“Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad
[Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one];
-Deuteronomy 6:4
From today we’re going to be studying the central tenet that undergirds our faith.
Of course, I’m talking about the SHEMA which affirms that the Lord our God, the one we worship is just ONE God.
The first thing you need to know is the proper meaning of the word SHEMA.
Although usually translated into the word “hear”, SHEMA does not mean to just kick back and passively listen to something.
SHEMA means to listen and then take ACTION on what you have heard.
It means to listen to God’s instructions and then do them.
Let’s next try to understand what “YHWH is our God, YHWH is one” means.
Over the centuries, the Rabbis have had different opinions concerning the true meaning of this statement which affirms the nature and oneness of God.
Here are some takes on the SHEMA that have been proffered up over the years.
-The SHEMA is making clear the revolutionary notion there is but only ONE God in all existence.
-The SHEMA is speaking of God’s self-unity. In other words, the God of Israel does not share His glory (KAVOD) with any other being whether man, angel, or anything in between. And He does not divide Himself and associate Himself with other nations and their shrines and temples. He is dedicated to Israel ALONE!
-The SHEMA is a statement expressing the unique relationship Israel has to their God. In other words, though there may be other gods in existence, Israel is not to pay heed to them. Israel’s God is to be ADONAI alone.
So…what are we to make of all these different “opinions”?
I mean which viewpoint is right?
Or are they all right?
Well, right here I believe I have just demonstrated the weakness of “Literary Criticism“.
This is an academic discipline that attempts to break down and analyze every sentence in Scripture from a “scientific” perspective.
And that’s the problem.
Because during this analytical process, faith and spirituality tend to be tossed aside.
The statement “ADONAI is our God, ADONAI is one“ is expressing a universal spiritual reality that even a million different human expressions wouldn’t be able to accurately capture.
Let me give you an example to show you what I mean.
Let’s say for instance, you have ten non-Japanese people who came to Japan to live and work for a year and then when they each returned to their respective home countries they were asked “So how was Japan?“
You’d get a variety of different answers.
“The food was great”.
“I loved the public transportation.
It was confusing and crowded sometimes…
…but always on time!”
“The technology and all of the…
…different types of electronic devices…
…were just staggering.”
Now let me ask you this.
Are the above statements true?
From the perspective of those who gave their answers, yes those statements are true.
However, does each of the above statements in isolation encompass everything that Japan is about?
Absolutely NOT…
…and that’s the problem with literary criticism.
This “academic discipline” leaves little room for a variety of multifaceted perspectives.
The truth is Japan is all of the above statements and so much more depending on the person.
And a million times over, the same reasoning can be applied to the nature and oneness of HASHEM!
To analyze the nature of God and attempt to simplify it into one doctrine or characteristic just ain’t gonna fly.
We are finite beings limited to a four-dimensional physical world.
To think that our minds can even begin to grasp the vast spiritual reality of God’s Nature and Oneness is madness beyond the pale.
Now after having said all of that, I believe there are some points where Scripture permits us to be be dogmatic as follows:
-The God of Israel is the only god that exists
-The God of Israel is the only object of worship permitted for His believers
-The God of Israel is a complete unity. There are NOT various pieces of Him and HE CANNOT BE SEPARATED INTO “PERSONS”.
-God’s formal name is YHVH or יהוה.
-The SHEMA is NOT for gentiles. This affirmation about God’s being and nature was directed to ONLY Israel (of course this includes those who have been grafted into Israel).
To conclude, there is a lot of theological dynamite packed into the SHEMA that our limited human minds will never be able to grasp fully no matter how hard we try.
When attempting to understand God, I believe an open heart and humbleness should be the rule rather than the exception.
Oh before I close, there’s one last thought I wanted to share.
Notice that the central statement about the nature of HASHEM is comprised of only four words in Hebrew:
Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad
Now also notice that God’s personal name YHWH is only comprised of four letters!
I don’t think this is coincidental.
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