The Sh’ma: A History Lesson

He who is eternal created time…and history. History is the scholarly word for remembering. God gave his human creatures a superior memory for living in the time-dominated environment of his new universe. At the perfect time in human history, God submitted to the constraints of time, space, and change to live among his rebellious people on earth. The Bible reminds us often to remember what our God has done for us (Psalm 103:2; Luke 22:19).

God appreciates history. Every event in history happened so that God’s plan would happen. God wanted his people to remember the events that kept his promise to Adam and Eve viable. Yet, for all of the centuries before Moses, history was conveyed from one generation to the next by word of mouth.

Written history

When the written word was invented, the new technology caused an unprecedented amount of global change. (Sound familiar? Consider what computers have done to the civilized world in modern times.)

With impeccable timing, God chose Moses to write the early history that tells the story of how God’s great promise unfolded over time. When he was done, Moses had produced five books—all historically accurate. All inspired by God.

Genesis.

Exodus.

Leviticus.

Numbers.

Deuteronomy.

The Sh’ma appears in the fifth book—Deuteronomy—chapter six, verses one through nine.

Deuteronomy means law.

One of the dominant themes in the Book of Deuteronomy is that God wants his people to remember his moral law and his promises that give new hope to all lawbreakers who justly deserve to be punished.

The significance at this time

This was also a significant time in the history of the Children of Israel. When Moses first spoke the Sh’ma to God’s people, Israel was camped on the frontier between Moab and the Promised Land. The Israelites had been wandering in the Sinai wilderness for four decades. God made his presence known every single minute of their arduous trek.

Now their journey was over. Soon they would cross the Jordan River to inhabit a country of their own. The people would be dispersed into the countryside. The land would be divvied up. There would be new opportunities to stretch their wings.

But they would also face new challenges to their faith. God instructed Moses to prepare the Israelites for what was coming. He gave Moses the authority of his Yaweh name to reassure the people of his constant presence and grace.

But that same name also reinforced his manifest authority.

One’s reputation—good or bad—is a function of human memory. It is part of the magnificent way in which God wired his human creatures. And God was rightly jealous of his own perfect reputation for keeping his promises (Deuteronomy 4:24). (He still is.) His prophecies were always accurate, and he never failed to keep his promises.

In return for his faithfulness, God wanted his people to glorify his name by obeying his expressed will and daily celebrating his blessings. Some of the people made a conscious decision to do exactly what God wanted
(Joshua 24:15). Others forgot God as they got caught up in their new lives.

Their sin grieved God because, as a result of their unfaithfulness, generations of Israelites abandoned their faith and lost their place in heaven. Those who remained faithful to the Sh’ma’s mandate continued to share their faith daily with the other members of their families (Matthew 19:14). Their zeal for serving the true God with their loving obedience pleased Yaweh.

Though we are separated from the ancient Israelites by three-and-a-half millennia, there are some striking similarities between God’s ancient chosen people and the members of the Christian church in today’s America.

GROUP DISCUSSION

• Make a list of the promises God made to you that he has already kept.
• List some promises that God has made that you are still waiting for him to keep.
• What evidence suggests that many of God’s people have abandoned their faith in our age and have forgotten to celebrate God’s gracious blessings?

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