The “Shema” is a Jewish confession of faith. The complete Shema is found in three OT passages: Num. 15:37-41 (about the tassels, or “tzitzit” on Jewish garments that were to remind them to keep the Law), Deut. 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 (the blessings and consequences of obedience and disobedience to God’s law). The “Mezuzah” (small box on the doorpost containing a small scroll) had the last 2 of the above passages. The “phylacteries” (Tephilim) contained 4 strips of parchment with the same 2 passages as in the Mezuzah plus Ex. 13:1-10 (consecration of the firstborn and Feast of Unleavened bread) and 13:11-16 (the law of the firstborn). These were specific items to be passed on to one’s children.
Deut. 6:4-5 is, of course, a strong confession
of Monotheism. But many have noted an
important distinction between the Monotheism of Judaism and that of Islam. Schaff in his History of the Christian
Church has this on the subject.
Monotheism
is the comer-stone of the system. It is expressed in the ever-repeated
sentence: "There is no god but God (Allâh, i.e., the true, the only
God), and Mohammed is his prophet (or apostle)." (Lâ ilâha ill’ Allâh,
wa Muhammeda rrasúlà ’llâh. Allâh is composed of the article al,
"the," and ilâh, "a god," and is equivalent to the
Hebrew Eli and Elohim. He was known to the Arabs before Mohammed,
and regarded as the chief god in their pantheon.)
Gibbon calls this a "compound of an eternal truth and a necessary
fiction." The first clause certainly is a great and mighty truth borrowed
from the Old Testament (Deut. 6:4); and is the religious strength of the
system. But the Mohammedan (like the later Jewish, the Socinian, and the
Unitarian) monotheism is abstract, monotonous, divested of inner life and
fulness, anti-trinitarian, and so far anti-Christian. One of the last things
which a Mohammedan will admit, is the divinity of Christ. Many of the divine
attributes are vividly apprehended, emphasized and repeated in prayer. But
Allah is a God of infinite power and wisdom, not a God of redeeming love to all
mankind; a despotic sovereign of trembling subjects and slaves, not a loving
Father of trustful children. He is an object of reverence and fear rather than
of love and gratitude. He is the God of fate who has unalterably foreordained
all things evil as well as good; hence unconditional resignation to him (this
is the meaning of Islâm) is true wisdom and piety. He is not a hidden,
unknowable being, but a God who has revealed himself through chosen messengers,
angelic and human. Adam, Noah, Abraham Moses and Jesus are his chief prophets. But Mohammed is the last and the greatest.
Schaff says “Allah” is the equivalent of “El
and Elohim.” The equivalent of “El”
(God, singular) makes sense; but “Elohim” (a plural form) is distinct from the
Muslim view, even to some Jewish Rabbi’s.
While they are not “trinitarian” they still recognize this important
distinction in the OT view of “one God.”
Warren Wiersbe (The Bible Exposition Commentary) had an
interesting observation from a well known Rabbi in the 2nd century
AD:
On the word Elohim, Simeon Ben
Joachi says; “Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim: there are three
degrees, and each degree is by itself alone, and yet they are all one, and joined
together in one, and are not divided from each other” (Zohar. Lev. Sect. 16.
Col 116).
It is true that the Trinitarian doctrine is
based in the NT. However, it is also
true that there is no conflict between the NT and OT. While “Elohim” likely cannot be proof of the
Trinity it easily paves the way for the doctrine when the Son of God becomes
flesh.
Even in such a mysterious subject as the
essential nature of God, we find the Bible to be precise. What a wonderful God who has revealed Himself
in such beauty and holiness.
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