Different Life: 2nd CommandmentНамуна

Our culture’s drive is to know and master everything. One way is by naming. If we can classify, organize, and catalog something, we’ve identified it. And by identifying it, we have a better chance of manipulating or controlling it. If you know what kind of snake bit you, you know what kind of antivenom to use. If you can identify what disease is plaguing you, a doctor will know how to treat you.

The same can happen with God. By knowing him, we can be tempted to think we can predict him, and then play him to our own advantage. It abuses an intimate vulnerability God initiates. It’s easy to get so close and so familiar with God that we take too much license and overstep boundaries.

Rabbinic sages link this command with a later one about not stealing. They see one as mirroring the other. The common link is respecting boundaries. When we get close to someone, we have to be careful in how we treat them. We can feel so intimate that we crash boundaries and say things that are harmful or disrespectful, take advantage of them, and treat them as if they exist for our benefit. The second commandment sets up boundaries to treat God as holy and sacred. It reminds us that even though he is our friend, he is awesome and worthy of respect. God does not exist for our benefit. A healthy relationship seeks him for who he is.