Shema

Posted Thursday, July 12, 2007 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Old Testament

The Shema is a central passage for the Jews, many of whom still recite it daily even today. But Deuteronomy 6:4 is a very difficult verse to translate, since there are only six words, four of whose relationship to each other is unclear. I preached on this passage recently and thought I would pass along two notes from my study. I did not arrive at these conclusions by myself, but I borrowed them from a JETS article by Dan Block several years ago on the topic. These two different readings than the norm present a fairly different picture of the verses.

First, in verse 4 the last four words are difficult. They are (in English): Yahweh our God Yahweh one. Notice all the verbs. Since there are no verbs, we must supply a verb or two somewhere. Block’s idea, and several others before him, is to translate “one” as an adverb, a translation which does occur elsewhere in the OT. Thus, the verse would read “Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone (or only).” The focus of the verse then changes from the essential nature of God being one to the relationship of Israel to Yahweh: he is their only God. The verse is not a dry theological proposition, but a bold and heartfelt personal statement of loyalty.

Second, the next verse contains three areas in which one is to love God: heart, soul and strength. Block takes them as concentric circles. The heart refers to our inward being. The soul refers to our entire existence. Strength, following the Aramaic Targum, refers not to physical strength, but to financial strength, including our wealth, possessions and household.

Sunday, July 29, 2007 3:00 PM

Jonathan wrote: Good exegesis

Great preperation work, I have heard this verse used so many times to prove the trinity or at least the existence of two persons of the Godhead.

Just curious if their are any other passages that would shed light on this verse in Scripture? Off of the top of my head I couldn't think of any.

Jonathan

Thursday, August 02, 2007 2:09 PM

Charlie wrote: I'm not sure what exactly you mean by your question, so it is a little difficult to answer. On a lexical level, "one" does get used as an adverb on occasion, so that helps my view. On a conceptual level, the shema gets quoted in the NT several times. But one's theory of how the OT is used in the NT will dictate whether that is helpful or not for understanding what it means in Deuteronomy.