Our Journey – His Path

How do you personally sanctify the Name of God? This is actually a complex question as there are many opinions, practices, and beliefs. This is the subject I’m contemplating as I’m studying the ninth positive commandment as enumerated by Maimonides.

P9 – To sanctify His name, as Leviticus 22:32 states: “And I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel.[1]“

The full verse quoted above reads as follows:

Leviticus 22:32 (TLV)
You must not profane My holy Name, for I will be made holy among Bnei-Yisrael. I am Adonai who makes you holy

We will return to this verse again when we look at N63 as it contains both the positive and the negative form of the command and thus two different commandments. For now, I will strive to remain on task looking at only the positive command.

Sanctification of God’s name is a big deal in Scripture. God doesn’t take it lightly. This is displayed in various ways in the New Testament. Jesus demonstrates it in His actions, His speech, and His teachings. I’m going to highlight three ways this commandment makes an appearance in the New Testament.

Overt Reference

I can find one explicit reference to this command in its positive context, and it’s reiterated by two of the synoptic Gospels. In the famous account of the Lord’s Prayer, the Disciples of Yeshua asked Him to teach them to pray. In response, He taught them the famous prayer that the whole of Christianity prays.

Luke 11:2 (TLV)
Then Yeshua said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, sanctified be Your Name, Your kingdom come. (also Matthew 6:9)

Jesus took the opportunity to plug this commandment into this prayer. “Sanctified” is in the imperative form as a command. God’s name is proclaimed and sanctified regularly through these words. We aggrandize the Father and His Name, just as we were taught by our Rabbi Yeshua. God commanded that we sanctify His name, so Jesus ensured that every disciple throughout the ages would do exactly that with this prayer.

Circumlocution

In Jewish understanding, starting from at least the time when the Septuagint was translated into Greek, God’s Name is not commonly spoken. In the Septuagint, God’s Name is translated as “Lord” and this same tradition passed into the writings of the Apostles and into pretty much every English translation of the Bible (with some exceptions of course). God’s Name doesn’t appear a single time in the New Testament manuscripts. Jesus and His Apostles made a practice of using alternate words to overtly reference God’s Name, but without speaking it. Words like Father, Heaven, God, Lord, Adonai (Hebrew for My Lord), and the modern version of HaShem (literally ‘the Name’) are all used as circumlocutions. This was in an effort to avoid making God’s Name common and in direct reference to P9, the purpose is to sanctify God’s Name.

This is a seriously deep and complex conversation, but from my current understanding, I strive to imitate Yeshua in this, and I don’t speak God’s Name. There are many theological considerations and understandings on this topic that I’m not covering here, but I encourage you to prayerfully study your way through this and follow the Spirit’s leading.

Yeshua’s Teachings

A less obvious reference to this command comes from our Master’s teachings. It’s subtle and you won’t even know it’s happening unless you come at it from a cultural perspective. A famous teacher within Judaism highlights some of the ways that the Jewish people sanctify God’s name.

The Rambam in his writing Yesodei HaTorah[2] gives several examples of the behavior that sanctifies the name of God and they are spread throughout his book. I’ll highlight a few here.

A person sanctifies the name of God when they:

Consider number 4 above. Does Yeshua call us to live beyond the letter of the law? During His Sermon on the Mount, our Master had several sayings where He said “You have heard it said…but I tell you.” An easy example is His teaching on murder. The letter of the law speaks of murder, but Yeshua demands His Disciples to live beyond the letter of the law and says:

Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV)
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

The prohibition against murder obviously stands, but Yeshua brought it to a higher level beyond the literal reading of the commandment. A second example Jesus specifically addresses in the same set of teachings is number 1 above.

Matthew 5:47 (ESV)
And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Business ethics falls into a wider category of ethics and can become a pretty deep conversation that probably extends beyond the scope of P9. However, you can easily make this mental leap through the various teachings by the Apostles urging us to conduct ourselves honorably before others.

1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Lastly, looking at number 3, the topic of humility is constant in the teachings of our Master and His Apostles. We can pull out any number of verses where He is encouraging you to remain humble and not to humble others in return.

Ephesians 4:1–2 (TLV)
Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called— with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love

As the Rambam says, “Such a person sanctifies [God’s] name.[3]” 

There is SO much more here, including the recurring teaching on our suffering for the faith. If we suffer on God’s behalf, we sanctify His Name. If we lay down our lives for God, we sanctify His Name. If we lay down our lives for others, we sanctify His Name. Every book of the New Testament speaks of the suffering that we must endure so in that vein of thinking, we can say that the idea of sanctifying God’s Name is one of the main themes of the Apostolic Writings. It’s everywhere.

