Published: April 16, 2026 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Leviticus - The Parable of Leviticus 3 - Part 8 | Scripture: Leviticus 22:1-23
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Um chapters that that do go together though in in the notes they are they are separate. U the focus of these two
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is what the Jews refer to Hashem which means the name. And in chapters 21 and 22, the issue with the name is that it be
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sanctified and not profaneed.
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In modern Judaism, this essentially means never saying it or writing it. You you don't speak the name of God. You simply say the name.
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And you don't write the word God. you write G slash D because to say or to write the name of
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God would be to blasphem it to profane it. So the the modern
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waning as I've read quite a number of Jewish writers in this study of Leviticus and and certainly chapters 21 22 um and um
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they they say God OD, you know, throughout their writings. Um, that probably because most of them don't even
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believe in him anymore. Judaism is quite liberal and is not really much of a religion anymore. It's it's more of a Jewish nationalism. Jewish nationalism. And we're we'll look at some of that
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tonight. It's it it does have incredible comparisons to modern American Christian nationalism in in Israel especially not
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so much in world jewelry as much in Israel. So in the modern Jewish view is that you neither
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say nor write
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what this means in its technical purity is the tetra grammaton the four letters by which God revealed himself to Moses his memorial name Yahweh. So the the
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name of God
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we pronounce it generally Yave. Um, we don't really know how it was pronounced u what the um and I don't know how far back this goes but at some point
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the Jews took the vow pointings of the Hebrew name for God Adoni. So you take the vowels
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from Adonai and you insert them in between the consonants of the tetra
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grammaton and what you get is Jehovah. So this is where Jehovah comes from in
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terms of a name of God. In many of our English translations, the newer ones, I think the um the English the the ESV
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um actually uses Yahweh or YHWH Lord. Okay. Yeah. And and I do this in the notes to to reflect in the scripture
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um in Old Testament passages and in referring to Old Testament passages. You may have noticed in the notes or in your Bible um that it's written capital L and then in a smaller font capital O capital
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R capital D when you see that that's Yahweh. That's the tetra grammaton. Okay. So that is how in the English
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sir. Okay. That's just just a a a term of respect. Um, but when you when you read your your English Bibles, this distinction is between Lord and Yahweh.
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So the name that we're talking about here and and it's it's actually not, you know, it's L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the name is to be sanctified.
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But what what does this mean? And because if if we read Leviticus 21 and 22, um we read the name that the name is in the text, right? Even though the Jews
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will no longer read it, and they'll they'll rather say Hashem, it's there. And so their take on it, their interpretation of it is is probably no more accurate than the rest
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of rabbitic Judaism. One thing I do want to point out as a side note, when Jesus in Matthew 28
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tells his disciples that as they go through the world, as they go making disciples, he says, baptizing them in the name
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the name and it's singular. Now, that's a very excellent place in scripture to use the Greek to prove the trinity. uh using the Granville sharp rule, and
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I'm not going to go into that, but what his disciples would have heard was Hashem, the the name, which is the name of God. So, we're baptizing them in
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in the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. So, already we have the um the rudiments of the doctrine of
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the Trinity in in what is known as the great commission. So, I'll put that kind of over here to the side. You know,
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in the name. the name. Okay, that wouldn't mean as much to us as we read it as it would have meant to a Jew in the first century when they heard it or really any Jew after that
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because the name is the name of Yahweh is the name of God. So the name then is Yahweh. And we learn
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mysteriously comprises three names. three names. Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So that's just a side note on the issue of the name
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Matthew 28 Matthew 28 the at the end
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it's not the names so when when Jesus said to them baptize them baptizing them in the name of the Father,
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the name it's not plural, singular. Yeah. If it had been in either the either the Aramaic or or Jewish, it would have said Hashem.
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You you know what I'm saying? Okay. Just focusing on that that one part of the name. So, um the name became incredibly important to Judaism. um not only a not
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only after the destruction of the of the temple, but it's going to be even more so. We'll talk about that in a few minutes, but in the period from the tabernacle to the temple because what
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what we're dealing with in terms of um
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the tabernacle and the temple. I don't know where this pen came from, but um would you lock it up afterward? It's black.
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It's black. I haven't seen one of these in ages.
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God says in the Torah as they enter the land, he he frequently says, "Where I cause my name to dwell."
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Well, that tells us something about the meaning of Hashem. It's God himself more so maybe than any other name that is referred to God. This is God in his
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essence, his essential nature. Okay? So when he says when I cause my name to dwell, it's the shikina glory that comes and
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dwells. It's God himself dwelling in that place. So from this we learn that the name
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the name is nothing less than God himself. Now, why he chooses
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to refer to himself this way and and make statements like where I cause my name to dwell. I think that's a significant study in
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and of itself to look at the way the the Old Testament uses the name and the way God uses his name and says, "This is
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where I'm causing it to dwell. Do not do not profane my name. You have blasphemed my name in the face of the Gentiles. You should sanctify and honor the name. So
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the name becomes God. But why? Why that way? Why not just me? Where I dwell, you will sanctify me.
