We’re in our final week of this series, studying the Shema. We’ve looked at six key words in this important ancient Jewish prayer. The Shema is a prayer of allegiance. If you were Jewish, you knew this from childhood. Faithful Jewish believers would recite it twice a day.
Today we look at the sixth and final word, the word “strength.” In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, the word is “me’od.” What does that word mean? What does it mean to love God that way?
Let’s set the stage with the historical context. Deuteronomy is the final message of Moses to the people of Israel. They are about to enter the promised land, to set up homes, a society, a community in this new land. Moses wants to give them both information and motivation to convey how to live in this land, and what it would look like for them to succeed. His message was: God should be everything to you. He should impact every part of your life.
Maybe you’re a Christian. Or maybe you haven’t yet made a commitment to follow Jesus. Either way, we want you to understand that this prayer is not about being a religious person. It’s not just about the spiritual part of your life. It’s about your WHOLE life, your everything. As we talk today, I want you to ask: “Does God impact every part of my life?” Or do I just go to church, give God one hour of my week? So may people who claim to be Christians habitually separate their spiritual life from the rest of life. Their relationships, emotions, finances, family, marriage are lived out separately from their relationship with God. Moses is calling Israel to a life greater than that.
When you first read, “Love God with all your strength”, some of you might think of physical power, like the person you know who lifts weights. That’s not what this word is about. This is a word used to modify another word. When combined with another word, it gives the idea of “muchness.” We can see that in the biblical account of creation.
The word “very” is our word “me’od.” On the first five days of creation, God said, “It was good.” The sun was good. The birds were good. And all the rest. But not until the sixth day, when God was done, did he say it was “me’od” good. It was VERY good. There was “much” goodness in what God had made.
Now let’s look at the story of Cain and Abel. They were brothers, sons of Adam and Eve. They both brought offerings for God.
Again, “me’od” is translated “very”, in this case, “very angry”. That’s the same word “strength” in Deuteronomy 6.
Let me show you one more.
“Me’od” here refers to the “muchness” of Jacob’s wealth. He had a lot. The point is that this word in Deuteronomy 6 doesn’t mean “strong” in the way we typically think about that. So let’s explore what it does mean.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, but in ancient times, it was translated into other languages. This gives us some insight into how people understood those words. We’re going to look at two examples that date from before the time of Christ. One is the Greek Old Testament, and the other is the Aramaic version.
Greek-speaking scholars translated the...
