“”Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’”
Deuteronomy 6:4 is a famous verse in Judaism. Some feel that you cannot be Jewish and believe God is one and yet reveals Himself as more than one being at once in Jewish Tradition. But is that what the Jewish Bible really teaches? Can you be Jewish and have another view of this verse? We find can find answers in the Hebrew Bible.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.’ So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:26-27
“But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” Genesis 11:5-8
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple…Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” Isaiah 6:1-8 “Your throne, God, will last forever and ever; you rule your kingdom with a scepter of equity. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy in preference to your companions.” Psalm 45:7-8.
What is going on here? Some say God is speaking to angels. But you can clearly see God who said “let Us make man made man in Our image” and then God made man in His image, not that of the angels. And we can read “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” Psalm 110:1 and many other verses in the Jewish Bible that indicate God is one yet not limited by the same physical limitations humans are.We can understand this concept a little better when the Torah says, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 A husband and wife are not literally one but they are one unit or couple. There is one God, yet God as revealed in the Jewish Bible is a unit that transcends humans in power and ability. God is awesome, and you are not abandoning the Jewish faith to highlight that.
Picture originally found here