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You have blasphemed me in the presence of the Gentiles. Why? Why does he use this phrase the name? And I'm not sure I fully comprehend why, but I think that's
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that's what we're getting at here in Leviticus 21 and 22 as again the the overarching theme of all of this. And and I put this up here. We took a break, so you might have forgotten these two
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questions. How can a holy God
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dwell in the midst of an unholy people. And then of course the converse of that, how can how can an unholy people
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This is the theme of Leviticus, holiness, but not just holiness in a moral or ethical. In fact, not really even holiness in a moral or ethical, but more in a in a situational
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as set apart for God. Now, that can be easily misunderstood. easily misunderstood. Being set apart from God necessitates and requires morality and
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ethics. Okay? You you can't have one without the other, but you can get the cart in front of the horse. And in this case, the horse is holy as
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declared, holy as a a change in status. You're a you are a holy nation, and you will remain so. And that's where the cart comes in. If you obey my statutes, you
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will be to me a holy people, a holy nation. But he had already brought them out. He had already delivered them. He had already brought them as on eagle's wings to himself
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and then caused his name to dwell in their midst. So that was the monergistic act of God and that represents the
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fundamental meaning of the word holiness is being separated to God being dedicated being consecrated and then implied in that and required in
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the m maintenance of that is continued morality and ethics through the obedience to Torah. So we're not saying that works don't matter. We're not saying that how you behave doesn't
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matter. It clearly mattered how Israel behaved and it was their misbehaving that constitutes their blaspheming the name of God in the presence of the
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Gentiles. Their their unbelief, their disobedience and later their flatout wickedness caused them to blaspheme or that was the that is the um it comprises their bapt
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blaspheming the name of God. So the name is God himself. It it's it's his identity. And we read in Exodus
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Yahweh. I am that I am. The derivation of it is argued and debated. It appears to be derived from the the
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Hebrew verb to be. Okay. So what we would say theologically or even philosophically is this is
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ontological God. Now that comes from the Greek word onas which means being. And again it it is that verb to be. Uh, and it's the it's the um it's the most
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fundamental thing that human language could say about the existence of of any rational thing is is to say he is it it
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is okay. It it be okay. So the onlogical god what that means is he is he is pure
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I am that I am tell them I am sent you. So again going back to the going forward to the New Testament when we read the various I am statements in John in the Gospel of John again when when Jesus
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says I am the bread of life. I am the way the truth and the life. I am the resurrection. I am the gate. Okay. Each of these
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statements has a predicate. But when he says in John 8, "Before Abraham was, Abraham was, I am,"
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I am," the Jews took up stones to stone him. Not because he was pretending to be older than the patriarch. That's just lunacy and that wasn't
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punishable by death. But because he used Hashem when he said before Abraham was, I am.
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Now talking about how to refute arguments, there's a common liberal argument that maintains that nowhere in the gospel does Jesus accept his own
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deity. Well, there's one place. John 8:58. Okay, if you if you're lacking any others, write that one down because that one was clearly and the Jews understood
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it as such because why did they take up stones to stone him? Blasphemy. And ultimately, this is what Jesus will be accused of and convicted of by the
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Sanhedrin when he essentially admits that he and the father are one. The high priest says, 'What more do we need to hear? He has blasphemed with his own mouth. He makes himself equal to
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God. So all through tap, tabernacle, temple, second temple, this whole era, the identity of God is God. The name is
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God. And and so um that that kind of gives us a Jewish background. But why the name? Well, I think
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identity to his people and they are then referred to as called by my name.
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Now, what this means, I believe, and I think this is true under the old covenant for Israel and even more so under the new covenant for Christians, believers, is that is that the people of God are nameers.
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I mean, we're we're literally Christ ones. Now, that's not, you know, they were first called Christians in Antioch, so that is a biblical terminology. Um, but I think we've we've lost it's it's
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now pretty much just a world religion, right? And under that, if you look up Christianity in the in the Wikipedia, uh, you'll find a whole bunch of religions that aren't even remotely
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Christian. Um, but they they they are not um Islam. Okay? They're not Buddhists. Okay? So, they get so it's just a rubric now. It's it's and and I
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think even among many believers, we don't give much thought to what does it mean to be a Christian? Why? Why that word? Well, what we're dealing with here and and the reason why God is writing so
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much about maintaining his name in sanctity and not in profanation is because by some mysterious grace
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he has tied his glory and his honor to his people his people so that they might sanctify the name and glorify the name which really doesn't make any sense because the name is
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already as holy as it can be. Right? There's there's no way mankind can can make the name of God or the essence of God any holier. And in fact, when we do blaspheme or
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profane, it has no negative effect on the identity of God. Does everybody follow my reasoning here? We are called upon to do for God which
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that which is impossible for us to do on the one hand and irrelevant to God on the other in the sense of his essence. Our sins do not diminish his glory.
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Okay? And and whatever good works he works within us does not increase his glory. He is entirely independent in his being from us.
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But by his grace, by his mercy, and by his all- wise plan, he has linked his glory to his people.
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to our benefit to his glory. So, yes, the incarnation um and and I think we talked about this um a while ago. I think in biblical theology, the incarnation is is really
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paradigmatic for what God is doing in the new creation. Not in the sense in any way, shape or form that we become gods. No, but rather
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that God now dwells in each and every believer. His he causes his name to dwell not in a tabernacle or a temple but now in a person and persons. Okay,
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which is a is is is the the prophetic and theological and theological conclusion of all that we read in the Old Testament. But it's still an amazing mystery because none of this none of
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what God has done did he have to do starting with creation. Okay? Nothing nothing that he has done did he have to do and nothing that he does or that we do adds or subtracts
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from his essential being. Does everybody accept that? accept that? You know I I hope that is not controversial. Uh that that's just the revealed n the revealed nature of God.
