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Theodore J. Lewis

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2024

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Blasphemy: Piercing God’s Name

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Theodore J. Lewis

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Blasphemy: Piercing God’s Name

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Blasphemy: Piercing God’s Name

Cursing YHWH is more than simply expressing contempt and irreverence. In the biblical world view, it is attempted deicide, and thus is punishable by death.

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Blasphemy: Piercing God’s Name

The Blasphemer, Gustaf Cederström, 1845- 1933. NationalMuseum.se

Blasphemy and its consequences is a recurring theme in the Bible.[1] For example, Naboth is executed when Jezebel trumps-up an accusation of blasphemy against him:

מלכים א כא:י וְהוֹשִׁיבוּ שְׁנַיִם אֲנָשִׁים בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל נֶגְדּוֹ וִיעִדֻהוּ לֵאמֹר בֵּרַכְתָּ אֱלֹהִים וָמֶלֶךְ וְהוֹצִיאֻהוּ וְסִקְלֻהוּ וְיָמֹת.
1 Kgs 21:10 And seat two scoundrels opposite him, and let them testify against him: “You have reviled God and king!” Then take him out and stone him to death.[2]

YHWH swears that the blasphemy of Eli’s sons[3] will never be expiated by sacrifice or offering (1 Sam 3:13–14; cf. Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). Indeed, even if motivated by hunger, the blasphemer of God and king is thrust into utter darkness (Isa 8:21–22).

The Blasphemous Son in Leviticus

In the Torah, the story of the blasphemous son of Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan, begins:

ויקרא כד:יא וַיִּקֹּב בֶּן הָאִשָּׁה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית אֶת הַשֵּׁם וַיְקַלֵּל וַיָּבִיאוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל מֹשֶׁה... כד:יב וַיַּנִּיחֻהוּ בַּמִּשְׁמָר לִפְרֹשׁ לָהֶם עַל פִּי יְ־הוָה.
Lev 24:11 And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed (lit. pierced) the name (of YHWH) and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses... 24:12 Then they put him in custody, until the will of YHWH might be shown to them.

YHWH instructs Moses to take the blasphemer outside the camp to be executed:

ויקרא כד:טו וְאֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר אִישׁ אִישׁ כִּי יְקַלֵּל אֱלֹהָיו וְנָשָׂא חֶטְאוֹ. כד:טז וְנֹקֵב שֵׁם יְ־הוָה מוֹת יוּמָת רָגוֹם יִרְגְּמוּ בוֹ כָּל הָעֵדָה כַּגֵּר כָּאֶזְרָח בְּנָקְבוֹ שֵׁם יוּמָת.
Lev 24:15 And to the Israelite people speak thus: “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 24:16 And whoever blasphemes (lit. pierces) the name of YHWH shall surely be put to death. The entire community shall certainly stone him, the migrant as well as the native born. When he blasphemes (lit. pierces) the name (of YHWH), he shall be put to death.”

The English word “blasphemy” covers a wide range of verbal actions wherein a person uses the power of words to speak contemptuously, impiously or irreverently in order to abuse, curse, reproach, revile, show contempt, cause injury (“injurious” words), slander, speak evil of, or even despise someone, typically God.

The passage here, however, contains a curious expression for the blasphemous act: “piercing (נ.ק.ב) God’s name” (vv. 11, 16). What does it mean to pierce a name, and why would it incur the severity of capital punishment?

Survival and Destruction of a Name

Names are integral to an individual’s sense of self and family, and central to identity formation as we navigate our place in society. How we use and treat the names of others is equally telling about social perception and negotiation. The significance of names was not lost on the ancients,[4] and the obliteration of a person’s name was viewed as a profound act. Ideally, a person’s name was preserved through their offspring (cf. Deut 25:6; Judg 21:17; 2 Sam 14:7; Ruth 4:10), and even after death, with commemoration rituals binding ancestors to the living (2 Sam 18:18).[5]

The importance of a person’s enduring name finds physical expression in funerary stelae where we read of curses invoking the wrath of the gods should someone efface a person’s name.[6] See, for example, the Karatepe inscription (8th–7th century B.C.E.), which recounts the accomplishments of Azatiwada, a local ruler in Cilicia. Azatiwada curses the person who effaces his name by invoking the gods to efface the person and his kingdom:

Now if a king among kings or a prince among princes, if a man, who is a man of renown, who shall erase the name of Azatiwada from this gate, and shall place (his) name (on it)…then shall Baʿal Shamem and El, creator of the earth, and Shemesh, the eternal, and the whole group of the children of the gods erase that kingdom, and that king, and that man who is a man of renown.[7]

The goal of the biblical command to destroy divine images of illicit gods is phrased in terms of ultimately destroying their names:

דברים יב:ג וְנִתַּצְתֶּם אֶת מִזְבּחֹתָם וְשִׁבַּרְתֶּם אֶת מַצֵּבֹתָם וַאֲשֵׁרֵיהֶם תִּשְׂרְפוּן בָּאֵשׁ וּפְסִילֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶם תְּגַדֵּעוּן וְאִבַּדְתֶּם אֶת שְׁמָם מִן הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא.
Deut 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred posts to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site.

