Hear, Israel Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
Moses speaks to Israel just before they cross into the land. He puts one sentence at the centre of everything else he says. This line shaped a nation's worship. Jesus later called it the first of all the commandments. And it still raises a question: how can "one" God be Father, Son and Spirit?
Israel is about to enter the land. This people had already shown where their hearts drifted.
The point then for the Jew was the one true God… He was the only God. To what were they always inclined? Setting up other gods in the wilderness. So this is the solemn and central truth brought in here… God revealed it as the great truth that works in practice, pressed on Israel again and again — their one true God.
The verse uses God's covenant name, and that name carries a claim no one else can make.
"Jehovah, our Elohim is one Jehovah" — that is how the name of God is used in this verse. The verse states that the name Jehovah (the Self-existing One) belongs to Him alone. He is the one who is God in the full sense. It stands as the testimony against the polytheism (many and different gods) of the nations that surrounded Israel on every side. And so, because He is the one God, and there is no other beside Him, He must be loved with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the might. Spirit, soul and body must be devoted to Him. And we know this Jehovah as our Redeemer, who came and died in our place.
(These writers quote older translations. Where they write "Jehovah," the ESV has "the LORD.")
This one sentence gave the nation its identity and its protection.
Here we are given that great, basic truth which the nation of Israel had a special duty to hold fast and confess: the unity of the Godhead… As long as they kept it, they were a happy, prosperous, fruitful people. But when they let it go, all was gone. It was their great national defence, and the thing that marked them off from all the nations of the east.
One God means one direction for love and for worship.
This was the great central truth that Moses, the lawgiver, pressed on Israel. Every other truth circled around it. There could be only one object of love, this one Jehovah, to whom every affection should flow (v. 5). And there could be only one object of worship and service (v. 13) — the words our Lord used when He answered Satan.
The verse is often used to argue that God cannot be Father, Son and Spirit. Commentators answer from the Hebrew itself.
Orthodox Jews have made much of this verse, and they hold it in deep reverence. They call it the "Shema" after the first word, "Hear." Jews and Unitarians often use it to deny the three persons of the Godhead. But the Hebrew word "echod" (one) rules out that denial forever, because it means a compound unity. Hebrew has another word for what those who reject the three persons in the Godhead believe. It is the word "yochid", and it means a single one.
Others point to the grammar itself.
With this in mind, the verse reads like this: "Hear O Israel: The LORD [Jehovah, singular] our God [Elohim, plural] is one LORD [Jehovah, singular]." Here is a striking statement of the Oneness of God. Yet along with it, equal care is taken to point clearly and unmistakably to the truth of the Holy Trinity.
When asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus did not start with a command at all. He started here.
When he asks which is the first commandment, he clearly means the one that is first in importance. The Lord's answer comes from Deuteronomy 6:5. But notice how vital the first words here are: "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord." This is the basis of all obedience on man's part. If people do not confess the unity of the Godhead, the very spirit of obedience is missing. This agrees with the words of the Lord Jesus, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).
Israel abandoned this confession again and again. That failure changed nothing about the truth.
Did Israel not fail completely to keep, confess and live out the truth of the unity of the Godhead? And did their failure touch that glorious truth in the smallest degree? There were as many idol altars as there were streets in Jerusalem. Was it not still just as true that there is one God… as on the day Moses proclaimed to the whole assembly those majestic words, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord"? Blessed be God, His truth does not depend on the faithless, foolish ways of men.
- One Name — the covenant name, the Self-existing One, belongs to Him alone, and we know Him as our Redeemer.
- One Centre — this truth was Israel's national defence, marking them off from every nation around them.
- One Love — because there is one God, there is one object of affection, one object of worship, one object of service.
- One in Three — the Hebrew "echod" means a compound unity, and the plural "Elohim" sits between two singular uses of the covenant name.
- One Foundation — Jesus put this line first, because without it obedience has no spirit in it. Israel's failure never dimmed the truth.
and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart;
The call to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and might comes first. Then comes this verse: His words must live in the heart. The verse raises the question of what God actually wants from His people — a set of religious duties, or an inward hold on His word that then shapes speech, home, and daily life.
The place chosen for these words matters. God puts them at the spring from which everything else in life flows.
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart" — at the very source of all that flows out in life. This is precious. Whatever is in the heart comes out through the lips, and in the life. How important, then, to fill the heart with the word of God — so full that no room is left for the empty, foolish things of this present evil world... When the word of God rules the heart, the whole character shows the blessed result. It must be so, since the heart is the mainspring of our entire moral condition.
The command comes right after the statement that the LORD alone is God. That setting shapes the loyalty He asks for.
The point for the Jew was the one true God. "The LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt" — He was the only God... "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children." They were to tie them on as a sign. They were to make much of them everywhere — outside the house and inside, and at all times... It was to be real loyalty: not merely a teaching held on paper, but something known as a fact.
This book leans very little on ritual. What it asks for can be kept in any circumstance.
It is not a book of ceremony; it is a book of moral and affectionate obedience. In almost every section it teaches one priceless lesson. The heart that loves, values and honours the word of God is ready for every act of obedience — offering a sacrifice, or keeping a day. An Israelite could end up somewhere that made careful attention to rites and ceremonies impossible. But he could never be anywhere that stopped him loving, revering and obeying the word of God.
Since the command reaches the heart, a life that looks right on the surface can still miss it entirely.
An earnest purpose of heart is most precious to God. We may dare to call it the great regulator of our moral life. It gives the Christian character an attractive earnestness that we should all want. It is a divine antidote against coldness, deadness and formality, all of which God hates. The outward life may be very correct, and the beliefs held may be entirely sound. But if the earnest purpose of heart is missing — the affectionate clinging of the whole being to God and His Christ — it is all worthless.
The command comes right after the call to love. One writer treats that order as the condition for everything else.
Verses 4 and 5 are necessary if this is to be fulfilled: you must "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." All that follows completes it. God first, and then His word.
The teaching of children in the next verse depends entirely on this one. A parent hands on only what he already holds.
First, the word taught must be in the parent's own heart. He must own it and love it. No one can teach a truth whose power he has not felt himself. Second, the responsibility is personal, and no one else can carry it: the parent himself must be the teacher. Third, he must be diligent. He must seize every passing opportunity to press God's word on his children's hearts.
The same book looks ahead. God promises to do inside His people what the command asks of them.
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deut. 30:6). This verse looks on to the future... The terms of the New Covenant come to mind here: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts" (Jer. 31:33).
- Heart first. God aims His word at the mainspring of life. What fills the heart comes out through the lips and in the way we live.
- Heart, not ritual. Circumstances can make ceremonies impossible. Nothing can stop you loving and obeying God's word.
- Heart, not veneer. A correct life and sound beliefs are worthless without an earnest purpose of heart.
- Heart, then home. Only a parent who owns and loves the word can pass it on, and no one else can do it for him.
- Heart, given by God. God promises to write on the heart Himself what He first told Israel to keep there.
and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.