Deuteronomy 6:4: שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד. Three constructions are possible:
a. Yahweh our God is one Yahweh. Thus
already in the LXX (= Mark 12:29), only that instead of “Yahweh” it is said אדני = κύριος: κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστί. ‖ Also Tg. Onk. belongs here: יְיָ אֱלָהַנָא יְיָ חָד. ‖ Surely this construction is based on
the following passages. Babylonian Talmud Ḥagigah 3A: (R. Eleazar b. Azariah
[ca. 100]) publicly stated, “Today you have chosen Yahweh, and Yahweh has
chosen you today” (Deut 26:17 according to Tg. Yer. I). God said to Israel,
“You have made me the only one chosen in the world; see ‘Hear, Israel, Yahweh
our God is the only Yahweh.’ And I will make you the only one chosen in the
world; see ‘With whom can your people, Israel, be compared? The only people on
earth that God went to buy as a people’ (1 Chr 17:21).”—The same was
anonymously said in b. Ber. 6A. ‖ Deuteronomy Rabbah 2 (199B): God opened all
(seven) heavens before the Israelites (at Sinai) to make them realize that
there is no other God but him. Then the congregation of Israel said before God,
“Lord of the world, whom have I in heaven except your glory? Since I only have
you in heaven, I demand no other on earth” (Ps 73:25). Since I do not associate
any other Godhead with you in heaven (read בשמים
instead of בשמך), I do not associate you with any other
Godhead on earth. But I go into the synagogues daily and bear witness for you
that there is no other God but you and say, “Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God is
the only Yahweh.” ‖ Deuteronomy Rabbah 2 (199B): The rabbis (contemporaries of
R. Phineas b. Hama [ca. 360]) said, “God spoke to the Israelites and said, ‘My
children, everything I have created I have created in pairs. Heaven and earth
are a pair, sun and moon are a pair, Adam and Eve are a pair, this and the future
world are a pair, but my glory is unique and is the only of its kind in the
world.’ From where is this proven? Because we read in the passage Deut 6:4,
‘Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God is the only Yahweh.’ ” ‖ Deuteronomy Rabbah
2 (199C): (R. Aha [ca. 320], said,) “There is only one and no other, he has
neither son nor brother,” and in Eccl 4:8 it says, “neither brother nor son,
but, ‘Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God is one Yahweh.’ ” ‖ Targum Yerušalmi I
Deuteronomy 6:4: “It happened when our father Jacob’s time came to be gathered
out of the world, he worried that there might be among his sons one who was
unfit (rejected). He called them and asked, ‘Is there any treachery in your
heart?’ They all answered unanimously and said, ‘Hear, Israel (= Jacob) our
father, “Yahweh, our God is one Yahweh.” ’ And Jacob answered, ‘Blessed be
his glorious name forever!’ ”—This paraphrase goes back to SDeut 6:4 § 31
(72B): When our father Jacob departed from the world, he called his sons and
admonished each one of them. Then, he called them together and said, “Perhaps
you have divided opinions in your hearts about the one who spoke and in so
doing created the world!” They replied, “Listen to us. Just as there are no
divided opinions in your heart, so also are there none in our hearts about the
one who spoke and thereby created the world. Yahweh, our God, is one Yahweh!”
In connection with this, it says, “Then Israel prostrated himself upon the
headboard of the bed” (Gen 47:31). How could he have prostrated himself upon
the headboard of the bed? Instead, the expression means that he praised God
gratefully that nothing unfit (reprehensible) had come out of him. (The Midrash
interprets the words על ראש המטה
in Gen 47:31 = he prostrated himself in adoration, “because of the virtue of
his marriage bed,” i.e., because of his irreproachable offspring.) … A
different explanation is as follows: (Those words of Gen 47:31 mean) that Jacob
said, “Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever!”—Parallels can be
found in b. Pesaḥ. 56A and Gen. Rab. 98 (61C). (Two further parallels are Deut.
Rab. 2 and TanḥB ויחי
§ 9 see at n. b.)—In all these
passages, the emphasis is not on the fact that Yahweh is the God of Israel, but
on the fact that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is one Yahweh.
