The Shema Given

Moses declares the Shema — 'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one' — commanding Israel to love God with all their heart, soul, and strength, and to teach these words diligently to their children.

The Shema becomes the central confession of Jewish faith, recited daily. Jesus identifies it as the greatest commandment.

Key Verses

Background

In the final weeks before Israel crossed the Jordan into Canaan, Moses gathered the nation on the plains of Moab for an extended covenant renewal address — what we know today as the book of Deuteronomy. The context was urgent: an entire generation had grown up in the wilderness, knowing the stories of Sinai and the Exodus largely through oral tradition rather than direct experience. They were about to enter a land saturated with Canaanite religion — polytheistic, syncretistic, deeply entwined with agricultural fertility and civic life. The central challenge they would face was not military but theological: would they remain exclusively committed to YHWH, or would they absorb the religious culture of their new environment? Moses' answer to this challenge was the Shema.

The Event

In Deuteronomy 6:4, Moses issued what would become the most consequential theological declaration in Jewish history: "Listen (shema), Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." The Hebrew word echad (one) asserts both YHWH's uniqueness — He alone is God — and the undivided wholeness of His divine nature. This confession of divine unity is immediately followed by the great commandment: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5). The command is totalizing — engaging every dimension of human personhood in devotion to God. Moses then gave Israel a comprehensive educational program for transmitting this commitment across generations: the words were to be kept on the heart, repeated to children in every context of daily life — sitting, walking, lying down, rising up — bound on the body, and inscribed on doorposts and gates (Deuteronomy 6:6–9). The purpose was not mere religious instruction but the formation of a community whose entire life was oriented around the exclusive love of YHWH.

Theological Significance

The Shema became the constitutive confession of Jewish identity, recited twice daily in the morning and evening liturgy since at least Second Temple times. Its centrality was confirmed by Jesus Himself when asked to identify the greatest commandment: He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4–5 without hesitation — "The most important is: 'Listen, Israel — the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength'" (Mark 12:29–30) — adding "and with all your mind" as a fourth dimension of the human person. Jesus' citation affirms that the Shema remains foundational to the ethics and spirituality of the New Covenant. The Shema's monotheism also provides the theological bedrock on which Paul builds his understanding of idolatry and Christian identity (1 Corinthians 8:4–6), and its language permeates New Testament discussions of love for God (Romans 8:28; 1 John 4:19). For the Christian tradition, the Shema raises the theological question that the New Testament answers in Trinitarian terms: how is the "one" God related to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?