[Yekcidmij]

Originally Posted by Traveler

In Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 the ancient Hebrew word from which the English word “one” is translated is “ehad”. This word has two possible understandings. One meaning is a united plural meaning. An example of ehad as a plural united meaning is being “one” in marriage.

The singular meaning of ehad is that of complete singular uniqueness even in expression without divisions. This singularity is in complete opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity and the divisions of G-d into persons of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. If ehad is to be understood in singular context and not a plural multiple context, then there is no Father, Son and Holy Ghost. If G-d was singular but having distinguishable and different addressable understandings such as Father, Son and Holy Ghost the correct Hebrew term would be ‘Yhead”.

If you are a Christian and believe Jesus is the Son of G-d then you only have one option in reality with the oneness of G-d expressed in scripture. That is to believe that Jesus and the Father are one in the same way that a husband and wife are one in marriage. This is the same as the ancient covenant of citizens of a Kingdom. That is that the Suzerain and his Vassal heir are one.

The uniqueness is in the entire structure of the Kingdom and all apointed and lawful representivies within that structure. Rejecting even the lowest citizen of such a Kingdom was considered a rejection of the very King. The oneness is in reference to everything associated or under the direction of that G-d.

The Traveler

I realize what "one" means. Clearly in the context of Deuteronomy it is talking about devotion and worship of one, unique God. It has nothing to do with analyzing the inner being of God. It has nothing to do with believing or denying that other deities exist or don't exist. It has nothing to do with Trinitarian theology and nothing to do with unity within a Godhead. Those are not the purposes of the author. If you understand Deuteronomy 6:4 as refering to devotion and worship of this rather unique God, then it flows right along with the surrounding context.

Deuteronomy 4:15 is where it starts and it goes through chapter 11-ish. I won't post all of it (it's entirely too much) but I will highlight some things surrounding the passage in question, all of it should be read though:

4:15 Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 4:16 I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 4:18 anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. 4:19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. 4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today. 4:21 But the Lord became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he 36 is about to give you. 4:22 So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that good land. 4:23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he has forbidden you. 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God.

4:25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. 4:27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. 4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 4:31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it. 4:33 Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it? 4:34 Or has God ever before tried to deliver a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, signs, wonders, war, strength, power, and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 4:35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God – there is no other besides him. 4:36 From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. 4:37 Moreover, because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power 4:38 to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. 4:39 Today realize and carefully consider that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below – there is no other! 4:40 Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as a permanent possession.

In chapter 4 Moses is reminding people of what God had done for them, and he is imploring them to obey and worship God and God alone. Don't worship the stars like your neighbors. What other god has dared invade a land other than his own? What other god speaks out of a fire? Remember the covenant he made with us! Remember Egypt! Follow God and God alone. Don't go after the gods of the land we are about to go into. That's what Moses is trying to tell the people.

Moses continues this in chapter 5:

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! 5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 5:3 He did not make this covenant with our ancestors but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now. 5:4 The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire.

5:32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! 5:33 Walk just as he has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are going to possess.

Moses is imploring the people to covenant obedience. They hold up their end of the covenant because God has been gracious enough, not only to enter into a covenant with them, but He has held up to His end of the deal. "Listen Israel" (Shema Yisrael!), "remember what God did for you".

And the immediate context of Deut 6:4:

6:1 Now these are the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed 6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.


6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 6:5 You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.


6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm and fasten them as symbols on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates.


6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill, 6:12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. 6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name. 6:14 You must not go after other gods, those of the surrounding peoples, 6:15 for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land.


6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 6:17 Keep his commandments very carefully, as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.


6:20 When your children ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. 6:22 And he brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family before our very eyes. 6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors. 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day. 6:25 We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments before the Lord our God, just as he demands.”

The correct meaning of Deut 6:4 has nothing to do with analyzing the inner being of God. Trinitarian theology or unity within the godhead are the farthest things from Moses mind. Moses is doing all he can to just get the people to obey God and serve Him only. The dangers of going into Canaan and settling/conquering the lands of other peoples were going to be theological as well as physical. The Canaanites had their own gods of their own lands and one of the many hazards of living in the area was going to be the temptation to worship these other tribal/national deities and to forget about the God who rescued them from Egypt and entered into a covenant relationship with them. Moses had been leading the people long enough and knew the tendency of the people was to grumble against God, question God, and forget God. Heck, Moses had no sooner gone up Sinai than the people made a golden calf to worship. They must remeber God, serve Him, trust Him, and obey Him, and nothing else:

Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, He is One!
You must love the LORD your God with all your mind, soul and strengeth.


Moses picks keeps on trucking with this theme through Deuteronomy 11 that Israel should worship, follow, trust and obey God alone. Jesus even repeats Deut 6:5 as the greatest commandment.

Deut 6:4 doesn't have anything to do with Trinitarianism, nothing to do with the existence or non-existence of other deities, and northing to do with a united godhead. It has everything to do with covenant love and faithfulness on the part of Israel to God because God lives up to His end of the covenant.