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 command 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.
When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus used Verse 5 here as his answer. Verse 5 really summarises the whole of the first four of the Ten commandments, and Jesus then goes on to say that the second greatest is like unto the first- thou shalt love thy Neighbour and thyself (Leviticus 19:18). Interestingly in Judaism these are viewed as being the Two main commandments, with the ten teaching you how to keep them, and the 613 teaching you how to keep the ten.
Hear , O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD Do we truly understand this profound statement? Is this the basis of our Belief? It should be, but is it truly.... and beyond that do we truly understand the full implications of the whole of what the Jews call the Sh'ma? Verses 4-9 here of Deuteronomy 6 really do speak to the full impact that our belief in GOd should have on our lives. Were we truly to understand the full import of these few verses alone we would in our generation see the Kingdom of Heaven. Were we truly to understand what GOd means when He says they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes and bound as a sign on your hand, we would truly understand when we are told in Revelation that the mark of the beast will be in his hand or on his forehead. To digress quickly, many have surmised that the mark of the beast is a microchip or some other physical mark, but given that the Sh'ma here tells us that the Mark of God is that we do all that HE commands us to do surely the mark of the beast would be that He will change God's commandments and issue His own commandments that men will who receive His mark in their hand or the4 foreheads keep??!
Back to the verses. Love for God should so engulf our lives that we talk about Him and His commandments and His words in every situation in our lives. Much as a person in love will talk about their chosen partner as much as they possibly can. This is to be our aim in life that everyone might know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Is this your aim?
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