Deuteronomy 6:4-9
This is the introductory text to what is known by Jews as “The Shema.” It is widely revered as the teaching that summarizes the most important ideas in the entire universe. It is the source text for Jesus' greatest commandment.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:34-40
Essential to the understanding of Christianity is the full understanding of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is where we find the prophesies of Jesus, and is what Jesus uses in all of His teaching. It is also important to note, that while we must uphold the inerrancy of Scripture, when Paul sets up its inerrancy he is actually speaking of the Old Testament, not the New.
So we study the Old Testament, hoping to gain valuable insight into what it means to follow Christ. Now while all of the text is equally as inspired, or is plenary in nature [Oden, The Living God, p243], we also have come to know that some verses, and passages are more useful to our daily lives, and hold more weight in the context of our community. Jesus identifies this as one of those for us. In fact, He says, very plainly that it is the most important commandment in the Law. This was no new discovery, the Talmud had been teaching this for generations. So what then did the Jews believe about the Shema? I will answer this question in two ways. I will dissect the Shema itself, and will then work with the Talmudic application of the text.
“The Lord is One.” - The claim of a deity that He is alone in the heavenly realm is the claim of superiority of a given culture. For most of the cultures in the ancient near east, they were defined by their own god. So then to claim the invalidity of the other gods, was not only to draw attention to the supremacy of deity, but also to claim moral, and societal superiority over them. Now because we believe the Scriptures to be the words of God, and not the words of man, it would spear the God Himself is claiming that He is the only God that exists, and that His people are greater because of their relationship to Him.
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This really speaks to the entire person of the Jew. What has a person beside their eternal soul, mind, and body? So what this section was demanding was that a Jew commits all that they are to the love of God. They were called to total surrender, and total obedience; very similar to the calls of Christ.
“Bind them as symbols.” It was absolutely reprehensible for a Jew to make any graven idols. God was the one true God, and there could not be any distraction. Many people in other cultures would fasten amulets, and spells to their bodies to give them special blessings and protection. The Jews were so adverse to this that there is little to no Jewish art that carries in it recognizable forms. Art to Jews could be patterned, but should not be iconic. So then the phrasing symbol is critical to understanding what was being asked of these Jews. Not images of a god, but as symbols to remind them of God; as pointers to the one true way. “Israelite practice disapproved of amulets, but if used here they are converted to reminders of the law or, in other places, may contain prayers or blessings, such as the small silver scrolls that were found in a pre-exilic tomb just outside Jerusalem in 1979. These miniature scrolls contain the blessings of Numbers 6:24-26 and represent the oldest extant copy of any biblical text [Bible Background Commentary, p178].” We see that all things were to call a Jew to remember and think upon God.
“Door frames of your houses.” It’s easy to see why the doorframes of the home became synonymous with safety and protection; just as it was what welcomed people in, it also kept the bad out. We see in many Near East societies a propensity to adorn the frame of the front door, hoping to call down blessing and favor from on high. In the ruins of some Egyptian cities we see hieroglyphs on almost every doorway. Doorways served in two ways; they provided preserving grace for the home from those things that may come to defile it, and they provided protection from impending violent realities [Bruce, The International Bible Commentary, p.262].]
“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul- then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth [NIV].”
Deuteronomy 11:13-21
“Then I will send rain on your land in its season [NIV].” Israel was an agrarian society; that is to say, they planted crops and lived by the planting season. Much of what is understood in their lives are in pace with the seasons of rain. Often times shepherding is associated with the Jews because of the rich use of analogies in the Scriptures, but shepherding was of secondary employ. It was common practice to have the youngest son, the least capable, tend the flocks while the other sons would work the fields or do the family trade with their father (fishing, farming, carpentry, etc.). Due to the relative proximity of Israel to the equator winter was not a primary concern, effectively giving the Jews two growing seasons. “Israel has a rainy season and a dry season. The rainy season begins with the autumn rains and ends with the spring rains. These are important for what they contribute to the overall moisture levels in the earth and for softening the ground for plowing. Grain is harvested in the spring, and summer months are for threshing and winnowing. Grapes are harvested in the all, while the olive harvest stretches into the winter [BBC, p181].” So then rain was one of the greatest blessing God could send on Israel, providing them with dependable food for themselves and their families.
“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them [NIV].” In the United States we have seen that prosperity bring ambivalence toward God. We saw it in the life of Solomon, and in the life of Samson. God knew that prosperity brings these tendencies and He wanted to warn His chosen people to avoid this at all costs.
“Teach them to your children [NIV].” The familial structure is entirely different in the context of today's world. Our family structures are rife with brokenness, and disregard. We often see a parental apathy toward the teaching and raising of their children; particularly in America, where Churches are responsible for teaching our children about God, and schools are responsible for teaching academics. Parents forget that it is the role of the family first and foremost to train and educate their children. To a Jew all of their culture rested in the hands of their children. They felt great weight, and took great care to pass on the oral traditions of Judaism, and the trade skills their children would need to survive. I believe in this teaching of the Shema one of the most vital elements is that of the teaching of these values to our children.
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God [NIV].”
Numbers 15:37-41
“And not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes [NIV].” There is a certain sense in which this is echoing back to the beginning of this teaching. This passage in numbers begs the question, what happens if I do not love the Lord my God with all my being? In context this verse is talking about the disobedience in the people’s lives during the postexilic period. “The last verse of the chapter, v. 41, strongly reaffirms God's relationship to the people after the trauma of the rebellion in chapters 13-14. In fact, the whole chapter functions in this way to provide reassurance to the new generation that God will indeed bring them into the land [Mays, Harper's Bible Commentary, p.193].”
The Talmud is a collection of the Jewish oral traditions. It is the theology, in some respects, of the Old Testament. It looks for symbolism, and teachings that it can pull out of the Scriptures and makes an effort to assemble several verses on a given topic to create a cohesive comprehensive account of a teaching or subject. The Talmud makes the case that the Shema has infinite implications into the life of the Jew, and by extension, the Christian. We must labor to live by this holistic submission to the Great God of the Universe. We look to the Old Testament as a basis of how to view our God. Central to the teachings of all of Scripture is the teachings of Jesus, and central to the teachings of Jesus, is the teachings of the Shema.
Works Cited:
“The Holy Bible: New International Version,” International Bible Society, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 a.d.
“Harper's Bible Commentary,” James L. Mays, Society of Biblical Literature, San Francisco, California. Harper Collins Publishers 1988 a.d.
“New Dictionary of Theology” Sinclair B. Fergussen; David F Wright, J.I. Packer. Downers Grove, Illinois. Inter Varsity Press. 1988 a.d.
“The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament” by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas. Downers Grove, Illinois. Inter Varsity Press. 2000 a.d.
“Archaeological Study Bible, an illustrated walk through Biblical History and culture.” Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan Publishers, 2005 a.d.
“Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.” by James Strong. Madison, N.J. World Bible Publishers Inc. 1986 a.d.
“Jesus the Jewish Theologian” by Brad Young. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Hendrickson Publishers. 1995 a.d.
“The Living God, Systematic Theology: Volume 1,” second edition. By Thomas Oden. Peabody, Massachusetts. Hendrickson Publishers Inc. 2008 a.d.
“The International Bible Commentary,” 2nd edition, F.F. Bruce, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan Publishers. 1979 a.d.
