Two helpful websites for understanding Jewish roots to the Christian faith

       In addition to Ray Vander Laan's website:  http://www.followtherabbi.com/ , I have found Lois Tverberg's website: http://ourrabbijesus.com/ to also be very helpful in explaining the Jewish Roots of the Christian faith.
       Here is a short meditation to give you a hint of things you may discover on this website:

The Shema and the First Commandment

MAY 7, 2012

Years ago I used to scratch my head at Jesus’ response to the question “What is the greatest commandment?” in Mark 12:28. Why does he start with the line “Hear O Israel, the Lord is Your God, the Lord alone” before stating the command: “Love the Lord your God…”?

Why state a fact before giving a command? Why not just give the command?

I talked a little about this in chapter 2 of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, when I discussed how this a quotation of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. These two lines are the beginning of the Shema (“shmah”), the daily prayer of recommitment that has been recited morning and evening for over 2000 years.

Buried in my endnotes was an interesting clue about why Jesus glued these two sentences together. Take a look at how similar they are to the first of the ten commandments:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. (Deuteronomy 5: 6-7)

Both in the Shema and here, there is a statement about God, and then a command to be loyal to him. Jewish scholar Moshe Weinfeld points out the reason why.  The beginning of the Shemais actually a sermon about the first commandment. It’s a reiteration of this central decree that demands utter commitment to God from his people. Notice that the Shema is not very far away in the text, less than a chapter later in Deuteronomy.

Weinfeld points out that in both cases, the two lines should be read together. The first line, the statement about God, provides the motivation for the command to follow. Because God brought you out of the land of slavery, you shall have no other gods before him. In the same way, the Shema declares that becauseyou know God is the one true God, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength.

Hmm…interesting. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, his answer was to quote the Shema, which itself points back to the first commandment. The greatest commandment is the very first!

~~~

Moshe Weinfeld, Anchor Bible Commentary, Deuteronomy 1-11 (New York: Doubleday, 1991) 285-6.

Photo: Glen Edelson