"Stranger still, the ancient religion of the Jews survives, when all the religions of every ancient race of the pre-Christian world have disappeared. Again it is strange that the living religions of the world all build on the religious ideas derived from the Jews" - The Ancient World, Professor T.R. Glover

"According to the materialistic and positivist criterion, this people ought to have perished long ago. It's survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by a special predetermination..."
- The Meaning of History, Professor Nicholas Berdkilaev of the Moscow Academy of Spiritual Culture

"It was Judaism that brought the concept of a God-given universal moral law into the world...the Jew carries the burden of God in history and for this he has never been forgiven" - Distinguished Catholic Scholar Edward H. Flannery

Fact: Judaism is the only religion in the world that lost its holy land and has regained it.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Trinity - Part Two - "The Shema and Echad"

It must be noted that Jehovah declares Himself as being alone and without other deities more times than the rest of the Bible describes Him as being "one". This is important to keep this fact in mind when attempting to gain a complete understanding of the Shema. 1 The Shema (an imperative command to listen up) is a signature-scripture to the Hebrew Bible and is comparable to what John 3:16 is to the New Testament. Its opening line states: "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one".
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Because the Shema is part of the foundational concept of Judaism, and because of the need to proof-text their doctrine, the Trinitarians twist the Shema totally out of its context of how it was originally given to the Jewish people by the hand of Moses. They wish to inject into the Shema the idea of a three-person Godhead, even though the Shema along with its complete original meaning and context out dates Christianity by more than a thousand years!
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The Trinity within the Shema is a mindset that reasons; if Adam and Eve can be considered "one" flesh2 and evening and morning can be "one" day3 so too could three God-persons of the Trinity be called "one" in the Shema. The Trinitarians then take it a step further in suggesting (even to the point of outright lying) that the Hebrew word, echad (meaning 'one') has only the meaning to "categorize things in number into a single unit". In other words, the word echad within the Shema is a sure signal that there is something plural within Jehovah whom the Shema described as one. It's almost laughable how these willful Trinitarian twisters of the Hebrew scriptures attempt to make the Shema say the exact opposite of what its true message is. I don't mean to stereotype, but perhaps its their Gentile nature (desire to worship multiple gods) coming out in them that causes them to do this?
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What they will willfully withhold and avoid is that echad, like out English word "one" is an adjective and is subject to the noun(s) it's describing. In English, as well as in Biblical Hebrew "one/echad" can be used to describe one set of eyes, as well as one nose on a face. Example:
"There is one [echad] alone, and there is not a second.." - Ecclesiastes 4:8
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There are not multiple subjects in the opening declaration of the Shema to be united with the adjective, echad. "God" is the single subject and "one" is that single subject's adjective. Again, there are no two or three subjects in the opening statement of the Shema to united under the adjective "one"! Multiple subjects such as three God-persons within the Shema are only a figment of a Trinitarian's imagination. It's simply not in the text. A Trinity can only be injected into the text outside the confine structures of the Biblical Hebrew and English languages. The Trinitarians not only try to superimpose three subjects unto one original subject but try also to alter the concept of written and spoken languages to meet their own superimposation. This is the lengths of which they will go in their desperate need to worship multiple god-persons while trying to hang unto the vindicated one true God of Israel.
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The correct doctrine of the Shema, "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one/echad" can only be a description of its single subject (in this case God Himself) without the blinding of another subject to Him in set-descriptions. The Shema is clearly a declaration that their God (the God of Israel) is one in nature and that He is one in being. But don't take my word for it, let the very words of God Himself declare this truth of the Shema:
"I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" - Isaiah 45:5
Just a thought, but this Jehovah that was using the personal pronoun "I" and "me" in the above scripture doesn't sound much like He's in favor of Trinitarianism Himself!
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The bottom line is that the Trinity doctrine undermines God's very nature and being as "one" as well as disregarding His own declaration of Himself being alone and knowing no other deities. One of the greatest rebukes to God is to call Him three, after He Himself has declares Himself is "one"!
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Scriptures regarding Jehovah's declared oneness
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"Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else beside him." -Deuteronomy 4:35
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"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." - Deuteronomy 4:39
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The Shema: "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one/echad - Deuteronomy 6:4
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"That all the people of the earth [including Trintarians] may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else. - I Kings 8:60
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"I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" - Isaiah 45:5
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"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:6
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"For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:18
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"Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I Jehovah? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me." - Isaiah 45:21
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"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am El (not "Elohim" - see part 1) and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:22
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"Remember the former things of old: for I am El (not "Elohim" - see part 1), and there is none else; I am El, and there is none like me." - Isaiah 46:9
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"And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and none else" - Joel 2:27
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Notes:
1. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is the full text of the Shema.
2. Genesis 2:12
3. Genesis 1:5

4 comments:

Ken said...