In Zechariah, YHWH declares that he will cut off the names of the foreign gods such that they will no longer be remembered:

זכריה יג:ב וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת אַכְרִית אֶת שְׁמוֹת הָעֲצַבִּים מִן הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא יִזָּכְרוּ עוֹד....
Zech 13:2 In that day, too—declares YHWH of Hosts—I will erase the very names of the idols (lit. effigies) from the land; they shall not be uttered any more.… (cf. Zeph 1:4).

To blot out a name, then, is identity deformation, including effacing the individual’s very existence and future memory.

God’s Name in Battle

YHWH’s identity is also manifested in his Name, not only in the Temple, but also in battle. In the account of Israel’s war with the Philistines, YHWH’s Name is attached to the Ark, which is used as a war palladium:[8]

שׁמואל ב ו:ב וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ דָּוִד וְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ מִבַּעֲלֵי יְהוּדָה לְהַעֲלוֹת מִשָּׁם אֵת אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נִקְרָא שֵׁם שֵׁם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים עָלָיו.
2 Sam 6:2 Then David and all the troops that were with him set out from Baalim of Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God to which the Name was attached, the name YHWH of Hosts Enthroned on the Cherubim.

In Isaiah, the hypostatic Name of YHWH comes from afar to do battle:[9]

ישׁעיה ל:כז הִנֵּה שֵׁם יְ־הוָה בָּא מִמֶּרְחָק בֹּעֵר אַפּוֹ וְכֹבֶד מַשָּׂאָה שְׂפָתָיו מָלְאוּ זַעַם וּלְשׁוֹנוֹ כְּאֵשׁ אֹכָלֶת.
Isa 30:27 Behold the Name of YHWH comes from afar in blazing wrath, with a heavy burden—his lips full of fury, his tongue like devouring fire.

Psalm 20 invokes the protective power inherent in the Name of YHWH three times, culminating in a comparison between the Name and the enemies’ chariots:

תהלים כ:ח אֵלֶּה בָרֶכֶב וְאֵלֶּה בַסּוּסִים וַאֲנַחְנוּ בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נַזְכִּיר.
Ps 20:8 They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses; but we invoke the Name of YHWH our God (cf. vv. 2, 6).

Especially noteworthy is the way in which YHWH’s Name is employed as a weapon, parallel to tangible weapons that are wielded in battle, in the story of David battling Goliath:

שׁמואל א יז:מה וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי אַתָּה בָּא אֵלַי בְּחֶרֶב וּבַחֲנִית וּבְכִידוֹן וְאָנֹכִי בָא אֵלֶיךָ בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר חֵרַפְתָּ.
1 Sam 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword, spear and scimitar; but I come against you with the Name of YHWH of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied.”

The hypostatic use of a divine name in battle also occurs in one of the 8th-century B.C.E. plaster inscriptions found at Kuntillet ʿAjrud in northern Sinai, which mentions “the Name of El on the day of wa[r].”[10]

If the Name of YHWH (as a manifestation of divine presence) can go to battle, then, logically, combatants can attack and even defeat the Name of YHWH in battle. As YHWH can blot out the name of his enemies, so, logically, could his Name be blotted. How? The key is in the language of piercing.

Piercing in Divine Battle

Beyond the mundane use of the root נ.ק.ב for piercing or boring a hole (e.g., through rock),[11] we also find the verb in divine combat myths.[12] Habakkuk portrays YHWH as a charioteer armed for battle with bow and arrows as well as a spear with which he will pierce the (Sea) enemy:

חבקוק ג:יד נָקַבְתָּ בְמַטָּיו רֹאשׁ פְּרָזוֹ [פְּרָזָיו] יִסְעֲרוּ לַהֲפִיצֵנִי עֲלִיצֻתָם כְּמוֹ לֶאֱכֹל עָנִי בַּמִּסְתָּר.
Hab 3:14 You will pierce [his] skull with Your bludgeon; blown away shall be his warriors, whose delight is to crush me suddenly, to devour a poor man in an ambush.[13]

YHWH also claims to have pierced the nose and jaws of the Behemoth beast:

איוב מ:כו הֲתָשִׂים אַגְמוֹן בְּאַפּוֹ וּבְחוֹחַ תִּקּוֹב לֶחֱיוֹ.
Job 40:26 Can you put a ring through his nose, or pierce his jaw with a barb?[14]
A warrior deity piercing a seven-headed dragon from Tell Asmar. Courtesy of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago. See fn. 14

The Blasphemer and His Logic

The blasphemer lives in a world that does not embrace romantic notions about the inherent immortality of the gods. He sees clear indications that gods can and do die. There are the well-known myths of deities who die temporarily, descending to the underworld and then returning from the dead—the deaths of Osiris in Egypt, Baʿlu at Ugarit, and Dumuzi in Mesopotamia, for example.[15]

Other tales tell of gods who die and do not return. For example, the Mesopotamian creation myth, Enuma Elish, contains several scenes of divine conflict and death, including Ea killing Apsu to thwart Apsu’s plan to destroy the other deities, and Marduk killing the goddess Tiamat and using her body to create the world.[16] The musings found in Ugarit’s Kirta Epic may be even more telling. It is hard not to feel the uncertainty voiced as Kirta’s son weeps for his ailing father and wonders: ʾuʾilm tmtn “Do gods die after all?” (KTU 1.16.I.22 // KTU 1.16.II.43).