2 Thessalonians 1:12 (TLV)
so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

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At the end of P6, I referenced where the question has been asked “if God is a consuming fire, how do we cleave to him.” The answer was to imitate God’s works[1]. With the eighth positive command, God makes that idea explicit.

P8 – To emulate His good and just ways, as Deuteronomy 28:9 states: “And you shall walk in His ways.[2]“

This command ranks among the easiest to find because it is explicitly reiterated by Jesus as one of the final instructions before He ascended into Heaven.

Matthew 28:19 (ESV)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (emphasis mine)

Yeshua tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. Discipleship is not just a creed, confession of faith, or baptism; discipleship is literally the emulation of the one you are learning under. The more we become like Yeshua, the better we become at our craft of being his disciples. In the days of Jesus, the job of a disciple was to learn and imitate their rabbi in every area of life as they partook in the wisdom their rabbi was passing on. It is in this sense that Yeshua says the following:

Luke 6:40 (ESV)
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

This idea of discipleship is not a new invention of the Apostolic era or of Jesus. It is old – ancient. In Jewish reckoning, it is understood that Abraham was indeed creating disciples. Even from the earliest age of the faith, the patriarchs have been teaching people to emulate God. The sages of Israel identified that behavior from this verse:

Genesis 12:5 (ESV)
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.

The “people” can also be translated as “the souls.” As the Jewish people understand Scripture, Abraham and Sarah spent their time teaching about the faith. They won many “souls” into the Kingdom of Heaven and those people set out with Abraham on the journey of faith to go find the eternal city of Jerusalem[3].

Imitating God, or emulating him as the above translation says, is the proof of our relationship with Him. He defines that as obedience to His commandments.

1 John 2:3–6 (TLV)
³ Now we know that we have come to know Him by this—if we keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God is truly made perfect. We know that we are in Him by this— ⁶ whoever claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked.

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How often and how freely do you say “I swear” or “I promise” to bolster a statement you’re making?

Growing up I remember the common proclivity to take oaths. Often a statement or assurance was made and there was an inclination to guarantee it through an oath. There was scarcely a day that passed that I wouldn’t hear a classmate say “I swear on/to…” followed by whatever weighty statement the child was invoking. I think it’s fair to estimate that most of the time it was “I swear to God.”

This childhood recollection is what came to mind as I was reading the seventh Biblical commandment as enumerated by Maimonides:

P7 – To swear in His name, as Deuteronomy 10:20 states: “And you shall swear in His name.[1]“

As children, we didn’t grasp the weight of our statements. Perhaps, we still don’t. Swearing and promises are more often empty gestures amid sarcastic banter than a truly solemn vow. At some point, we seem to have lost the reverence and gravity that should come with an oath. Oaths within a courtroom seem to be the only place where modern society still honors the practice and demands adherence to it.

This lack of respect for oath-taking isn’t new though. That’s actually the focus of one of our Master’s teachings. Jesus was bringing correction to the idea of empty promises. He’s reminding us of its sacred space within the life of a Believer.

Matthew 23:16–22 (TLV)
¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘Whoever swears by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Temple, he is obligated.’ ¹⁷ O fools and blind ones! Which is greater, the gold or the Temple that made the gold holy? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹ O blind ones! Which is greater, the offering or the altar that makes the offering holy? ²⁰ Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the Temple, swears both by the Temple and by Him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

In the society of Yeshua’s time, the “blind guides” taught that some oaths carried weight and others didn’t. In like manner, in our modern society, how many times have you heard someone jest “well, it’s not like I swore on the Bible.” Sometimes we expect adherence to a promise, other times we accept the words to be empty. Yeshua was saying that’s not accurate. All oaths, promises, pledges, and assurances from the mouth of a Believer carry the full weight of an oath in the name of God. So take heed when making them.

God doesn’t waiver on this point and it’s not diminished for a Believer in Messiah. In fact, it’s strengthened. God demands more of a follower of Yeshua than a typical human. You aren’t free to jest with empty promises.

There are several more teachings on swearing oaths in the New Testament. I plan to speak to those as I get to future commands such as N61 “Do not swear falsely.” The words of Jesus in Matthew 23 dovetail into those other commands as well, so I’m sure I will be returning to the “woes” of this teaching too.

James 5:12 (ESV)
¹² But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

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[1] Rambam, Mishneh Torah Positive Mitzvot 7

Cleaving to God is the desire of any Believer in the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). I’m not sure I’ve ever met a sincere and devoted Christian who doesn’t cleave or cling to God. While most may not realize it, we are participating in the sixth positive commandment of Torah as enumerated by Maimonides.

