שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד׃
There is one small difference between the Shema (Devarim/Deuteronomy 6:4) as I have typed it above and as it appears in most printed Bibles, but the difference does have significance. In most printed editions, the last letter of the first word and the last letter of the last word are printed in a larger font size, like this:
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."
This "One" has to be put in historical context. Judaism is classified by scholars of comparative religion as "ethical monotheism." We see the ethical part in the Ten Commandments. The neighboring countries of ancient Israel had many gods. Was Judaism the first monotheism? Not quite.
Pharaoh Akhenaton (the alternative spelling "Aknenaten" is due to Wallis Budge's convention of putting in an "e" wherever the correct vowel quality was unknown) was history's first monotheist. He replaced Egypt's huge pantheon with a single god, the disk of the sun, which he called "Aton." When he promulgated this revolution, he also changed his personal name (as opposed to throne-name) from "Akhenamun" to "Akhenaton." Unfortunately foe Akhenaton, his monotheistic revolution put a lot of priests and temples out of business, and so was highly resented by the priestly establishment. In time there was a counter-revolution, which seems to have put Akhenaton out of business. His son, Tutankhamun, became Pharaoh, and was probably murdered at the age of eighteen.
The Egyptian monotheism of Akhenaton had a symbol, the disk of the sun with many rays, each terminating in a hand holding the "Ankh" (Life) sign. The monotheism of Moses (מֹשֶה, Moshe) used no such symbol for its deity, and did not allow graven images.
This Moshe had an Egyptian name. In names such as "Tutmose" (Son of Thoth), the "-mose" means "son." But Moshe was the son of One who could not be named, or pictured. This Moshe doubted that the Israelites would listen to him, because he "spoke with uncircumcised lips," so Aaron spoke for him. This Moshe was Egyptian.
"Shema" is an imperative. This is what we are to do: "hear, listen."
"יהוה" is the tetragrammaton, the Name, too holy to be spoken except by the High Priest in the holy-of-holies, once per year. In place of that Name, we customarily say, "Adonai," usually translated as "Lord."
But this "Adonai" is an odd-looking word. If it is taken to mean "my Lord," then it should be in the form "Adoni," and it appears as such in many biblical names (e.g. Adoniram, "my Lord has exalted"). Some may explain it as an "honorific plural," as Elohim supposedly is for El, but I am not convinced. My own theory is that it is Egyptian for "my Aton," originally referring to the disk of the sun, and having come to mean "my Lord." This confusion of vowel quality fits well the hieroglyphic sign that looks like a vertical feather, transliterated as "a," "i," or "ai." "Adon" in Hebrew means "master," "Lord," or "sir." "My adon" in Hebrew is "adoni," not "adonai."
"Eloheynu" means "our God."
"echad" means "One," which in this context is the key word.
The remaining verses through verse 9, we are told to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength, to keep the words of the Shema in our heart, to teach them diligently to our children, to speak of them when we sit, when we walk, and when we lie down, and when we rise up. We are also told to bind them for a sign upon our hand, have them as frontlets between our eyes, and to write them on the door-posts and gates of our houses (which is why there are tefillin and mezuzahs).
What other words of the Tanakh have been stressed to such an extent? I cannot think of any.
Copyright © MMXXII by Donald C. Traxler aka Yablom.
