Did you know that biblical Hebrew includes just about 8,000 words? Compare that to more than 400,000 words in modern English.
So what, you say? It's actually a big deal. Each word in biblical Hebrew, then, contains so much more meaning than a random word in the English language we know today.
The author of Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg, examines the word "hear" in chapter 2. In biblical Hebrew, the word shema (pronounced "schma") is usually translated as "hear." But it means a lot more than simply transmission of sound to ear to brain -- the physical process of hearing. Shema is, she points out, actually three sections of Scripture repeated twice daily to remind each Jewish person of his or her commitment to God (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; and Numbers 15:37-41).
And I learned something. The shema begins thus: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."You know what Jesus said about the greatest commandment of all? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself." What we don't get in our New Testament (at least, I've never seen it) is the first part of Jesus's answer to the teacher of the law who asked him the question: "The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: 'Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is One.'
I never realized that Jesus was actually quoting Deuteronomy when he said that. But I checked, and sure enough. And apparently quoting the shema has been employed as a way to identify Jewish children who were separated from their parents during World War II, after the Nazi threat had disappeared. It's that familiar to them. The Jewish children started reciting it with the rabbi who was seeking to find them and take them back home, after some had been living with other Gentile families for so many years, they didn't remember who they were. But when the shema was recited, they remembered and responded.
But back to shema as hearing. We translate shema as "hear," but shema also means "obey" most of the time. So it's not just hear my words, listen, then go on about your merry way. It means to hear and obey. To pay attention, to understand and to take action. So the psalmist David was not just asking God to listen to him; he was asking God to respond to his plea.
And what about that very odd sounding phrase Jesus used frequently -- those who have ears to hear ought to hear"? Don't we all have ears? And was Jesus discriminating against the deaf, who have ears but cannot hear?
No, of course not. He was telling those who had listened to his teaching to embrace it, live it and obey him. In other words, actions speak louder than words (you've heard that one before, of course).
Another word, "remember," is like "hear" in biblical Hebrew. God "remembers" people by answering their prayers and pleas. He caused the waters of the great flood to recede for Noah.
Another word like that is "know." Mary didn't understand how she could be with child since she had never "known" man. After Adam "knew" Eve, Cain was conceived. To "know" someone is to have a relationship with them, to care about them and in some cases, to be intimate with them.
So taking action as a result of what God has taught us, given to us and done for us is an appropriate response to those gifts, especially in light of this new knowledge about biblical Hebrew. When Jesus said, "those who have ears to hear ought to hear," or whenever he told us to hear what he was saying, he truly meant more than just listening. He intended for us to respond by changing the way we relate to others, by interacting differently and putting aside our own selfish wants to be of service to others.
The author pointed out that there is often a disconnect between what Christians profess to know and believe, and what they actually say and do. She pointed out also that on judgment day, we will be held accountable for those disconnects. Then she dropped her zinger: "Just imagine what he'll read off from his heavenly computer monitor as he scrolls through out online comments."
Indeed.
The longest 12 inches, she says, that your faith has to move is from your head to your heart. But once it does, it naturally comes out through your hands and feet.
And the other part of shema? The word "echad" means "one," as in "The Lord is one." But some scholars think it might also mean "unique" as in "the only one" or even more significantly, "alone," as in "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone," or the only God. This could mean monotheism, as in there's only one God, or it could mean Israel's only God -- a declaration of loyalty rather than a statement about whether other god's exist.
Every Sunday at Mass we recite the Nicene Creed, which encapsulates the essence of our Catholic Christian faith. One line of that creed says "I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church." Those are called the four marks of the church -- one (united in faith), holy (sacred, worthy, God's), catholic (lower-case on purpose, it means universal) and apostolic (conforms to the teachings of the New Testament). So unity in belief and practice is another definition of "one."
I like the idea of shema, of having a constant reminder that we should keep God at the center of our lives, every day. I am going to find a Scriptural passage (shorter than the Jewish shema, given my own short memory and attention span) to remind me several times a day during Lent that God should always be kept front and center. Something like this: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God made man, have mercy on me, a sinner. But maybe not that one, necessarily. I'll post it when I find it, and I will keep it with me until Easter. Maybe after that, too.
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