The Shema

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

This is a declaration Moses gave to Israel about 1400 years B.C. and soon before Joshua would lead the Israelites across the Jordan River
into the Promised Land.

4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

5. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6. And these words, which I commanded thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Interestingly, when Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He immediately quoted the Shema.

“Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

(Matthew 22:36-40)

Also interestingly, the four passages written on parchment in the tefilin (phylacteries) are

Exodus 13:1-10; Exodus 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:13-21.

Shalom.

From Jimmy Turner