Rooker, Mark. The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century. B & H Academic, 2010. 234 pp.
This book is academic and scholarly, but accessible. It elucidates each of the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue) and discusses the Decalogue's ancient context while showing its practical application for today. I have derived much benefit from perusing this work. Rooker is thorough and writes coherently, but knowledge of some Hebrew is required.
Now I want to deal with particular commands that the book analyzes: we'll review issues like God's name and blasphemy, the Sabbath, killing/murder, and covetousness.
1) Treating God's name in a worthless manner (Exodus 20:7):
The third command of the Decalogue prohibits using God's name in a worthless way. Rooker illustrates how this command was given within the context of pagan invocations to Egyptian deities as an example. One Egyptian prayer demonstrates the seriousness of lightly uttering Ptah's name; similarly, the third commandment enjoins Israel not to "misuse" God's name (the name of YHWH).
Just what is meant by God's name though? Rooker argues that "name" denotes the deity (God) himself or his essence/character. That is the meaning which name commonly had in the Ancient Near East: Adam names the animals under God's direction and Isaac gives the wells that he reopens, the same names his father had given them (Genesis 26:18). See also Genesis 17:5; 17:15; 32:28-31; 2 Kings 24:17. The Hebrew word shem may signify the “fame, honor, power, or reputation” of a person or persons (Rooker); additionally, we are told that the name of God refers to his nature, being, person, and teaching. After considering these aspects of the divine name, Rooker then discusses the personal name of God (YHWH/Jehovah).
Like many scholars working in OT studies, Rooker uses Yahweh as a reconstructed pronunciation for the Tetragrammaton: he points out that the root for the name is hwh. Since the divine name appears within the context of Exodus 3:14, it apparently means "He causes to be" or "He brings into existence" (Rooker). While God's name is peerless and holy, Rooker insists that shem refers to more than a label or moniker for God: his name (shem) signifies his reputation, characteristics, his being, divine righteousness and God's hesed, but I would contend that it might denote his personal name too. See Psalm 143:11-12; Isaiah 42:8; 1 Kings 8:41-42; Psalm 83:18; 145:21; Jeremiah 23:27.
I conducted an electronic search for "Jehovah" in Rooker's study, and the name evidently does not appear in the book: he opts for Yahweh instead. However, just what does it mean to take God's name in a worthless way? Is pronouncing the name enough to be charged with blasphemy in God's eyes?
"Any invocation of the Lord or calling on His name that is insincere or needless is simply perfunctory and constitutes taking God’s name in vain" (Rooker).
That is probably only a brief description of what it means to treat God's name worthlessly; Rooker shows this to be the case later in his book. He thinks Exodus 20:7 forbids employing God's nomen "in a magical incantation, false swearing, or a general inappropriate use."
2) The Sabbath Law in Exodus 20:11-12
Rooker argues that the Sabbath is no longer binding on God's people/Christians today, but we can still gain benefit from the principles undergirding that day.
Interesting, I think that's a reasonable definition of taking the name in vain.
ReplyDeleteI have no objection to his definition, but I will add more later.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Edgar; I always enjoy reading your blog posts. And I'm so happy to see God's name* used - whether as Yahweh or Jehovah or Jah - and learn about its significance.
ReplyDelete[* All names change in pronounciation with time (for example, Yehoshua' > Ihesu, Josue, Jesous, Jesus; Ya'akob > Jacob, James, Japp, Diego ...), so what the original pronounciation of God's name was is more a linguistic issue than a theological one. For me, using only the tetragram YHWH in academically "serious" circles feels like repeating the practice of not pronouncing the name that arouse in certain Jewish groups: we can write it, read it but not say it out loud. ("Whyeightchdoublewhyeightch" is too much of a mouthful.) I realize nowadays many would associate the form Jehovah with Jehovah's Witnesses, but it's been used since at least from the 14th century, and, I assume, would be known by most US evangelicals who use the King James translation.]
I appreciate your thoughts, Minor. Thanks for reading this blog. Although I often use YHWH, I should probably explain that it doesn't mean I think we should not pronounce God's name or use "Jehovah." Like the Witness GB, I believe that we don't know exactly how YHWH was pronounced, but until Jehovah reveals the genuine pronunciation of his name, I'm satisfied with Jehovah or any legitimate equivalent. When I use YHWH, I'm also trying to ward off arguments from people who can't move past the issue. Take care, my friend.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Many clergymen have used "Jehovah," but they later started to reject the practice. I can find many commentaries where they freely use Jehovah, but many of them would not use it, just to spite Jehovah's Witnesses.
interesting question - is there a resource anyway I can use to see if any other word shares the exact same construct of consonants?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, you might need to ask someone who specializes in Hebrew, but my initial impression is that YHWH is going to be unique in Hebrew. The medieval rabbi Moses Maimonides even called it God's nomen proprium, a name that is unique to God alone.
ReplyDeletewasn't expecting to know, apologies if that's how it came off - wasn't the intention of the question
ReplyDeleteYour question was cool. And what I said was just opinion, but someone else might have a different thought.
ReplyDelete