Hebrew Word Study – Profane – Chalal – חלל Cheth Lamed Lamed

Ezekiel 36:21: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel, but for mine holy names sake which you have profaned among the heather, whether you went.”

What is it that makes God great?  Is it His great power, the fact that He is the creator, or that He is all-powerful?   Scripture seems to teach that God’s greatness lies in His Holiness. So allow me to continue my discussion from yesterday on holiness.

What is holiness? The word in the Hebrew that is used here is qadushah. This word has as its root, as I indicated yesterday, in the idea of separation. However, this same word is used for a prostitute. The reference is not to a prostitute as we know them today. This is referencing a sacred prostitute, such as Rahab. The goddess Asherah or Anat had sacred prostitutes who were a sexual connection to the supposed goddess. Sexual relations with a sacred prostitute was considered an act of worship and to win the favor of this goddess.  So how did the word qadushah – holiness come to be connected to a prostitute? 

When one entered into an intimacy with a sacred prostitute it was the symbol of entering into an intimacy with the goddess herself. You would then become one with the goddess and thus open the door to the power of the goddess. The sacred prostitute who stood in proxy to the goddess was to be held separate from all others and you did not approach her (or him) without proper protocols. You may remember from the story of Rahab where the men came to her door. They did not force their way in as you would expect with a prostitute today. They showed her all due respect and courtesy. When she told a big whopper of a lie, they believed her. Rahab is believed to have been a qadushah.  She was considered holy, separate from the rest of the population, and thus subject to certain protocols. That is an aspect of holiness that we tend to overlook but is very much a part of the definition of qadushah which is a separateness subject to proper protocols.

The greatness of God lies in the fact that He is worthy of certain protocols and to not follow those protocols is to profane his holiness. The goal of holiness is intimacy. You cannot enter into intimacy with God unless you follow certain protocols. Ultimately, God is sinless, that is what makes him separate or holy. To enter into an intimacy with God we must be sinless. Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, we can be made holy – sinless through Him and thus enter into an intimacy with God. So when God says He does not restore Israel for their sake but for the sake of His holy name He is saying that He does not restore Israel for their sake because they don’t want a relationship with Him, but he does it for the sake of His holy name or because He desires an intimate relationship with them. 

When we sin, we violate or profane God’s holiness. The word profane is chalal which really means to pollute. You can have a stream of pure water. When you allow a foreign substance or a contaminant to enter that stream, it becomes polluted. When we profane the Holy name of God we are allowing pollutants to enter into our relationship with Him and that cuts off all possibilities of an intimacy with Him.

Now, this is where the rubber hit’s the road. Let’s say I am tempted to sin, that is anything that is doing something contrary to the nature of God something, not in harmony with God. What is my first thought? “If I do this God is going to be angry and he might not give me that blessing or answer that prayer that I have been pestering Him with.” It is true, that you may not get that blessing or answer to prayer, but not because God is angry with you or punishing you for being bad. It is because you have made it impossible for him to respond because you have violated or polluted His holiness to the point where you can not share in His intimacy. 

I think Jesus put it best when he said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33).  Our primary task is to protect the holiness of God. When everything we do, we do as unto God, then we can enter into an intimacy with Him, and by doing that, we can open the door to His power.

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