![]() ![]() However, that is not at all what the verse is saying, as we will see by examining both the Old Testament and New Testament texts on the subject. The Shema is widely understood by Christians to be about the nature of God and a confirmation of the Trinity and the compound unity of God, i.e., that God is “one,” and therefore He is one God made up of three persons. In this case, Mark gives the full account, and Matthew leaves out the Shema, which is understandable because the account in Matthew is much shorter than the account in Mark. However, it is common that when two or more Gospels recorded an event that they include different details. Most people think that the great commandment is just “Love God,” partly because the record in Matthew 22:37, which is the same event, does not include the Shema statement. The Shema shows us that we do not get to choose who “our God” is, Yahweh alone is God. ![]() Jesus included the Shema in his answer, and by doing so made a very important point: before we say that “Love God” is the first and greatest commandment, we should know who “God” is. Usually when someone asks, “What are the two greatest commandments in the Law?” the answer is “Love God, and love your neighbor.” But Jesus did not answer that way. The first thing we should say about the statement, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!” is that, according to Christ, it was a part of the greatest commandment in the Law. ![]() (In this article, we will sometimes refer to Deuteronomy 6:4 as the Shema). Originally the “Shema” prayer was only Deuteronomy 6:4, but in more modern Judaism it has been expanded to include other sections of the Torah as well. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism. The Hebrew words Shema Yisrael (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל), “Hear, Israel!”) are the first two words of Deuteronomy 6:4, and are the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services (the title “Shema Yisrael” is often shortened to simply “Shema”). Deuteronomy 6:4 is a well-known verse that is most often translated something like this: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,” or “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” However, in this article we will see that these translations are not the best, and can lead to false conclusions. ![]()
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