Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deut. 6:4)
What’s the significance of the ‘one’? Is it saying that there is no other god – idols are nothing? Is it saying that God is the only basis of truth, life, existence? Is it saying that, though He is three persons, God is united as one? Certainly all these are true.
What if we had been reading through Deuteronomy from the beginning? What would be the most natural way to hear Deut. 6:4?
In chapter 4 you find very similar words and thoughts to those in chapter 6. Compare the language of commandments, statues, keeping, land in 6:1-3 with 4:1-2, 5, 14, 40. Compare the warning at 4:9 to guard your heart, not forget and pass this on to the next generation with the expansion at 6:6-25.
The stress in chapter 4 is very much on the uniqueness of the LORD (note the repeated rhetorical questions):
- He’s the one near God – “What great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call upon him?” (4:7)
- He’s the one good God – “What great nation is there that has statues and rules so righteous as this law?” (4:8)
- He’s the one speaking God – “Has any other people heard the voice of a god speaking out of fire and lived?” (Deut. 4:33 – and see 4:11-24, 36)
- He’s the one saving God of sovereign grace – “Has any other god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation by signs and wonders, a mighty hand and an outstretched arm?” (4:34 – and see 4:20, 31, 37-38)
Moses sums up:
the LORD is God and beside him there is no other… (4:35) lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath, there is no other (4:38)
So going back to Deut. 6:4, could it be that not only is Moses saying that Yahweh is mathematically one – the only real God – but also that there is none like the LORD.
Deuteronomy is preparing the children of Israel for pluralism (4:15-25; 12:29-13:18; 16:21-17:7; 29:18). As they crossed into the promised land they would find plenty of gods and plenty of versions of ‘worship’. And today, not only in other religions but in the church there are many versions of ‘God’. There are many gods who are distant and deaf to our cries. There are many gods who are, as Christopher Hitchens put it ‘not great’, poisonous, immoral. There are many gods who are dumb or at least unable to speak clearly. There are many gods who applaud good, hardworking people and condemn bad, useless people. But there is only One thoroughly good, loving, listening, speaking, merciful, saving, gracious Immanuel.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
What’s your God like?
fidelnyikuri
iServe Africa Webmaster
Utumishi Blog 
Many thanks for sharing this. When we get to realize this reality, it completely changes the way we approach God in worship. He is the only God. In my understanding, there is none BUT Him, Yahweh, the true God!
my statement would go something like this: Hakuna Mungu ILA wewe!
Thanks James. I completely agree – kweli hakuna mungu ila wewe. I’m sure this is part of what Deuteronomy is saying – there is only one God. That’s traditionally how Deut 6:4 has been understood. But I’m suggesting that maybe, in the context of the book, Deut 6:4 also carries the idea of uniqueness – hakuna kama yeye. I’m particularly getting that from the rhetorical questions in chapter 4. There’s another one at 3:24: “what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?” In a sense of course there are no other gods at all but in another sense there are a thousand gods worshipped among the nations. What makes Yahweh unique in not only that he exists but his character and the story of his interaction with his people. Does that make sense? Almost everyone in Kenya believes in ‘God’ and many are monotheists. Muslims can say to Allah, ‘Hakuna ila wewe’. But Allah is very different to Jehovah. My fear is that sometimes we talk about ‘God’ without defining which ‘God’ we are talking about. Sometimes, even in the church, the idea of ‘God’ in our heads can be more like Allah or Baal than Jehovah.
Zechariah 14:9 has a strikingly similar phrase that I think might well support the idea that “Yhwh is one” is talking about his uniqueness…
Thanks Dave. That’s really helpful. If we take ‘name’ to mean ‘character’ then Zech 14:9 does seem to put the emphasis on the uniqueness of Yahweh’s nature. Presumably it is ‘on that day’ (the great refrain of Zechariah) because then the LORD will finally have completed his great sovereign salvation plan – his reputation as the unique saving God will have reached its fullness and finally everyone on earth will recognise it. Interestingly the ESV translates ‘one’ in Zech 14:7 as ‘unique’ – so consistently it could make Zech 14:9: “the LORD will be unique and his name unique.”