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It's also the definition of God. Okay. So the the idea I'm I'm kind of operating under that question. Why why talk about the name this way? Well, you know, why say things like where I call
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my name, cause my name to dwell or sanctify my name, do not blaspheme or profane my name. And and why have the the Jews
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the Jews what's what's the word? I think trivialized it trivialized it by by making it literally the name which
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which you read everywhere in the Hebrew Bible in the Hebrew. So if if God and Moses could do it then why can't you know Galial do it? You
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know why why can't uh Rabbi Levi do it? you know, why is it now uh blasphemy to say the name? It isn't. That that that's totally missing the point. Um and and
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it's sad that the Jews I mean it's just another evidence of the hardening and the blindness that has come upon them that they look at such a m majestic phenomenon as God linking his name and
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placing it upon his people as name bearsers and then trivializing it by saying, "Well, you know, GD." Okay. What? Isn't that kind of like saying
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shucks? I mean, you know, whereas my uncle used to say cheese and crackers. Nobody knew what he was talking about.
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name because It's almost Yeah, they revered it in such a way as to take away kind of like having the uh
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what what does Paul say? Um Oh, but denying its power. I can't remember the whole verse. Having the form. Yeah, the form of godliness but denying its power.
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Justin, I think you had your
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is that yeah, I'm not familiar with that. But uh but it but it is I mean I've always thought it was rather silly um that that you would read you know you're reading an article written by by
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a Jewish scholar it says G slash or G underline D like okay you got away with one there. Okay. Um just kind of seems strange to me.
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Yeah. Even the name has been removed from their exclusive linguistic given to all. Right. Yeah. The name then becomes or
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has become not only the identity of God but the possession of God's people. And that that's where I'm I'm headed with this is that that God's people and by
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this I mean theoretically true Israel of all ages actually. Okay. And I think this is what
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Paul teaches in Romans nine when he says not all Israel is Israel. Okay. So we know that that we have a distinction here. We it it turns out later in the Old Testament as the remnant the remnant
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you know the remnant and we realize that not every single descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was actually a name bearer. They they were but as a nation
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they were under that name and as under that name they were now responsible for that name. And I think this is where the lesson is is eternal. um it it it
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doesn't go away with the advent of the of the church that this this is a principle that we see again typologically in the in the nation and the camp of Israel and in Leviticus
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especially but it it's a reality for all who walk by faith whether under the old covenant prospectively or under the new covenant retrospectively
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covenant retrospectively those who are God's people by faith or through faith faith are name bearsers. So God's people are made
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are made to bear his name. Now the the Jews understood this and even in
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rabbitic Judaism they understood this. But after the destruction of the temple in AD.70, in AD.70, their understanding of the the old
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covenant had to be manipulated. um it could not stand as it did because it was quite clear that more so than with the Babylonian exile and the
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destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar in I think um 586 BC, what the Romans did was obliterate
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any covenant evidence and after that things if if the Jewish people were going to remain a people around a god called Yahweh.
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called Yahweh. They pretty much had to pick up the pieces and build something almost new. The temple was replaced by Torah.
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And the the name again was mutated into a literal speaking or writing of it. But then the meaning of either sanctifying the name or profaining the
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name became in and of themselves Jewish ethical behavior. Okay. So the first thing we do is we look at the name and
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we say okay why God is doing this is because he not only has caused his name to dwell in their midst he has placed their name on them more. This is
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omnipotent God. All nations are his. But in a very special way, he has he has put his name on this people.
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And at least in the heavenlies among all of the the angelic beings, both uh those who retained their original estate and those who fell, everybody knew
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that these are the people God has put his name on. and not really understanding um the concept of putting the name on
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Israel, the nations surrounding Israel knew it as well. So that God could say in Ezekiel, you have you've blasphemed my name among the Gentiles. They they
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understood all of the distinctions and the the evidences of separateness that we've read we've read in Leviticus were meant to emphasize this people as a
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peculiar people. God's own possession, the God who owns all the nations. For all the people are mine, he says in Exodus 19, but I have brought you to myself. Okay? So, he's not just it's not
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henotheism where he is the God of Israel and Molech is the God of Babylon, you know. No, he is God of gods, but in a very special redemptive way and and
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revelatory way, he is God of Israel. And that means Israel is the nation of God. So it's reciprocal. That that's what we're getting at here. It's God causes
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his name to dwell in their midst, but then he causes them to bear his name. I think that's exactly the same for believers. We bear the name of Christ, which is the
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name of God. I think that's why we can't accept the the the uh it's popularly used by politicians, but the principle that the three major monotheistic religions all worship the same God.
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No, they don't. Okay? They they they do not. You know, you might say Islam worships the God of Abraham, but not the God of Moses. And you might say, well, Judaism
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worships the God of Moses and of David, but not of Jesus. Okay? The cloud has moved and they've not moved with it. God's revelation of himself, meaning his
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name, has now it's the in the name of Jesus. There are there's no other name given among men under heaven by which we must be saved. No other name. You can't even
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be Jehovah's Witnesses because that's no longer the name of God in terms of redemption and salvation history. The name of God is Jesus. Okay? So, you
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know, we we don't accept that we worship the same God. Even very few conservative Christians at least will admit that Muslims worship the same God. But we do
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struggle with the idea that Jews don't worship the same God, don't we? I mean, we still want to think that the Jews are worshiping the same God we are. No, they're not. Not yet.
