In the primitive culture of ancient Israel, there were no lawyers to write legal contracts and no courts to enforce the terms of a legal deal. So when a business transaction was agreed to between two negotiators, they would clasp hands and swear in the name of the Lord that they would be true to the bargain to which both had agreed. If later one or the other of them failed to abide by the agreed-upon terms of this deal, they were guilty of having “taken the name of the Lord in vain.” That was this commandment’s original meaning. Is such a law necessary or appropriate today?
