The Lord is One
“Hear O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Dt.
6:4
This famous verse is known as the Shema. The word shema means, “hear.” The prayer of the Shema begins with, “Hear,
O Israel! The LORD our God, the LORD is
one!” According to the Mishnah, which is a written
compilation of the Oral Torah (Mishnah means “that which is repeated”), this
verse was prayed first to receive the kingdom of heaven, before receiving the
yoke of the commandments. There was a
close connection for the Israelites between their concept of God and the
kingdom of heaven (malchut shamayim).
Thus, when praying the Shema, the Hebrew people were praying to the
“LORD our God, the LORD (who is) one,” and receiving the kingdom of heaven into
their lives. The kingdom was not a
distant and passive concept to the Israelites; rather it was present and
active! The kingdom had power! It made sense to the Jewish people to receive
the kingdom first – with all its power and activity – before receiving the yoke
of the commandments. Having communicated
that, now we can read Matthew 6:33 in a whole new light: “But seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you.”
It is very interesting that in
this verse the author is declaring that the God (Elohim) of Israel is one
(echad). Elohim is the plural form of
God – denoting the Godhead. To followers
of Jesus, this is significant. The
Godhead consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This God is one. He is God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is our God.
No comments:
Post a Comment