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Okay, Lord willing and according to Romans, someday they will, but they're not now because they're not worshiping Jesus. Okay, so the name is it's again it's
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reciprocal. God causes his name to dwell and then we are now called by his name. So what this means as I said earlier God
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links his as it were reputation because that that is you know a a good name is better to be had than great
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riches that does not mean that you're you know any name other than Pival you know oh that's a good name that's not a good name that's that's not what that verse mean I used to think that's what it meant you know especially when I heard some other names I thought that's not a
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good name. good name. Uh, it always reminds me of when Jenny was little and we were talk I was talking to her in the backyard about I think my her cousins were coming. My
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sister and and her husband were coming and we were talking about how the wife at least at that time takes the name of the husband when they get married. And
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she said, "Well, well, what is Uncle Dan's name?" And I said, "Philipony." And she said, "Oh, that's funny. Okay, it was not a good name. All right,
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and you know a good name, no a good name means a good reputation. Okay, and a good reputation is better to be had than great riches. So God links his reputation
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to his people. Again, not in a way that God can ever be essentially lessened in glory, but in a way, and it it's it's something
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that uh the the Swiss German scholar Carl Bart spent a lot of time thinking and writing about. God has determined himself to be for man
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in making man in his image. God has invested that image with the likeness of his deity. Which means God has invested himself in
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that image. Which is why all this matters so much to him. We could argue all day long that he didn't need to do this, but he did it. And he didn't just do it to see how it'll work out. He did
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it in such a way as in a sense incarnational. Okay? He put himself, something of himself into man whom he created in his image. And then later, 4,000 years
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later, he he became man. He not only invested his image into man, then he took on the form of man himself.
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Now, to to the to the Jew or to the Muslim who says, "Well, God would never, you know, become man," you just take them back to Genesis because they do believe in Genesis and say, "No, no, no. God already
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started that back here. Let us make man in our image. He invested himself, his dignity into this creature called man. So that he was
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preparing the way to glorify himself among all creatures by becoming man.
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But the You mentioned the tabernacle temple. He mentions the househability
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of that image of God coming full circle. And if the house is called by my name and the people are called by my name, then by the transited property, those are going to come together. They're going to come together so that the people become the house of God,
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which is what happens in Jesus Christ. Okay, that that's a very good point is and again, I think it's worth an entire study just to look at the name of God. And I don't mean the names of God. You
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know how you can buy a poster with all the names of God and okay, that's fine, but that's not that that's not the name. That's not Hashem. Okay. All of those
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names have context and meaning. They reveal something about God's work with his people. Something that redowns to his glory. Absolutely. But they are not the name.
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the name. I guess I'm a little confused. I've never really heard that we're called. Well, we are Christ bearsers. Christ ones, right? But Christ is a title.
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and Jesus and Jesus not not in that not in the sense of Acts in Antioch. Um Christ is a person at that point. He's he's the Messiah. But it's a messianic title.
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Well, yes, but in the same way that God is also a title, right? Isn't the word God a Well, it I I guess they're both titles in the
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sense that they're proper nouns, but they're they are titles that are unlike any other title. No one else bears them. They're they're unique.
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Well, there are a lot of gods. No, there's only one. But we know as Paul says in Rome, there's only one God. Yeah, there are a lot of so-called gods, right? I know there's one true God, but
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his name is Yahweh, right? That's what I'm saying. His name is Yahweh. So, why do we call him God? I don't know. I mean, I mean, what is the what is theis
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Elohim? Elohim. Elohim. That's not up there. What's that? Uh Elohim is is the plural of L, which is the name of God. So Elohim is God's
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in the beginning. God's. Okay. Well, the the problem what we're dealing with here is we we can't parse
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God's name. It I feel like that's why the Jews said because well you know like but they were wrong in doing so they
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they said Hashem but in doing so they have they have trivialized the the the meaning of the name it's import that it's it's not that we can't say the name
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of God you could say Yahweh you you could say that you don't have to say God if you want to say Yahweh or you could say Jehovah a lot of people do a lot of people do I I think we I don't
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think that's what matters what matters is what we are referring to and that's why I put this up here so we understand what we're referring to when we use these other names. Okay. I don't know
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why they ever took Yahweh out of the English Bible. Personally, I I don't but we don't even know that it's pronounced Yahweh and and we don't know that it was we don't really know because the vow
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pointings were added to the Hebrew centuries after Christ. This was a continental language. It had only consonants.
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only consonants. So, we don't know how the Hebrew was pronounced. But I don't think that's what matters. What matters is knowing what you're referring to. And and that's
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what I'm trying to say that when we when we're talking about Hashem, when we're talking about the name, we're not just referring to a a technical name that God
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has given as his identity. It is that, but it's it's much more than that. It's it's actually God himself because if you if you blaspheme the
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name, you're blaspheing God. So he has linked his identity to this name, Yahweh. name, Yahweh. So that's one thing I'm trying to say more than any other god or name. He has
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linked his identity to this name. But then the second point I'm trying to make is that he linked his people to that name. Does that help any?
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Okay. You mentioned several times people being called by my name. I just thought that meant people who were called by No, they're called by my name.
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We're not called Yahweh. No, but we're but we are. When he says called by my name, it doesn't mean this we can parse. It doesn't mean that it's his name calling us. It means you're
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called by the name Hartman. That that's what it means. You're called by the name whatever. I cannot swear that in my mind. I don't I don't see how we're called.
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No, we're called by the name. We're we're name bearers. This this is the same thing. I I use the example, but when a wife marries, she is then called by the name of her husband.
