Question: What is the Shema?
Answer: The Shema refers to a couple of lines from Deuteronomy (6:4-5) that became the daily prayer in ancient Israel. It is the equivalent of the Lord’s prayer ("Our Father in heaven…") in Christian tradition. The Shema gets its name from the first Hebrew word of the prayer.
- Hear O Israel, Yahuwah our God, Yahuwah is one. And thou shalt love Yahuwah thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
The Shema became a twice-daily prayer within Judaism. It was widely practiced. Yahushua was once asked which commandment in the Torah was the greatest. He quoted the Shema:
- "The first of all the commandments is, ‘Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)
How important the Shema was for Israelites is revealed from the following words in Deuteronomy 6:
- And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 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. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
We should:
1) bind them for a sign upon our hand
2) they shall be as frontlets between our eyes
3) write them upon the posts of our house and on our gates
4) teach them diligently unto our children
5) talk about them everywhere
6) have them in our hearts
If we neglect to do this, it is possible that we will receive the mark of the beast in our right hand or in our forehead as it is written:
- And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:15-17)
Conclusion:
We have to remember this most important commandment daily, that Yahuwah our God, Yahuwah is one. The "trinity" can be found nowhere in Scripture.
LORD = Yahuwah (H3068); Yahuwah = the proper name of the one true God
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3068&t=KJV