The Sh’ma: Why don’t I know what this is?

Let’s agree, the word sounds a little…bizarre. Sh’ma. It doesn’t help either, that orthodox Jews continue the tradition of strapping small, leather boxes on their foreheads and forearms to honor the Sh’ma.

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(The boxes contain texts from the Torah, the Jewish Old Testament.) But as a fashion statement, they can look a little creepy. The thing is, the Sh’ma is not creepy, nor is it a fashion statement. It is a serious Hebrew concept. So why don’t we know more about it? Let’s dig in to it’s significance for living in the twenty-first century.

Sh’ma (or shema) means hear–and–obey.

Two separate actions, one word. The Hebrew expression was used in both religious and non-religious contexts. In its religious context, the word has the force of a powerful mandate that resonates throughout the pages of God’s Word. Like all of the Bible’s commands, for believers, obedience to this mandate is driven by a special kind of love. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus quotes the Sh’ma of Deuteronomy 6, calling it the greatest of the commandments:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.”

If you listen to the Old Testament Sh’ma closely, you will hear an echo of the Savior’s New Testament Great Commission to make disciples:

“… Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

Jesus probably knew the Sh’ma by heart. He may have recited it daily. The language of his ministry work reflected the thoughts and attitudes of the Sh’ma (Matthew 7:24-27; Matthew 19:14). The Sh’ma was intended to have as much clout for New-Testament believers as it had when God first dictated these words to Moses some 1,500 years earlier. In fact, it is safe to assume the Sh’ma was meant for all times and all people. Without it, the light of God’s kingdom is lost and future generations will never know about their sin or their Savior.

Unfamiliar

To be clear, the Great Sh’ma is not the Bible’s primary message. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Even today, God uses the hear-and-obey power of the Sh’ma to emphatically remind his people to stay attached to his saving Word. For Christians living in the twenty-first century, this raises a serious question:

If the Sh’ma’s message is so important, why do these nine verses barely ring a bell for most Christians?

Is it because the Sh’ma is so rarely preached, taught, sung about in hymns, or spoken in prayers? Is its message less significant for New Testament believers than it was for God’s people in the Old Testament?

As you read the nine verses below, ask yourself:

• Have I ever heard these words before?
• Have I memorized them?
• How do people hearing these words in today’s cultural climate receive them?
• Will they eagerly take them to heart and apply them to their lives?
• More importantly, how will I receive them?

Take note of what you are thinking as you read.

The Great Sh’ma

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me (Moses) to teach you (the Children of Israel) to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. ⁷ Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

DEUTERONOMY 6: 1-9

Group Discussion

• Have you ever heard elements of the Sh’ma taught in other places in Scripture? If so, where?
• Does the fact that the Sh’ma has its origin in Old Testament times and was, therefore, a key part of the ancient Hebrew culture affect your views about this portion of God’s Word?
• Why does it matter that many Christians are not familiar with the Sh’ma? Explain.