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She and the children bear the name. Okay? The the the surname. We we have this in our own society and and all cultures do. Um the Jewish culture might
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be uh Simon Benjonah. Okay? You're called by the name Jonah because you represent your father and it becomes part of your
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name. I I just want to get well to the Yahweh God thing uses God. They don't seem to do
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to Yahweh. Yeah. Paul's talking about Philippians when he
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yes. Yes, I do. I think that's the name that he's been given. um is that's just a way of saying he will have greater dignity than anyone else is and and again it well the name that is above every name there is no higher name
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as far as I can tell in the Bible than Yahweh okay um but what that passage means when it says that the at the name of g at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow
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that's actually a quote from Isaiah where God says at my name every knee shall bow so the name of Jesus now we all understand that Jesus is a historic toal name right it did not it's not an
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eternal name it's actually Joshua okay but it's a name because of the of the death and the resurrection and ascension and the approbation of the father that name of
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the god man is now itself the name of god at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow that's the name of god because he's quoting Isaiah very very clear I
43:39
think Isaiah 40 I'm not exactly sure the exact chapter, but in Philippians he's quoting Isaiah that at my name every knee shall bow, God says. So the name,
43:49
the first plank in in my argument is that the reason that we're even talking about the name is because God has linked his identity to his name
44:01
and then he's linked his people to his name. So that when I say we're name bearers, I just simply mean we we have the responsibility now of the reputation
44:12
of God. I I don't think that's a dramatic statement because if we disobey and if we live wickedly, we we I think we understand that we bring shame upon
44:24
the name that we claim to follow. But I'm I'm trying to say this is this is actually biblically deeper than that. that we are actually identified as a people with the name of God, Jesus.
44:39
So I I apologize if I can't make that any clearer, but I this is this is the direction that that even Jewish scholarship has gone
44:49
that led to um two ethical principles that are actually Hebrew phrases from Leviticus 21 and 22. Um the first one
45:15
is kdush hashem and it means it comes from the the Hebrew kadosh which means to sanctify or to make holy and this phrase is is actually from the Hebrew. This is not
45:25
something made up by Jewish rabbis. Later on, it means to sanctify the name.
45:39
The opposite of this, and I I'll put this down as, and this is also out of um the last verses of of Leviticus 22 as well as verse 6 in chapter 21. So, this this
45:50
concept kind of brackets 21 and 22. Okay? And it's in the negative. You shall not do this. And it is
46:05
hashem which means to profane the name.
46:20
Leviticus makes an important point and I think these phrases and I I'll go ahead and and read the the verses in Leviticus u chapter 21 and 22. Chapter 21, I think
46:32
it's verse 6. Uh hopefully verse 6 of chapter 21. They shall be holy to their god and not profane the
46:45
name kilu name kilu hashem the name of their god for they present the offerings by fire to the lord the bread of their god so they shall be holy. Now this is speaking of
46:56
the of the priests in particular but it is the priests as emblematic or the
47:07
priests as representatives of all the people and that comes at the end of chapter 22. So let me see if I can find that passage. Um
47:19
passage. Um verse 20 chapter 22 verse 32. And you shall not profane my holy name, but I will be sanctified, that's kdush,
47:30
among the sons of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord. Again, um lest we conclude
47:43
that it was somehow the how do I say this? It was the ethical actions of obedience
47:55
on the part of Israel that made them holy. God says, "I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall sanctify my
48:06
name. I am the Lord who sanctifies you." So in in all of these ethical uh statements, you'll find that that u either it's implied or explicit that God
48:19
is the originator. Kind of like when we read we love. Why? Because God first loved us. Okay? Not we love, therefore God loves us. But we love because he
48:31
first loved us. We are sanctified because he first sanctifies us. going back to your earlier definition.
48:49
Yes, there is a a there is a progression um in with regard to the name. I appreciate that comment and I think that could lead to misunderstanding. As we looked at in the in the camp as well as in the tabernacle
48:59
to profane basically means to make comment, okay? and and it means from going from holy down to the next step down. Okay.
49:10
The to profane the name of God or to profane the name Yahweh is to treat it as common.
49:22
But because of the nature of that name versus a vessel or incense or something else, it becomes the same co-extensive with
49:33
the worst term blasphemy. Okay? Because it's a profaining of something that is inherently and perfectly holy, not something that has
49:45
been consecrated. And now that it's been profained, it just needs to be destroyed or possibly washed, you know, sprinkled with whatever to consecrate it. You you
49:56
can't the We're going to find out in chapter 23 24 that if an Israelite blasphemes the name of God, he is to be killed. There's there's no
50:10
reconsecration from a profanation because in the in the does that make sense? because of what is being profained.
50:29
was just commonly using language or well you shall not use my name in vain. I mean it's it's it's it's written into the 10 words. Yes. That you shall not use my name in vain and that and that is definitely profaining it. You shall not
50:41
treat my name as common. Okay. And and that I think persists. I think that is the I think that is the essential meaning of profanity.
50:52
But to them would be just common everyday. Yes. But that is not biblical. I mean that's what they've come up with. But what is actually biblical as you find as you read Leviticus 21 and 22 has far
51:03
more N19 has far more to do with how they eat their food. Okay? how they eat the holy food that that was the priest's portion. That's
51:15
what that's what it comes down to, okay, is is not some special thing which I'm g about to talk about because in modern Judaism, and by modern I mean post AD70,
51:26
okay, they're not very modern, but you know, that was a definite uh break in in their self-recognized history is is the destruction of the temple and of
51:36
Jerusalem in AD.70. uh they recognized that that was a a momentous point in time and that Judaism itself was not
51:47
unaffected by it. It was massively affected. Okay. So um the the view of Kadush Hashem and Hashem today
51:59
they they represent what is essentially Jewish nationalism because what it means now among the rabbis even within the Mishna which is
52:12
like 2 century AD 2 third century so um 1700 years ago even within the Mishna we find that the meaning of blaspheming the
52:22
name versus sanctifying the name has narrowed down to the to the issue of
52:37
whether or not you will die for the honor and again this is another mutation for the honor I have it in a quote in the notes but for the honor of Israel's God and of Israel
52:54
because the Jews still recognize that Israel in their opinion are the bearers of the name of God. So if anyone forces you or you perceive them to force
53:07
be forcing you to speak against not only the name of Israel's God but Israel herself then you must accept some many scholars
53:19
say you must accept death rather than do that because by dying instead of of in any way compromising either the name of
53:30
God or the name of Israel, you are sanctifying the name. If you willingly or if you refuse martyrdom, then you are profaining the name. Now, this this
53:44
began right around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.
