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Deuteronomy 6: 4-8

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Deuteronomy 6: 4-8 is arguably the most important verses in the Bible because it’s telling us how to worship God. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses knows that he is going to die soon, not getting to enter the land that the Lord promised to the Israelites. So he gathers the people around and begins to tell them the story of God and all that he has done for the Israelites. He reminds them of Egypt, and how when the Israelites cried out to him God came and saved them. And he reminds them of how they had sinned against the Lord. He recounts their travels in the wild’s after their defeat at the hands of the Amorites and tells them how the Lord was with them. Finally he comes to what is referred to as the Shema in Deuteronomy 6. These verses are called the Shema because of how they start off with the word “Hear”. Shema is the Hebrew word …show more content…

It tells us, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (v 4). The Hebrews use the name Elohim as God’s name during this verse, which means “three in one”. This references what the Christians call the Holy Trinity, or the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even though these three are separate beings they are all one God, each with their own parts to play. God is telling us that their is only one God and that is him. He is the only one that we are supposed to worship and praise. Many times throughout history the Israelites turned from this rule and were punished for it. God is a God who loves us and wants us to love him like he loves us. Adam Clarke in his commentary wrote, “On this verse the Jews lay great stress; it is one of the four passages which they write on their phylacteries, and they write the last letter in the first and last words very large, for the purpose of exciting attention to the weighty truth it contains.” (Clarke’s Commentary Volume 1, 754). This “weighty truth” is the truth that God is the only God that there is, and we shouldn’t have any others before

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