P6 – To cling to Him, as Deuteronomy 10:20 states: “And you shall cling to Him.[1]“

I’m not talking about the “Believers” in name only that we are regularly warned about (Jude 4, 1 Cor 5). These people care nothing for the faith, but only practice a twice-yearly social hour or worse. Those are the people who pervert the faith as Jude says and who, by all appearances and Biblical descriptions, do not cleave to God.

The people I’m referring to know their God. They strive to learn from their Master Jesus. Some of us are better at it than others, of course, but when life happens, we all seem to magnetize ourselves to God. When national disasters happen, our churches fill up and people begin seeking God’s face. They may not be in their pews every week, but God is their first and only answer.

It’s probably worth defining the word as we understand it in English. The dictionary defines this word as “stick fast to,” “adhere strongly to (a particular pursuit or belief),” and “become very strongly involved with or emotionally attached to (someone).”

With those definitions, it should be easy to see that we, as Believers, naturally cling to God to some degree. After all, He is our source of life. How could we not?

Still, we are called to cleave with purpose and not just by the natural inclination that we develop as Believers. This will inevitably dovetail into other commandments so it’s worth pointing out that no one commandment stands on its own, this is an entire lifestyle we’re called to live. Our cleaving with purposeful intent requires actions such as study (P11) and prayer (P5).

Initially, I found it difficult to find this command in the New Testament. It wasn’t as overt as the previous five commandments I’ve researched. From this point on, I suspect it will become increasingly difficult in some cases to find the direct correlations, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!

Most references to the word “cling” or “cleave” are in reference to sin, dust, or cleaving to one’s spouse or fellow disciples. There is one imperative command given by Paul in his letter to the Romans though that seems to align perfectly here.

Romans 12:9 (TLV)
⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy—detesting what is evil, holding fast to the good.

It doesn’t come through in English, but the word behind “hold fast” is the same word that the Septuagint translates cleave to in the Deuteronomy verse above. However, even in this instruction, we don’t necessarily see it plainly. Paul is saying cleave to what is “good.” To make the direct connection, it requires that we hear the words of Yeshua while reading Romans and that’s exactly what happened to me while I was researching. It’s like His voice said the words in my head.

Mark 10:18 (TLV)
¹⁸ “Why do you call Me good?” Yeshua said to him. “No one is good except One—that is God.”

Considering these two verses together, Paul can be understood as saying “hold fast to God.” This seems to be a pattern with Paul. He alludes to the commandments of Torah, but often doesn’t explicitly quote them. Paul is calling us to hold fast to the only Good that exists which is God.

Another way to look at this can be found in the case law of Israel. The sages of Israel asked the question: How do we cleave to God if He is a consuming fire?

Their answer – we do so by emulating God and His deeds.[2]

Given that logic, we can see the idea of cleaving to God as one of the main themes of the whole New Testament. To be Disciples is to be imitators of our Rabbi Yeshua.

Ephesians 5:1–2 (NKJV)
¹ Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

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As believers in Jesus, what should our prayer life look like? Is it a simple desire or also an obligation through obedience?

Consider the 5^th positive commandment as enumerated by Maimonides:

P5 – “To pray, as Exodus 23:25 states: “And you shall serve God, your Lord.” This service is prayer.[1]” (other Biblical references are Deut 6:13; Deut 11:13; Deut 13:4)

Prayer will be an important point as we continue through the 613 commandments of Torah. We will see that God commands it in more than one way when viewed culturally. Service to God in prayer should be as natural as breathing. We can’t function without Him so we should seek to connect with Him in every moment and for every event both big and small.

Consider a few of the numerous verses passed down to us by the Apostles that not only encourage prayer, but demand it for the life of a Disciple.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (TLV)
¹⁷ pray constantly,

Jude 20 (ESV)
²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit

James 5:16 (TLV)
¹⁶ So confess your offenses to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

I can go on, but it is blatant that the Disciples of Yeshua are expected to be in constant prayer. The aforementioned 1 Thessalonians and James verses are both said in the imperative. They are quite literally commands to pray. Even when Yeshua was teaching his Disciples to pray He said “when you pray…” not “if you pray.” There was no option given – it was an expectation.

As part of your walk with God as a Disciple, you must be obedient and live out a life of prayer. This isn’t a favorite pastime, it’s a demand of our King. When you pray – not if. Our lives depend on God. I have a long way to go in this respect. I pray regularly, but I’ve slacked off in this practice and I have work to do to return to that constant place of prayer. Regardless of whether our life is in great shape or not going so well, our first response should be to get on our faces and seek the will of God.

Philippians 4:6 (TLV)
⁶ Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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[1] Mishneh Torah, Positive Mitzvot 5