54:04
Yeah. Um the the similar there are very there are large similarities between the uh mutations of of Judaism since AD.70 and the perversions of Islam. But that
54:15
shouldn't be surprising because they've they've not followed through with God's revelation of himself through his son. They're they're still they're still operating in the shadows when the light
54:26
has come. So it's shouldn't surprise us that they fall into ditches. But in this case um this this I'll make this
54:42
I don't know I don't think that I will have time to um give my punchline at the end. So I'm going to give it at the beginning. Okay. And that is the sanctifying the name of God in
54:55
Leviticus 2122 Leviticus 2122 19 elsewhere in Leviticus 26 where sometimes it's the priests sometimes it's the people is a very mundane work.
55:08
It is not a notable work of say martyrdom that may constitute the ultimate not even the ultimate but
55:18
but providentially part of your sanctifying the name is your willingness to to die for the name. Yes, but it's not the sum total of it. And and too
55:30
often we think that only great deeds must be done for the Lord. And the the beginning of this within the Jewish post Roman theology was actually
55:43
part of the of the first Jewish war which we often think ended in AD70 but it didn't. It actually ended officially it ended in around AD7374
55:56
when the last Jewish rebels were defeated at Msada. Msada is is an interesting there's actually a movie with Peter Ult. He plays a Roman general. You know it's it
56:08
got you know it was pretty good. Um Msada is an interesting story. I don't think we Gentiles understand the fundamental importance of Msada to the
56:19
Jewish mind Jewish mind and what Msada has meant to a people who have been scattered and persecuted like no other people that we could speak of
56:30
in human history for the last 2,000 years. Msada is still something you can look up. You can look up Msada and you will find dozens of of recent Jewish
56:42
articles on the meaning of Msada and Kdush Hashem. Kdush Hashem. Because at Masada
57:00
there are discrepancies as to the exact date. So normally you'll see it AD 7374. Is everybody familiar with the story of Msada? Okay. Msada was in in the uh the
57:14
area of the Dead Sea. Um it was a fortress that had been built I think by Herod the Great. Um Jewish rebels retreated there during the first Jewish
57:26
war which ran from AD 63 to 70. um they hold up there and the Romans it took the Romans another three three and a half years to finally uh break through
57:41
and and um the um the fortress was essentially impenetrable for that for that long. It had a well, a an artisian well. So it it had its own water supply.
57:54
And they even after it was conquered there, they discovered um provisions for months if not years to come. So So they
58:07
could have hold up for a long time. The reason Msada is both famous and infamous is that prior to the final Roman attack, the um the garrison, men, women, and
58:20
children committed mass suicide. The men killed their wives and children and then each other and their own lives. And they
58:31
did this. Now, you have to take what I'm going to read with a grain of salt because first of all, it's written by Josephus.
58:46
And that in and of itself, Josephus was essentially a Jewish propagandist um for uh Vespasian, the Roman emperor who had saved his life and then gave him a job as a historian. Um and so he was
58:57
that was his uh vespasian was his patron. Secondly, Josephus wasn't at Basara. Okay. So he puts words in the
59:07
mouth of um the leader whose name was Eleazar Bener. Eleazar Bener. And this is what he has Eleazar the leader of the Basadans
59:18
say when it was evident that the Romans were about to break through. Okay. Since we long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the
59:29
Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind. The time has now come that obliges us to make that resolution
59:40
true in practice. Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted of slavery. And after we have slain them, let us bestow
59:52
the glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument to us. They committed suicide, murder,
1:00:06
suicide. The argument that has arisen over this event, this historical event, we have no way of knowing that Eleazar said these words. They weren't written down. Um, we
1:00:18
don't know what was said. What we do know is when the Romans breached, everybody was dead.
1:00:32
The Jews and and it was coming from this actually well Jewish Jewish thinkers and writers
1:00:45
as Kesh Hashem. Okay. What I'm trying to get at is in the history of Kdosh Hashem, it has taken a very very narrow narrow
1:00:55
paths. One path is you don't say you don't write the name and that's Kush Hashem. To say it to write it is Hashem.
1:01:06
Okay. Okay. I I don't think that's even remotely what Leviticus is talking about. But more significantly, I think to modern Judaism, to to modern Israel,
1:01:17
I should say, is this idea that any defeat of Jews is
1:01:29
a it was not actually the the Romans practice even in that day to kill to kill or even to force into a different
1:01:42
religion. those that they conquered. If Elar said these things, um, well, Josephus was being a bit unkind to Espasia because in fact, the Romans didn't always do this.
1:01:53
Okay, they might enslave them. Yes, that is true. That's happened throughout time. But to be enslaved is not necessarily to be forced to blasphem your god. your god. So the the the debate then um
1:02:09
resol revolves around this question. Was and I'm going to use the word suicide. Was the mass suicide
1:02:25
an example of kdush and and the Jews today are not in agreement but generally speaking
1:02:36
throughout the last 2,000 years especially as Jews have experienced horrible persecutions culminating in the
1:02:48
Holocaust. and even more especially since there is now a state of Israel since 1948 and that state has undergone several
1:02:59
wars of attempted annihilation. Okay. So if we understand the context we might be able to better understand how this kind of uh interpretive mutation has taken place.
