The Third Commandment

(1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: (3) You shall have no other gods besides Me. (4) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, (6) but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. (7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by God's name. (NJPS)

(1) לשוא IN VAIN — for no valid reason, idly. What is a שבועת שוא, an oath taken for no valid reason? If one takes an oath declaring something, the nature of which is evident, to be different from what it is: e. g., swearing about a stone pillar that it is of gold (Shevuot 29a).

The 62nd prohibition is that we are forbidden to swear a sh'vuas shav (a vain oath). The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement, "Do not take the name of G‑d your L‑rd in vain." [A sh'vuas shav is]:

1) when one swears that something is the opposite of what it actually is;

2) or that something exists, when in fact it cannot;

3) or that he will violate a mitzvah of the Torah.

4) So too if one swears to an obvious and undisputed fact, such as swearing to G‑d that anything which is slaughtered will die. This is also considered a sh'vuas shav.

לשוא, “in vain.” Do not make a habit of taking up God's name needlessly, even if what you say is the truth, because this habit will lead you to do so when it is a lie. If that were to happen it would result in an unforgivable sin, i.e. כי לא ינקה.

And Rav, and some say Reish Lakish, and still others say Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both said: Anyone who recites an unnecessary blessing violates the biblical prohibition: “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

(1) לא תשא, invoking the name of G’d when swearing an oath. The word נשא is used in this sense in Kings I 8,31 ונשא בו אלה לאלותו, “when someone utters a curse against another in retaliation, using the curse to make his adversary swear an oath,” (2) לשוא, committing perjury thereby; without doubt this oath will backfire on the one uttering it; כי לא ינקה ה' את אשר ישא את שמו לשוא, for having used God's holy name to utterly no purpose. Even if the person swearing such an oath had spoken the truth they will not be free from this sin, how much more so if someone used G’d’s name to swear falsely. It is not compatible with G’d’s honour and dignity that a person use God's Holy name for one's own ends. The only time such an oath is permissible, or in some instances even mandatory, is when it is impossible to arrive at the truth by any other means there being no witnesses to the matter under dispute. As far as swearing a false oath, i.e. perjuring oneself is concerned, the Torah has a separate commandment in Leviticus 19,12 spelling this out. ולא תשבעו בשמי לשקר, “and you must not swear an oath in My name when that oath is a lie.”

(1) לא תשא את שם ה׳ אלוקיך לשוא. "Do not utter the name of the Lord your G'd in vain." There is a tendency for people to believe that if they include the name of G'd in an unnecessary oath no harm is done as the very mention of G'd's name is proof that they revere the Lord's name and this adds to God's glory. Besides, they argue that as long as the one to whom such an oath is sworn is unaware that the oath is false, how could G'd's name have been desecrated? All the second party knows is that the G'd mentioned in the oath is the G'd of the person swearing it. So what harm is done? G'd replies to such thoughts by saying: לא תשא "do not (even) elevate the name of the Lord your G'd, etc. Even if you have the intention of conferring honor upon My name, do not do it; G'd will not let anyone get away with such use of God's name." The reason is that God's name was used falsely or needlessly.

(2) Another reason why using G'd's name to make a lie believable is out of the question is because by doing so the person swearing the oath loses his צלם אלוקים, the image of G'd one has been created with and is known by. Such a person will become known instead as שוא, vain, false, worthless. G'd's name is "truth." Anyone associating that name with a lie, makes the name of G'd "fly away," seeing the person doing so has chosen something vain. An apt translation of this verse would be: "do not remove from yourself the name of the Lord your G'd on account of the pursuit of something that is vain, worthless."

(3) There is also an allusion here that a Jew should not bandy about the name of G'd giving the impression to all and sundry that one is a true servant of the Lord whereas in reality in one's heart one does not serve the Lord. This is why the Torah chose the expression לשוא, i.e. creating a false impression. It is a warning not to pretend to be G'd-fearing. G'd will not allow such people to go unpunished.

It is unnecessary to discuss at length the gravity of [taking an] oath and the seriousness of mentioning the Name of God for no reason, for that is well known and publicized. This is proven by the length of the current exile, since this sin alone is [reason] enough for this lengthy exile of the hosts [of the children of Israel] (Ovadiah 1:20). This is a result of language that became a habit, that the Name of God became routine in the mouths (see Rashi on Gen. 39:3) of everyone in Israel, and they did not tremble or fear when [God's name] was recalled. For all [other] sins between a person and their fellow there is judgement on earth; [however] for this criminal offense, there is no law and no judge.

How would you describe this approach?