Monday, September 18, 2023

Benjamin Sommer on the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4)

  

Just as the deuteronomic tradition rejects multiplicity of divine embodiment, it also rejects fluidity of divine identity. The deuteronomic view of divine selfhood comes to the fore in the famous proclamation known from the Shema prayer, “Yhwh our God—Yhwh is one!” or “Yhwh our God is one Yhwh” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Why does this verse use the tetragrammaton, a personal name, rather than stating what we might have expected—that there is one God? The answer lies in part in the tendency of ancient Near Eastern deities (including Yhwh, in light of the Kuntillet Arjud inscriptions) to fragment into semi-independent geographic manifestations. Yhwh, we are told, is simply Yhwh. There is no Yhwh or Samaria parallel to the Yhwh of Teman in the way that Isthar of Arbela and Ishtar of Nineveh were separate though parallel beings. Further, even the shem is not multiple (contra Exodus 20.24), for the Book of Deuteronomy mandates that only one temple will exist, in the one place the one God chooses. Thus the shem will not be found in temples throughout the land. So strongly does Deuteronomy’s attitude toward the singularity of the name again exemplifies that the rabbis call a סייג or fence: To protect the unity of God’s self, even the sign pointing to God is not allowed to multiply. In short, the famous line of the Shema prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4 does not so much address God’s number as it explores God’s nature: Yhwh’s self is not fluid.

 

The pattern we noticed in previous chapters, then, continues to be valid: God’s body parallels God’s self. In the deuteronomic tradition, God has a nonfragmentable self, and therefore God has only one body, located exclusively in heaven. Although God is able to perceive what happens throughout the world and can effect His will anywhere, He is located only in one place, and emanations of His presence do not take up residence in pillars, trees, statues, or even temples. The smallest concession is made only to the Jerusalem temple, where the shem is allowed to dwell. Even that concession, however, is no concession at all, for God’s name is not visible. A name is a verbal signifier, not a physical one. (Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009], 67)