1:03:11
It has become more and more prevalent to link martyrdom with if not the the only definition of sanctifying the name
1:03:22
the supreme one even to the point of committing suicide which is not martyrdom. Martyrdom is not committing suicide. Martyrdom is being
1:03:33
killed for your faith, refusing to yield and dying for it. what they did at Msada was was not martyrdom in the technical definition. Um but what what makes this
1:03:45
significant is that this has cropped up within Christianity especially in the early church in the third century second third century but it has cropped up in
1:03:56
different areas where people have so exalted the concept of martyrdom that some cre Christians have actually gone out seeking it
1:04:07
and which is a form of suicide to the point where Bishop Cyprien I think it was of Carthage says, "Don't don't do that. We're not we're not to do that."
1:04:18
Now, there is a minority view within Judaism that says no form of suicide is acceptable. That that there there's there's nothing that can justify nothing
1:04:29
can justify self-destruction. That's one position. It's a position I think uh most of the church would take is that suicide is is not glorifying the
1:04:40
name of God. Whatever the argument would be, whatever God in his providence has for you, you endure. And if it means your life is taken, well, that's one
1:04:52
thing. But under no circumstance may you take your life. Now, I want to I want to read some a modern more modern um view. Uh let me
1:05:04
see if I can find these quickly. Page 123. Um these are actually Jewish views. Um the first one is a rabbi by the name of
1:05:16
Haim Makabe Haim Makabe and um
1:05:28
quote in popular parliament. He writes, "Kidesh Hashem, sanctification of the name, has come to mean mainly one thing,
1:05:38
martyrdom." The antonyymic phrase kil hashem, profanation of the name, has also come to mean mainly one thing, behavior that brings discredit on Judaism in the eyes
1:05:50
of non-Jews. of non-Jews. So in the modern interpretation of Judaism, it's not even bringing dishonor on the name of Yahweh. It's bringing
1:06:01
dishonor on Judaism. In other views, that that's equal to Israel. Massurder suicide countism
1:06:21
in our view. the the logical backb Msada yeah I'm saying that that sounds more
1:06:35
like well and and that is being that is held by Jews like Makabe he actually goes on to say he says this is this is the way the word is used today okay that that's
1:06:45
what I'm trying to point out it's really um I'm trying to point out that that sanctifying the name, profaining the name is still a reality for us because
1:06:58
we are the people of God. Both Jews and Gentiles who have been brought into Christ are the people of God and which means in my opinion we we bear the name and we we carry the reputation
1:07:10
of of God's name with us through life. But what I'm trying to say is what the Jews have done with it, many Christians have done as well. And that is to say that in order to
1:07:23
actually sanctify the name, you need to die for it. Even if it means taking your own life because you feel threatened or you feel
1:07:34
like that if you if if you uh if you succumb, if you surrender, then you will be blaspheming the name. Biblically, it's a whole lot more mundane than that
1:07:47
is what I'm trying to say. It's not some glorious act of of memorable sacrifice. It's just It's just not treating the holy food is common.
1:07:59
Okay? It it it it's it walking by the spirit is not some marvelous thing that
1:08:10
everybody notices. It's actually quite mundane, but it's it's it's mundane mundane in a in an obedient form. Uh
1:08:42
proceeds to talk about me. Yeah. Again, it's a food. It's it's it's it's it's how you're living. And in in the context of Israel and the camp,
1:08:52
it was living in a separatedness. The clean and the unclean, the food, the dietary laws, the purity laws, they were all very visible, but they were typological. Now, Paul says that that uh
1:09:05
that we we are to cleanse ourselves from all defilement. all defilement. Okay? in in 2 Corinthians 6 um John says all who have this hope within them
1:09:16
purify themselves. So the concept is still there but it's no longer linked to the food or to the rituals or to the sacrifices. It's the concept we're still
1:09:28
bearers of God's name, the name Jesus Christ. We have already bowed the knee to that name and we are we are under the ownership of that name. And and so just
1:09:40
as Israel was um so we are now but in a even more glorious sense. Now this fellow is um Schlommo Goran uh chief
1:09:50
rabbi of the Israeli Defense Forces. Okay. He lived from 1918 to 1994. Now the Bowfor declaration that
1:10:02
established it the princ the the principle of a Palestinian state for the Jewish people Jewish people was issued in 1917.
1:10:16
Israel became a state again in 1948 which triggered a war with its Arab neighbors. Then again in 1967, then again in 1973.
1:10:27
Goran Goran's life Goran's life spanned that modern um miracle of the reinstitution of a Jewish political nation had. So this is
1:10:40
not a man who lived you know in the 14th century when when the Jews were were still migrants throughout the world. He lives in a period in the 20th century when Israel goes from scattered diaspora
1:10:54
to having territory to becoming a political state and to fighting for its life. Also in the midst of that is the Holocaust. Okay. So I think hopefully that gives
1:11:05
some context some context um to what I think is a representation of of Jewish nationalism. He says this and and this again this was from the
1:11:16
chief rabbi of the IDF. So this was essentially marching orders literally for the soldiers of Israel today the modern soldiers of Israel. He
1:11:28
says um I lost my place. When one's capture by the enemy would bring about a kil hashem and would allow the enemy to glorify itself thereby yet at the end of
1:11:41
the matter they would kill him. It is mitzvah to commit suicide. Mitzvah is commandment. Okay. um rather than to fall into the
1:11:54
hands of the enemy as we find in the case of King Saul and the people of Msada. You see, Msada is still in their minds in the 20th century. All right?
