“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This verse is known as the Shema, because it starts out “Hear” which in Hebrew is shema. What is so important about the Shema is that it is a proclamation of the uniqueness of the God of Israel. In the cultural context of Deuteronomy and of Israel’s history in Canaan, this stood in stark contrast to the polytheism that permeated the world. And idol worship was nothing new in Moses’ time. Even Abraham came out of an idolatrous culture. It was out of that idolatry that the one true God called Abraham and made a covenant with him. Abraham and his descendants in stark contrast to the surrounding cultures worshiped this one God. This God was not like the idols of Abraham’s family and culture. He is invisible, having no image or temple. Yet He speaks. He is the living God, not an idol of wood or stone.
This was the background to God’s disclosure of Himself to Moses before sending him back to Egypt. “Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God… God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you.”’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation’” (Exodus 3:6, 14-15 emphasis added). Man-made idols and gods are given names by those who worship them. Yet, God has told us what His name is—Yahweh.
In the New Testament, Paul writes something similar to the Shema (understand, however, that his intent in this passage is not to write the “Christian” Shema). “So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). It may appear that Paul is being relativistic, saying that only for Christians there is “one God and one Lord”. This is not the case. He is acknowledging that in the Greco-Roman culture, many gods were worshiped. Nonetheless, he calls them “nothing at all” because “there is no God but one.” This reference also brings up the Trinity. If there is one God, the how can the Father, Christ, and Spirit all be God? That shall be the topic of the next posting, which also brings us into a discussion about the nature of the one true God.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary
Psalm 96:1-6
