adultery by worshiping other gods with idols of wood and stone thus using adultery to explain the sin of idolatry . Asher Intrater has thoroughly laid out the importance of covenant commitment in his book Covenant Relationships and often lays out many of these parallels between our relationships with Adonai and with others .
The 3rd Commandment that we must not take the Name of Adonai our God in vain is parallel to the 8th Commandment to not steal . This connection should humble us to the truth of the 3rd Commandment that is often overlooked . While it includes the words we speak , the heart of the 3rd Commandment is about calling ourselves the people of Adonai ( i . e . taking His Name upon ourselves ) and not living according to His ways . If we do not live according to His ways , then we are effectively stealing the blessing and honor of His Name while cursing and dishonoring Him with our deeds . That is what it truly means to take His Name in vain : to carry it with us and yet treat it as meaningless in terms of true authority / ownership over our lives . His Name is not ours to do with as we please just as stealing is doing what we desire with something that is not ours . Zechariah 5:3-4 makes this connection when it says that the curse in that vision is for those who steal and for those who swear falsely by Adonai ’ s Name – because they are connected sins .
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