1:12:06
Saul of course fell on his sword rather than to be defiled. But there was never any biblical indication that Saul was righteous or that he was actually sanctifying the name of the Lord by
1:12:17
doing what he did. insult to the memory of his dead son who died in that same battle. Yeah. And it's it's it it also um denigrates what what
1:12:29
David refused to do and that is to lift up his hand against the Lord's anointed. And I I think that that commandment refers also to the Lord's anointed. No, I don't think I don't think Saul was
1:12:41
biblically justified in committing suicide. Nor nor were the Madans. What I'm trying to say is this has now become I mean this is 20th century Israel. This is Israeli nationalism.
1:12:53
What I tried to say in in recounting briefly their history from the Bowfor declaration to the present is they probably have a lot more rationale for Jewish nationalism than Christians have
1:13:05
for Christian nationalism. I mean they have suffered and and not just in the 20th century the German and the and the Eastern European the Russian pograms the
1:13:18
discrimination the prejudice uh I remember reading a a little article from the the early 1900s from Boston from a newspaper um offering an apartment for
1:13:30
let and it said Jews and Italians need not apply. Okay. So prejudice has been ingrained in in Western society against the Jewish people.
1:13:41
So I can understand where they come up with this. with this. But they're taking matters into their own hands. own hands. You you do not know if you fall into the
1:13:53
hands of the enemy. It may be like Shadrach, Meshach, and
1:14:04
who I think did sanctify the name, but they did not commit suicide. They simply said, "If the Lord our God saves us, then he will save us. If he doesn't, we will still not bend the knee." Okay? And so that that's that's a
1:14:16
completely different example there, I believe. And I think that is the example that we we will not love our lives even to death you know that it that it comes
1:14:28
it can come to that but we it's not so much how we end our life that matters in fact it's not even how we end our life that matters that constitutes kish
1:14:40
hashem or conversely hello hashem it's how we live our life and when we read the the holiness code we find out this This is rather mundane.
1:14:51
I mean, these are they're not supposed to go into full-time Jewish ministry. You know, there there's none of the stuff that that we're told, say in the Roman Catholic, they don't have to take
1:15:01
holy orders. They don't have to go into a convent. a convent. They need to live life in the presence of God according to his statutes. And yes, they're very minute and and
1:15:14
they're very, we might say, even invasive in terms of of the how it touches their day-to-day life. That that's pretty remarkable. And as Peter does say, th
1:15:25
this is a burden that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear. But it's not some glorious act of self-sacrifice. Nor is it really even any glorious act
1:15:37
of Christian ministry. It's a life of the obedience of faith. So when Paul says um do not despise menial labor, you
1:15:48
know, when he says that that the the man who robs shall rob no longer but shall work with his hands. You know, he he encourages his churches as he writes to live life with integrity and character
1:16:00
because they reflect the name. First Peter where he tells his readers to in their in your hearts.
1:16:38
ethically. in the face of opposition.
1:16:54
Yes, in that day and and with Peter um it it probably could be presumed that that many died. Certainly many died um for their for their faith, for their profession. So I don't want to diminish that and I do want to make a distinction
1:17:05
between martyrdom and suicide. I think there's a vast uh unbridgegable gulf between those those two concepts and I don't think the msadins actually uh honored the name of Yahweh
1:17:17
in what they did. Uh I think they might have honored the name better if they had simply fought to the death but they didn't. They took their own lives. But I want to finish and there's a lot I know
1:17:28
that could be said. Um, and hopefully if you can read if you have the time to read the notes, it'll help clarify some things that I've said. But I I I want to point out that um
1:18:01
yes, it it it does constitute refusing to deny God, to deny Jesus Christ even unto death. Yeah, that's I think that's a part of it. And the only reason I point out the Jewish interpretation is
1:18:12
is because it it it it narrows the meaning as as Makabe says, it essentially narrows the meaning to just this. And he he disagrees with that. Um
1:18:23
obviously Schlommo Gorin agrees with it. He not only says it's it's um sanctifying the the name, he says it's a commandment to commit suicide. The I
1:18:35
don't know whether this is still the policy. He died in 1994. Okay. I don't know whether it's still the policy of the IDF. I kind of doubt that it is. But they they um if it is, it means that
1:18:48
their their soldiers uh maybe somewhat like the Japanese in World War II uh they are to commit suicide rather than to surrender or to be captured. But to say and that could be a military policy,
1:19:00
that's fine. But to say that that constitutes kush hashem, you mean to say that that constitutes a biblical commandment is um is I think a stretch.
1:19:11
But what I want to point out is this may be an example of it, but it more so it is living
1:19:39
And I don't want to denigrate any of those who have any of the martyrs who have lost their lives. Um, but I will say that say that this is difficult enough
1:19:58
and I think it could be said that if if we don't have our attention on living obediently living obediently through life, through life, we will not be prepared to hold fast to
1:20:11
our faith even unto death. It's not a matter of of ignoring the precepts of God throughout your life, hoping that at the end you get killed for your faith. No,
1:20:23
this if anything, this is preparatory to that. Well, let's close in prayer. Father, we do ask that you would help us to understand your word and especially the
1:20:35
the sanctity of your name, the majesty of it. We we somewhat comprehend but to to sanctify it. That which is
1:20:47
already unimpeachably holy, we cannot make it any more holy. And yet we are to sanctify your name. We pray that you would help us to know how to do this
1:20:58
through the obedience of faith. That we read your word as doers and not hearers only. and that we seek by the guidance and the grace of the Holy Spirit to walk
1:21:10
according to your commandments. And we do ask, Father, that you would keep us from in any way profaining your name and that even set a guard upon our
1:21:20
lips that we would not use your name in vain, but rather we would treat it as holy, for it is indeed. So father we ask that you would sanctify your word to our
1:21:33
hearts and wash us with your word that we might bring glory to the one who is all glory itself. We ask in Jesus name.