NOTES for Exo 23:13

The names of gods, sacred names, have always played a special role in the life of both the Jewish people and other peoples of antiquity. The reason is that from very early times something special was associated with a name, whether the name of a person, a spirit, or even a domestic animal. The basis for this attitude is not hard to find in the Book of Genesis, in its second chapter, where it speaks about the creation of man and about how the man created by God in His image and likeness gave names to the animals (and the text is speaking above all about domestic animals) that God brought to him. The corresponding Hebrew word can denote either a designation, a common name, or a proper name, but in any case it speaks of the connection between the name and the meaning of the one named, and of the person's relationship with the one to whom he gives a name.

If God or another spirit reveals His (or its) name to a person, this means that He (or it) reveals Himself to the person, enters into contact with him, and permits him to address Himself (or itself). It is no wonder that so much attention was paid in antiquity to the names of gods, to sacred names: they were never sounded simply for nothing. When naming the name of a deity or spirit, one could always expect an answer, a response, an appearance. Yahwism adopts this attitude toward the sacred name: it is no accident that among the Ten Commandments there is one (the third) that forbids mentioning the name of God in vain. As for the names of pagan gods, against this background there appears a fully understandable demand not to mention them at all, to make sure they do not even accidentally slip from the tongue.

One might think that an accidentally dropped word - and in particular an accidentally mentioned name - does not count. But the Torah reminds us that there are no accidents in spiritual life: if someone's name is on the tip of our tongue, then deep in the soul our connection with the one who bears that name is strong enough. In that case there can be no normal spiritual life, because if so, then at the center of our life stands not God, but someone else. Then we will have to forget not only the third commandment, but the first one too. And the path of God as well.