend to overlook God’s anger against blasphemy and profaning his name. They disregard the need to understand how holy God is, and that his titles, works, attributes, and anything attached to his name should never be either despised by us or, because of our behavior, give others an occasion to profane his name. For all these reasons we must take extreme care to always reflect God’s holiness in our attitudes, conversation, and behavior so that we may never be found misrepresenting the glory, authority, and character of God.
Contemplations:
- Lord, I read of the wickedness of men in Scripture, where they sacrificed their children to the idol Molech. Such people were said to defile your sanctuary and to profane your holy name. I can’t fathom the horrible profanation of your sanctuary that men defiled with such abominable sins as idolatry and sacrificing of their own children! And yet today we are content to sacrifice our children and families on the altar of ignorance to your Word!
- When we blaspheme you, Lord, it is a vile debasing and contempt of Christ and his church. You say that the origin of this is a form of atheism that disregards your holiness. You warn us that the consequence of such behavior is that you will “set your face against that man, and against his family.”
- To choose to blaspheme you is a terrible sin, Lord. It is a kind of winking at sin and will not go unpunished. Blasphemy is evidence that one is consumed with “self” rather than with your holiness.
- I must consider what it means to be holy before you, Lord, for you tell me to “sanctify yourself and be holy.” If I do not strive for holiness and keep your statutes, what can I expect but punishment? Christ said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do the things which I say?” Help me to strive for holiness by the power of your Spirit in me.
Further references for Lev. 22:32:
Lev. 20:8; Exod. 19:6; Deut. 27:9; Psalm 22:23.
