When you read your Bible, you will regularly see applications of Deut. 6:4-5. It is fundamental truth. Related to the “unity of God” are the many passages dealing with idolatry. Thus, a study of this topic involves the entirety of Scripture. That’s a bit much for this blog. But I would like to comment on a few passages that have recently caught my attention.
·
First, Deut. 6:4-5 in Judaism is called “the
Shema,” which is the first word in the passage, “hear.” It is regularly repeated by serious Jews.
·
Deut. 6:4-5 was not the first place this theme
was expressed, of course.
o
It is all over Gen. 1-2, the story of Creation,
where there is only one Creator.
o
It is the reason for the first 2 of the Ten
Commandments (Ex. 20:3-4, repeated in Deut. 5:6-21). The first says Israel is to have no other gods
“before” me, meaning besides me, over me, against me, etc. The second calls for no graven images, the
reason being God is a jealous God. The
image cannot be one of the one and only God because He is invisible, spirit,
unseen. “Images” would look like
something, and all things are created by the one God. So to use an image in worship, whatever the
image looks like and whatever the role it has in the religious worship, it is
idolatry.
o
The unity of God is mentioned earlier in
Deuteronomy (4:35) and again in “the Song of Moses” (32:39).
o Deut. 6:8-9 calls the people to bind this truth on your hands and before your eyes, and to put it on your doorposts. It is quite likely that Moses meant this in a symbolic way. But Jews took it literally. Thus came the tefillin (or phylacteries; leather boxes with straps containing scrolls with verses from the Torah, bound to the arm and head) and the mezuzah (box affixed to the doorpost, inside which is the Shema; Jews touch it as they come and go). Here is a rather lengthy quote on these practices, indicating the potential of the practice itself to involve idolatrous ritual.
It is probable that Moses
used the phraseology in De 6:7 merely in a figurative way, to signify
assiduous, earnest, and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the
metaphorical language in De 6:8 to be taken in the same sense also.
But as the Israelites
interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a reference was made to a
superstitious custom borrowed from the Egyptians, who wore jewels and
ornamental trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with certain words and
sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger. These, it has been conjectured,
Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the
Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the Tephilim, or frontlets, a permanent
obligation. The form was as follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the
first with Ex 13:2–10; the second with Ex 13:11–16; the third with De 6:1–8;
and the fourth with De 11:18–21, were enclosed in a square case or box of tough
skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin), and bound round the forehead
with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the arms, those four texts were
written on one slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully
prepared for the purpose.
With regard to the other
usage supposed to be alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had the lintels and
imposts of their doors and gates inscribed with sentences indicative of a
favorable omen [Wilkinson]; and
this is still the case, for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries, the front
doors of houses (in Cairo, for instance) are painted red, white, and green,
bearing conspicuously inscribed upon them such sentences from the Koran, as
“God is the Creator,” “God is one, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
Moses
designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a better account and
ordered that, instead of the former superstitious inscriptions, there should be
written the words of God, persuading and enjoining the people to hold the laws
in perpetual remembrance. (From Jemieson, Fausset and Brown
on Dt. 6:1-9.)
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