Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4), known as the Shema, is a foundational teaching of both Judaism and Jesus.
A careful investigation of early sources suggests that Deuteronomy 6:4 must have been the first portion from the Hebrew Bible that Jesus committed to memory. According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 42a), Jewish boys were taught this biblical passage as soon as they could speak. Since the Talmud specifies that “the father must teach him [i.e., the son],” we may confidently assume that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, was responsible for the fulfilling of this task.
This text from the Torah of Moses comprises only six Hebrew words: shema yisrael adonai elohenu adonai ehad. It is important to note that it is located in the book of Deuteronomy, which in Jesus’ day was the most widely circulated and popular book of the Pentateuch.
We know that Deuteronomy carried this broad influence for two main reasons: 1) the New Testament has more quotations from Deuteronomy than from any other book of Moses, and 2) among the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, more separate copies of the scroll of Deuteronomy were found than of any other Mosaic writing.
But the importance of the book of Deuteronomy is not limited to the early childhood of Jesus and others from his period. As an adult, Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry, quotes three times from this book in mustering spiritual support in response to the three temptations of Satan (Mt. 4:1-11).
| To view the remainder of this article, please log in at the top of this page. |
OR
If you are not yet a Premium Content subscriber, please consider this amazing tool for Bible study. Premium Content membership gives you access to hundreds of articles, written by many of the best New Testament scholars in Israel and abroad, which illuminated Jesus' sayings. (Read our free sample articles!)
New articles are continually being added to this database of knowledge. Articles are searchable by keyword, category or scripture reference.