Year 1, Day 157: Deuteronomy 6

The Shema: “Hear, oh Israel”

“Hear, oh Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.”  Among Old Testament historians, this has got to be one of the most famous and often quoted verses in the Bible.  It is the foundation and cornerstone upon which much of what we call theology is built – both Old Testament and New Testament.

But what does it mean? 

There are people out there that lift up this verse as an anti-Trinitarian verse.  They teach that this verse argues against the Trinity.  But to make that claim absolutely implies a lack of complete understanding of the Hebrew word for “one” in this passage.  This Hebrew word can mean “alone” but it can also mean “altogether” or even “a united whole.”  As examples of how this word is used and translated elsewhere, look at Numbers 13:23.  Here we see that the spies into Canaan cut down a “single” cluster of grapes.  The word that many translations translate as “single” is the same word that we have here in Deuteronomy 6:4.  We understand a single cluster of grapes to be a single entity, but that entity is made up of more than one part.  If we look at Judges 20:1 we hear about all of Israel coming together and assembling as “one man.”  Again, this is the same Hebrew word as is used in Deuteronomy 6:4.  We know that the Hebrew congregation was acting as a single unit, but it was composed of many individuals.  So when we look at this verse, we must not think of the word “one” as something that prohibits the New Testament understanding of the Trinity.  Rather, we should see this word as a word that can mean a single unit composed of multiple parts.  This is not too far from saying that we believe in one God, but three persons within that God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Love the Lord Your God

Of course, this understanding of God leads us into the following verse.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”  Loving God is the duty for His people.  It is the whole of the Law.  If we love God and act out that love, we will automatically be following the Law.  When we are disobeying the Law, we are by definition not acting out of our love for God.  When we disobey the Law we are acting out of our love for ourselves.  Since God is one, there is no wiggle room.  We either love the one God and therefore act out His love or we do not.

Reproduction of Faith: Bearing Fruit

Again we get the emphasis of parents teaching the children.  Moses tells us that the Word of God is so important that we should be teaching it when we wake, when we go to lay down, when we eat, while we’re in our house, when we go out of our house, etc.  There is nothing more important in this world than teaching people about God.

In Christianity, the word discipleship gets flung around quite frequently.  What is discipleship except teaching the next generation of faith bearers?  It does my heart good to hear that discipleship was one of the key foci of the Old Testament as well as the New testament.

Warning

This leads us into the warning that pretty much covers the rest of the chapter.  Moses tells the people that when they receive their inheritance and they benefit from many things that they had no part in creating for themselves, they had better watch out or they will forget about God.  Everything the Hebrew people are about to receive is purely a gift from God!

This is really a huge warning, because we actually know the history of the Hebrew people.  They stay focused under Joshua.  But under the judges there is an ebb and flow of faith.  Under Samuel there is a little resurgence of faith.  Under Saul, it ebbs away.  Under David, the faith comes back.  But starting with Solomon it starts to fall away rather rapidly.  After Solomon the Hebrew people embrace the worship of other gods while dwelling in the luxury that God has provided.

So it is with us, really.  Sure, I can make the claim that I worked hard and got myself through school.  But did not God put me in a family that nurtured me and taught me a great work ethic?  Did not God put me in a family that taught me to love Him?  Did not God give me the intelligence and the desire to read His Word?  Did not God lead me in every decision – not that I always listened or followed God, mind you?  Have I really done anything on my own that resulted in my own benefit?  Does not all the credit for everything good in my life belong to God in the first place?  When I am lazy or self-glorifying or even proud of the fruit of my own efforts, am I not really denying God the praise that should go to Him? When I focus on how much I’ve earned through my hard work, am I not missing the point entirely?

We are in the same peril as the Hebrew people.  All of us in this world are in such peril.  We are all in places to be prone to forget that everything we have is from God’s hand.  We like to think we earned it with the sweat of our brow.  We like to think we deserve it because we worked hard to achieve it and possess it.  But is that really true?  Could we have done anything had God not given us the ability, desire, and strength to accomplish it?

Word for the wise: stop today and do some serious thanking to God for all the things in your life that He has brought to you.

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