b. Yahweh is our God, Yahweh the one. Or,
Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one. Jerusalem Talmud Berakot 1.3C.9: Why are the
sections (of the Shema) recited daily?… R. Levi (ca. 100) said, “Because the
Ten Commandments are contained in them. I am Yahweh your God (1st
commandment), which corresponds to, ‘Hear, Israel, Yahweh is our God.’—You
shall not have other gods besides me (2nd commandment according to
the Jewish enumeration), which corresponds to ‘Yahweh is one.’—You shall not
pronounce the name of Yahweh your God in vain (3rd commandment),
which corresponds to Deut 6:5, ‘Love Yahweh.…’ ” ‖ Deuteronomy Rabbah 2
(199C): R. Isaac opened his lecture with, “Yahweh is my portion, says my soul,
therefore I hope in him” (Lam 3:24). R. Isaac said, “With what can this be
compared? With a king who came into a province and with him came leaders of an
army, prefects, and commanders-in-chief. Some of the inhabitants of the
providence chose an army commander to be placed above them, others chose a
prefect. Then, said one who was a clever man, ‘I mention only the king, for all
the others change (are replaced), but the king does not change.’ Likewise, when
God descended on Sinai, many associates of angels descended with him, Michael
and his associate, Gabriel and his associate. Some of the peoples of the world
chose Michael, others Gabriel, but the Israelites chose the Holy One, praise be
to him! They said, ‘Yahweh is my portion, says my soul.’ Behold, ‘Hear, Israel,
Yahweh is our God, Yahweh the one!’ ”—A different explanation is as follows:
“Hear, Israel.” Since when did the Israelites obtain the recitation of the
Shema? Since the hour when Jacob laid down to die. Then he called all the
patriarchs and said, “Perhaps when I depart from the world, you will worship
another god! For thus it is written in Gen 49:2, “Gather around and hear, you
sons of Jacob.” What do the following words mean: ושמעו אל ישראל אביכם (and listen to Israel, your father)? He said to them, “The God
of Israel (= Jacob), who is our father!” (The Midrash reads אל as אֵל.)
They said, “Hear, Israel (= Jacob), Yahweh is our God, Yahweh the one.” And he
(Jacob) said with a whisper, “Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom
forever and ever!” ‖ TanḥumaB ויחי
§ 9 (109A): (When Jacob had gathered his sons around him,) he immediately began
to say to them, “I beg you, honor God as my fathers have honored him”; see Gen
48:15, “The God before whom my fathers walked.…” Then, they said to him, “Hear,
Israel (= Jacob), Yahweh is our God, Yahweh the one!” ‖ Deuteronomy Rabbah 2
(199B): Since when did the Israelites obtain the recitation of the Shema? R.
Phineas b. Hama (ca. 360) said, “The Israelites obtained the recitation of the
Shema when they received the law. On what basis do we know this? You find that
on Sinai God first lifted up this word which he said to them, ‘Hear, Israel, I
am Yahweh your God.’ Then, they all replied and said, ‘Yahweh is our God,
Yahweh the one,’ and Moses said, ‘Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom
forever and ever!’ ” (Then follows the saying of the contemporaries of R.
Phineas b. Hama, see at n. a.)
c. Yahweh, our God, Yahweh is one.—This
construction is presupposed in the sentence in the Mishnah in m. Pesaḥ. 4.8:
The people of Jericho … made a connection with the Shema (see the entire
passage at § Luke 10:30).—Instead of taking the second יהוה as the subject of a second clause (construction at n. b) and separating it from אלהינו, the scholars of Jericho would have
thought it a mere repetition of the first יהוה
and therefore, when speaking, would have closely connected it with אלהינו, “Yahweh, our God, Yahweh | One.” A
remnant of this way of speaking is the Paseq between the second יהוה and אחד.—The
traditional interpretation is found in t. Pesaḥ. 2.19 (160): How did they make
a connection with the Shema? They said, “Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God Yahweh
One” without pausing. R. Judah (ca. 150) said, “They probably paused, but they
did not say, “Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and
ever!’ ” (according to Deut 6:4, but connected this verse immediately with
the following verse). Jerusalem Talmud Pesaḥim 4.31B.22: R. Aha (ca. 320) said
that R. Zeira (ca. 300) said that R. La (= Hela [ca. 310]) said, “(They said,)
Hear, Israel, Yahweh our God Yahweh one,” without pausing between individual
words. So also R. Meir (ca. 150). R. Judah (ca. 150) said, “They may have
paused, but they did not say, ‘Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom
forever and ever!’ ” R. Yose (ca. 350) said that R. Zeira said that R. La
said, “(They said,) ‘Hear, Israel, Yahweh …’ without pausing between אחד and ‘praise be the name.…’ ” Thus
also R. Meir. R. Judah said, “They probably paused, but they did not say,
‘Praise be.…’ ” ‖ Babylonian Talmud Pesaḥim 56A: They made a connection
with the Shema. How did they do it? Rab Judah († 299) said, “They said, ‘Hear,
Israel …’ without pausing.” Raba († 352) said, “They probably paused, but they
said (in v. 6), ‘Let these words be close to your heart today,’ which means,
today these words should be close to your heart and not tomorrow.” (So instead
they connected היום with the following instead of the previous
verse.) A baraita according to R. Meir teaches, “How did they make a connection
with the Shema? They said, ‘Hear, Israel …’ without pausing.” R. Judah said,
“They probably paused, but they did not say, ‘Blessed be the name of his
glorious kingdom forever and ever!’ ” (Hermann L. Strack and
Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and
Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph
Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 2:32-35)
