PROFANE (pro-fan), (Heb. from blow lal' to open, give access to; Gr. PefloN6to, ld'o, to desecrate). To profane is to make common, to defile. It has various shades of meanings.
(I) Profane persons are such as defile them selves by shameful actions, particularly a con tempt of things sacred (Lev. xxi :7; Ezek. xxi: 25). (2) Esau rendered himself profane by despising his birthright, and the promise of the Messiah annexed thereto (Heb. xii:16). (3) To pollute things is to defile them; and to profane is to use them as base or common (Lev. xxii: 15; Ezek. xxiv :21). (4) God and his name are profaned, or polluted, when anything by which he makes himself known, as his authority, or dinances, etc., are used in an irreverent manner, and to promote some sinful end of error or wickedness (Lev. xviii :21; Ezek. xiii :9). (5) God's sabbaths, sanctuary, ordinances and statutes are profaned when not used in the manner re quires, but to promote sinful or idolatrous pur poses (Lev. xxi:12 and xxii :7; Neh. xiii:17; Ps.
lxxxix :39 ; Ezek. xx :13 ; Zeph. iii :4 ; Jer. vii :30).
(6) The Jewish priests profaned the Sabbath, and were blameless ; they killed their sacrifices on it, as if it were a common day (Matt. xii:6).
(7) The Jews profaned their fruit trees when on the fifth year they ate their fruit as a common food (Deut. xx :6; Jer. xxxi :5). (8) The high priest profaned himself when, by defiling himself for his deceased relations, he degraded his char acter and made himself appear as a common per son (Lev. xxi :4). (9) A woman profaned her self, when, by becoming a prostitute, she rendered herself common, base, and contemptible (Lev. xix :7). ( to) A priest's daughter profaned her father, when by her lubricity she brought a stain on his character.