Abstract. The shema Israel is a definitive declaration that there is only one God. It was delivered in the context of a polytheistic society familiar with visible idols and effigies. In its current form it was testified to by prophets and emphasized under the reforms of kings Hezekiah and Josiah in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. The Hebrew 'law of agency' illustrates how there can be one God but many agents of His will.

Introduction & method – listening to the text in its own context

(1) Determination of the text(s). Our basic text is the Hebrew Masoretic text (MT). Deuteronomy 6 is well attested with little dispute as to its reading. The Greek LXX reading (3rd century BCE) is very similar.

(2) Ascertaining the literary / oral form. Deuteronomy is set as a speech which Moses made to Israel shortly before his death and their entrance into the land of Canaan. Like numerous shorter passages in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 15; Deut. 32; Joshua 24; Exod. 20 = Deut. 5; many Psalms, etc.), the entire book of Deuteronomy follows the ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaty form (mid-2nd millenium BCE) five basic parts (adapted from Kline, 1963; Anderson, 1993; Greer, 2002):

• I. Identificatory preamble – YHWH as suzerain or great king addressing His vassal, Israel
• II. Historical recital (prologue) – Recital of past suzerain-vassal relations, with a litany of the suzerain's beneficent deeds, etc.
• III. Treaty stipulations – commandments of exclusive loyalty, mutual covenant promissory obligations
• IV. Treaty sacrificial ratification & sanctions – Blessings vs. curses for loyalty or disloyalty to the treaty, appeal by oath in the presence of witnesses, use of sacrificial animals (cf. Gen. 15 covenant between God and Abram, Greer, 2002)
• V. Treaty perpetuity – re-ratification and provision for succession to future generations. Covenant treaty stipulations engraved on two tablets, to be placed "under (the feet of)" the suzerain's god, in the suzerain's temple and in the vassal's temple. For Israel that meant one sanctuary, one suzerain, YHWH. Both tablets were placed under the throne of YHWH, the ark of the covenant.

(3) Recovering the contemporary historical life situation (setting). The compelling metaphor under which the audience heard the Deuteronomic shema was that of the suzerainty covenant treaty. The assertion in the shema of the oneness of YHWH the God of Israel was thoroughly Near Eastern covenantal. Though Deuteronomy builds on older tradition both oral and written (Clements, 1993), internal evidences and references indicate that Deuteronomy reached its essential final form during the Josianic reforms in the southern kingdom of Judah (7th century BCE). It is linked thematically and stylistically with the rest of the so-called Deuteronomic or Deuteronomist history, Deuteronomy through II Kings (Fuller, 1993; Schniedewinde, 2004). It was heard in the Temple of YHWH in pre-exilic Jerusalem of the southern kingdom of Judah under the house of David.

(4) Meaning of the words and idiom for original author and audience. There are >20,000 singular pronouns and verbs referenced to describe the one God (Buzzard & Hunting, 1998). The Hebrew word 'echad or one is used ~960 times in the Hebrew Bible and invariably it means "one and not two or more," a single one vs more than one, and because 'one' sometimes describes a compound noun (as in one flock, one herd, one village), any compoundness does not come from 'one' but from the occasional compound noun (see Hyndman, 1824; Buzzard & Hunting, 1998; Snedeker, 1998; Graesar et al. 2003). This is recognized in every Jewish lexicon. Some (but by no means all) Christian scholars by confusing the role of the occasional compound noun for the singular adjective ('echad) have fallaciously tried to read plurality into 'echad (e.g, Morey, 1996 and others).

(5) Understanding the total context and historical background. The historical times in which Deuteronomy in its present form received currency was probably during the Josianic reforms (II Kings 22-23) of the 7th century BCE. For centuries the Israelites had been worshipping YHWH but also lesser deities such as the sun, moon, Ba'al, and all the host of heaven in good Canaanite tradition at 'high places,' groves, asherim, and other shrines, besides the Hebrew sanctuary. YHWH was not God alone, but over subordinate deities (see Halpern, 1993). Inscriptions found at Kuntillet Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom indicate that YHWH Himself was not regarded as being alone, but as having perhaps an Asherah as consort, a Canaanite mother goddess (Lewis, 1993; Ackerman, 1993). Many kings of the house of David and of Israel tolerated this or even encouraged it. Earlier Solomon had introduced many foreign deities.

From the Deuteronomist perspective, all of this was a departure from YHWH the One who alone is 'elohim in the highest sense, from His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and the cause of Israel's troubles, split ('sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat'...), captivity, war, and foreign aggression. At this time (late 7th century BCE), Josiah began a purge of the 'high places,' their priests, and a removal of the idols from around and in the temple of Solomon, of all the accoutrements of devotion to the host of heaven and of sorcery and divination, and the graves of non-levitic priests, even into the land of the former northern kingdom (II Kings 23; see Finkelstein & Silberman, 2001). As the temple was being cleaned, a 'book of the law of YHWH' was discovered and read to the people. The Passover was kept. Archeology reveals that this was the time when literacy was becoming widespread in Israel (Ibid.; Schniedewind, 2004). Josiah's reforms were the culmination of the prophetic oracles of Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and others in the 8th century BCE calling for Israel to be loyal to YHWH besides whom there is no other (see references above and many more). Hezekiah's reforms in the late 8th century BCE had begun the process of monotheistic reform, and though the 'high places' had been removed throughout Judah (II Kings 18:4, 22), his son Manasseh had restored much of the idolatrous worship (II Kings 21), and it remained to Josiah to thoroughly complete the work.
 

Discussion – How do you read?

A) Questions from history:

• Is there any evidence that the audience of the shema throughout a 1000 years of history ever understood it to mean that God is more than one person? Why did the prophets insist that there is one God and no other? Why did the NT do the same?
• Can the agent who comes in the name of principal be addressed as and delegated some of the prerogatives of the principal?

• Is the one God of heaven, of Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and of Jesus, one person or one essence in more than one person?

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