S3E293 – Deuteronomy 4-6: The Unified One

Transcript Podcast Introduction Today is MONDAY, the day we read from the Law. We’ll read Deuteronomy 4-6  I’m calling today’s episode “The Unified One.“ Design: Steve Webb | Photo: James Kern on Unsplash Comments on Deuteronomy 6 In chapter 6, verses 4 and 5, Moses is telling the children of Israel the great commandment, the one that encompasses all the others. It’s the commandment that Jesus quoted when the Pharisees asked Him which was the greatest of all the commandments.  4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  Since Jesus said that this is the greatest commandment, we should understand it as clearly as possible, don’t you think? We haven’t talked much about the concept of the Trinity on the show. But this verse seems like a good place to spend a few minutes on the subject. Many of you probably have a pretty good grasp on the idea of a triune God, but I know that there are some ls fam members who are fairly new to Christianity, and this is such an important topic that I do want to at least touch on it. This won’t be an in depth word study, but more like a 30,000 foot flyover view. So you might ask, “What about Jesus and the Holy Spirit? They’re Gods, aren’t they?” No. No they are not. And what I mean by that is that they are not *separate* Gods.  And this is where the idea of the Trinity comes in. Orthodox Christianity, or traditional Christianity if you prefer, believes that God is a Trinity, that there are three distinct persons who are together, one God. Not three Gods. One God.  It can be difficult to get your head around, so let’s look at the word that was used in the original language, Hebrew, for the English word “one”. Here in Deuteronomy 6:4, the Hebrew word echad is used. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is echad!” Echad refers to a single item made up of multiple parts, also called a “unified one.”  Are there other places in the Bible that the word echad is used? Yep. Let’s look at a few. The first time we see echad is Genesis 1:5: The Young’s Literal translation says: “…and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day one.” It was one day, with two parts: evening and morning. Echad day. Genesis 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Echad flesh In Exodus 26:6 “6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle.” Obviously, the Tabernacle was made up of many parts, but here it is called one tabernacle. Echad tabernacle. Listen to Ezekiel 37:15-17: “15Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16“As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.” Two sticks become echad. So the idea of three persons in echad God is not foreign to Scripture.  There is a Hebrew word for a single item made up of one alone: yachid. This word is used in connection to one God exactly zero times in the Old Testament. Nowhere does the Bible say that the one God is a single entity. He is always referred to as echad God. Here are some examples of yachid from the Bible: * “He said, “Take now your son, your only [yachid] son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ” Genesis 22:2 * “Now she was Jephthah’s one and only [yachid] child; besides her he had no son or daughter.” Judges 11:34 * “they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son [yachid]” Zechariah 12:10 So again, verse 4 says, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”  In the phrase, “The LORD our God”, the Hebrew word for God here is Elohim. Elohim is a plural word. El is singular, Elohim is plural.   In Genesis 1:26 we read, “Then God (Elohim) said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” Let Us. Our image. Our likeness. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were all present at the creation, as One God.  At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven like a dove, and the Father spoke, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” All three persons of the triune God were present at the baptism: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have so many verses that teach us that God is One, and in Him are three distinct persons. There are those who misunderstand or who do not want to understand this concept, but it is important for believers to at least trust that this is true, by faith.  I hope you have found this to be interesting, if not enlightening.  Today’s Bible Translation Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 4 CEB; Ch. 5 NIRV; Ch. 6 NKJV Support This a value for value podcast. There are no advertisers because advertising=censorship. If you enjoy the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, decide how much value it brings to you. Only you can make that determination. Then put a number on the value and send it to me here: SUPPORT. Transcript Download .txt file. STEVE WEBB – 0:00The Lord our God, the Lord is one. INTRO S12E299 – 0:10Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Today’s Monday, the day we read from the Law. We’ll read Deuteronomy 4 through 6. I’ll have some comments after we read. We’ll have an On This Date in Church History, and we’ll have a time of prayer. I’m calling today’s episode, “The Unified One”. The show notes page for today’s episode is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e299. I welcome your comments. And my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Let’s begin. DEUTERONOMY 4 (CEB) – 0:52Deuteronomy, chapter 4. (1) Now, Israel, in light of all that, listen to the regulations and the case laws that I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the LORD, your ancestors’ God, is giving you. (2) Don’t add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don’t take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the LORD your God that I am commanding all of you. (3) You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did concerning the Baal of Peor. The LORD your God destroyed everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, (4) but all of you who stayed true to the LORD your God are alive today. (5) So pay attention! I am teaching all of you the regulations and the case laws exactly as the LORD my God commanded me. You must do these in the land you are entering to possess. (6) Keep them faithfully because that will show your wisdom and insight to the nations who will hear about all these regulations. They will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and insightful people!” (7) After all, is there any great nation that has gods as close to it as the LORD our God is close to us whenever we call to him? (8) Or does any great nation have regulations and case laws as righteous as all this Instruction that I am setting before you today? (9) But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things your eyes saw and so they never leave your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. (10) Remember that day when you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me: “Gather the people to me. I will declare my words to them so that they will learn to fear me every day of their lives on the fertile land, and teach their children to do the same.” (11) Then you all came close and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was blazing with fire up to the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick smoke! (12) The LORD spoke to you out of the very fire itself. You heard the sound of words, but you didn’t see any form. There was only a voice. (13) The LORD declared his covenant to you, which he commanded you to do—the Ten Commandments—and wrote them on two stone tablets. (14) At that time, the LORD commanded me to teach you all the regulations and the case laws that you must keep in the land that you are entering to possess. (15) So watch your conduct closely, because you didn’t see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the very fire itself. (16) Don’t ruin everything and make an idol for yourself: a form of any image, any likeness—male or female— (17) or any likeness whatsoever, whether of a land animal, a bird that flies in the sky, (18) an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea. (19) Don’t look to the skies, to the sun or the moon or the stars, all the heavenly bodies, and be led astray, worshipping and serving them. The LORD your God has granted these things to all the nations who live under heaven. (20) But the LORD took you and brought you out of that iron furnace, out of Egypt, so that you might be his own treasured people, which is what you are right now. (21) The LORD was angry with me because of your deeds and swore that I couldn’t cross the Jordan River or enter the wonderful land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. (22) I will die here in this land. I won’t cross the Jordan River. But you will, and you will take possession of that wonderful land. (23) So all of you, watch yourselves! Don’t forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you by making an idol or an image of any kind or anything the LORD your God forbids, (24) because the LORD your God is an all-consuming fire. He is a passionate God. ...