The Shema (Deut 6:4–9) is a central theological text
in Deut (See the topic on Shema). The syntax of the verbless sentence is
disputed, but analogy with other uses of “the Lord
our God” in Deut suggests that the traditional syntax should be retained (“The Lord our God, the Lord [is] One”). “One” is not a title or
name of God, but an adjective of quality (DCH,
1:180). The correlation between the two halves of the sentence and the
following verses suggests that this is not so much an abstract monotheism as a
claim to Israel’s total obedience and the exclusion of any other (cf. 5:7). The
immediate context does not suggest that it is directed against polytheism or
different ideas of Yahweh found in local cults (cf. the heterodox portrait of
“Yahweh and his Asherah” at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud). Nor is this idea used to support
the deut. program of the centralization of worship. However, in the broader
context of Deut and the OT it can imply unity, uniqueness, and monotheism.
There is some overlap with the idea of Yahweh “alone” (cf. 2 Kgs 19:19; לְבַּדּוֹ). Israel shares in God’s uniqueness (2 Sam 7:23), and Israel’s
eschatological hope looks to the realization of Yahweh being one and his name
one (Zech 14:9), when all powers that have claimed divinity will be renounced
or absorbed into the one true God.
Source: VanGemeren, W. (Ed.). (1997). New international dictionary of Old Testament theology & exegesis (Vol. 1, p. 350). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
