Alan Gross
Well-Known Member
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ יְיָ אֶחָד
Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
"Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."
(If I may; I just ran across this.)
Looks like it will make a WONDERFUL DEVOTION!!
"The Shema prayer is one of the most famous prayers in the Bible.
It was a daily prayer for ancient Israelites
and is still recited by Jewish people today.
"We first find this prayer in the book of Deuteronomy.
"Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
And as for you, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength."
Deuteronomy 6:4-5;
"The Shema gets its name from the first Hebrew word of the prayer
—”hear” or “listen”, a translation of the Hebrew word shema.
"Ancient Jewish people combined lines from Deuteronomy 6:4-5
and prayed these words every morning and every evening.
"This prayer has been one of the most influential traditions in Jewish history,
functioning both as the Jewish pledge of allegiance and a hymn of praise...."
Meaning of the Shema Prayer.
"The opening line, “Hear, O Israel,” does not simply mean
to let sound waves enter your ears.
"Here, the word shema means to allow the words to sink in,
provide understanding, and generate a response—it’s about action.
"In Hebrew, hearing and doing are the same thing.
"The next instruction in the prayer is to love the Lord your God.
"What we translate into English as “love” here is the Hebrew word ahavah.
"Ahavah is not about the warm, fuzzy, emotional energy
we feel when we like someone.
"Much like listening, biblical love is about action.
"You ahavah someone when you act in loyalty and faithfulness.
"For Israel, loving means faithful obedience
to the terms of their covenant relationship with Yahweh.
"Those terms are the laws and commands
that will make up the body of the book (Deut. 12-26)
"Obedience to these laws is not about legalism
or trying to earn God’s favor—it’s about love and active listening.
"If an Israelite loves God, they can more easily listen
and respond to his teachings and guidance.
"This is why the words “listen” and “love” are so tightly connected
and repeated through these opening speeches of Deuteronomy.
"This prayer is about listening to and loving God.
"But the prayer continues,
“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
"In other words, the people are to love God with all of their beings.
"Their knowledge, their existence, everything that they are
is to love God with action, obedience, and covenant faithfulness.
"It’s a beautiful prayer, but why did it become so important
for the ancient Israelites and Jewish people?
"The words of this prayer take on an even deeper meaning
when we look at the context of the ancient Israelites
and see how countercultural it was for them
to serve one God above all else."