How Do You Kill a God?

Yet what deicidal strategy could a mortal employ to defeat a god? There are no legendary ancient Near Eastern traditions of mere humans, spear in hand, successfully defeating the gods. Thus, the blasphemer turns to the only power and logic he knows will work: a curse.

In ancient Near Eastern performative speech, certain words (when used correctly[17]) were thought to have power and efficacy.[18] Effectual words could enable a person of lesser power to bring about a desired result (by tapping into divine power) against a much greater enemy.[19] This is perfectly illustrated by effectual words (e.g., curses, imprecations) that are used at a distance against a much greater force—indeed, even against nation states (e.g., Ps 137:7–9; Ps 79:10b–12; Obad 15–16).[20]

Perhaps the blasphemer concludes that just as only YHWH is able to physically pierce a cosmic deity—where no human would stand a chance—so only YHWH would be able to bring about the blasphemer’s desire to pierce/kill the Name (and hence the essence) of YHWH. As already argued in the Talmud, the blasphemer is liable under the law for invoking YHWH to curse YHWH:

בבלי סנהדרין נו. גמרא: תנא עד שיברך שם בשם.
b. Sanh 56a Gemara: [The sage] taught: Unless he blesses [a euphemism for curses] the name [of God] with the name [of God].
מנהני מילי אמר שמואל דאמר קרא (ויקרא כד, טז) ונוקב שם וגו' בנקבו שם יומת.
From where is this matter derived? Shmuel says that the verse states: “And he who blasphemes the Name… when he blasphemes the Name” (Lev 24:16).[21]

Or, better nuanced, the blasphemer, with malevolent hubris, invokes a God-empowered imprecation that proclaims the hex: “May YHWH pierce the Name of YHWH!”[22]

The Adjudication of Deicide

The blasphemer’s attempted deicide helps answer the question of why his crime would incur the severity of capital punishment. The performative cursing is deadly serious, entirely different in degree from Job’s use of caustic words to challenge God and His nature (Job 16:6–14).[23] Raymond Westbrook and Bruce Wells state succinctly:

Blasphemy was essentially the act of putting a curse—or attempting to put a curse—upon a deity. It was the ultimate act of rebellion.[24]

The content of the blasphemous curse—using the language of “piercing” YHWH’s Name—is that of deicide, and the illicit means—the attempted appropriation of YHWH’s power for this most extreme act—constitutes an additional act of rebellion.[25] In response to such an act of killing, lex talionis law would require capital punishment.[26] Thus the blasphemy narrative (Lev 24:10–14, 23), and the resulting punishment (vv. 13, 23), are positioned within the context of lex talionis laws of commensurate retribution with respect to killing:

ויקרא כד:יז וְאִישׁ כִּי יַכֶּה כָּל נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם מוֹת יוּמָת.... כד:יט וְאִישׁ כִּי יִתֵּן מוּם בַּעֲמִיתוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לּוֹ. כד:כ שֶׁבֶר תַּחַת שֶׁבֶר עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן שֵׁן תַּחַת שֵׁן כַּאֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מוּם בָּאָדָם כֵּן יִנָּתֶן בּוֹ.
Lev 24:17 If anyone kills any human being, he shall be put to death…. 24:19 If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: 24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him.

We could argue that the blasphemer’s act was an act of attempted killing, for God was indeed not killed due to the man’s words. Yet effectual words were perceived to be powerful and even lethal. Thus, to write anachronistically, the man had discharged what he considered to be a lethal weapon in committing his crime. In criminal law, his intention to kill and his overt actions using a lethal means make him guilty of an indictable offense that carries a maximum penalty.

Published

May 28, 2024

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Last Updated

October 21, 2024

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Footnotes

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Prof. Theodore J. Lewis is the Blum-Iwry Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and his research focuses on the religions of ancient Israel and Syria. He is the author of The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity (Oxford University Press, 2020, 2023) which received awards from the American Society of Overseas Research, the American Academy of Religion, and the Biblical Archaeology Society, Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit, and the co-author of Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Lewis is General Editor of the multi-volume series Writings from the Ancient World (published by SBL Press) and past editor of Near Eastern Archaeology (for the American Society of Overseas Research), Hebrew Annual Review and Text, Artifact, and Image: Revealing Ancient Israelite Religion (Brown Judaic Studies). His research has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his teaching has won him the Excellence in Faculty Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award from Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.