Why does the Hebrew Bible (TaNaKH) use a plural word for God (Elohim) most of the time (over 2,000 times) - singular words are used far less - Eloah and El.

I wonder why?

Also

The use of the plural pronoun can also be seen in:

Genesis 1:26-28
Elohim said, "Let Us make man in Our image"

Genesis 3:22: Then the LORD God (YHVH Elohim) said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us…"

Genesis 11:7: "Come, let Us go down, and there confuse their language…"

Isaiah 6:8: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"

This last passage would appear contradictory with the singular "I" and the plural "us" except as viewed as a plurality (us) in a unity (I).

Hint of God's Son (Yeshua HaMashiakh) in the OT:

Proverbs 30:4
Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in [b]His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or
Surely you know!"

The first Christians were all Jews - Peter, John, James, Paul (Saul), etc. (also Mary, Jesus, etc.)

Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the return of the exile, the rebuilding of the temple, the ending of sin and finishing of transgression and making atonement for iniquity, etc. then the Messiah the Prince to come; then the Messiah would be "cut off" (killed, as in Isaiah 53:8) and then the temple would be destroyed (70 AD).

Seems to be a clear indication that Messiah came first, then the temple was destroyed about 40 years later.

Ken said...

I don't know why "His Son's name?" did not come out in the above post.

Trying again.

Proverbs 30:4
Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

4 Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in [b]His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or His Son's name?
Surely you know!"

This is an OT indication of the Messiah who would be also be known as "The Son of God"

As in Psalm 2:10-12 also -
Worship the Lord is parallel with

"kiss/worship the Son"

Joe Whitehead said...

To Ken,(response to your July 20 & 21, 2001 posts)
My e-mail didn't notify me of your posts so I'm very late in responding.

As far as addressing each and every one of your proof texts I would suggest to you visiting Tovia Singers' "Outreach Judaism" series on the Trinity. It would save me a lot of time and typing.

I would like to say, the Trinity is nothing more than multi-god / demigod paganism mixed into mainstream Christianity.

"I am YHVH, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me" - Isaiah 45:5
Q. Which Godhead "godhead-person"of the Trinity made this singular personal pronoun above statement?

This is a very simple question.
Fact: According to the self-described statement, the God of Israel knows of no god besides Himself - the making the self-describing statement. That's more than proof-text bottom-line material!

Proverbs 30:4 is Solomon's words comparing all of his wisdom with Moses - the giver of the Torah - who ascended and descended in receiving the Torah (Ex. 19:3, 20-25, Ex. 24:12-18, Ex, 31:18, Ex. 32:15-16, Ex. 34:1-40, Deut.9:7)
Controlled the wind; (Ex. 10:13,) and restricted the waters; (Ex. 14:15) and established the "ends of the earth" via the Torah and Tabernacle.

Though I don't compare the two as the same, the Father of Communism Karl Marx was a Jew too, and many Hare Krishnas are Jewish, along with many Baalists in the Bible.

You might consider reading my blog on Daniel 70 Weeks. The events of Daniel 9:25-27 are in the time-frame of the 69th - 70th. Week, of which blows the Christian messiah time-frame of 40 years prior completely out of the water.

Also, learn your Biblical Hebrew. It states in Psalms 2:12 to "embrace / yearn for, purity" not "Kiss the Son".
That's the Christian KJV translators trying to throw Aramaic into the text (into that one single word) where it in no ways could possibly apply.

-Joe

Jesavee said...

There is one God, and only one that is God. Jesus said that His Father was/is the only true God. Jesus is the Son of the most High. He, Jesus, is not the most High. Jesus' Father is his Father and our Father, and his God is his God, and our God. There is only one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.