“Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NLT
What Is the Shema Prayer?
The Shema is a prayer that has been a central part of the Jewish faith for centuries. It sums up God’s greatest commandment, to love the Lord God with all of one’s heart, soul, and might. It elevates the necessity of committing oneself wholeheartedly to God’s law and teachings. Traditionally the prayer is said twice per day––once in the morning and once in the evening. The prayer gets its name from the first word of the prayer in Hebrew: shema, meaning to hear or listen.
What Does the Word Shema Mean?
But the word shema means more than the act of sound entering the ears. Other biblical authors use the same word to describe the act of focusing on, looking at, or paying attention to. Dig deeper into how the word is used in places like the psalms and you’ll see that the call to shema is paired with a call to act. For example, when David writes, “Come with great power, O God, and rescue me! Defend me with your might. Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea” (Psalm 54:1-2 NLT), the word “listen” (shema) is directly connected to His plea to “come with great power.”
Should We Pray the Shema?
When the Israelites pray the Shema, it is not only a call to listen but also to respond. To demonstrate love for God, commit to His commands through the way they live, to pass on these teachings to their households, and keep them close in remembrance. What’s fascinating is that the ancient Hebrew language doesn’t have a separate word for listen and obey. So if you wanted to denote someone listening to and obeying what was being told to them, you would use the word shema for both. This is why the prophets, when speaking about Israel’s disobedience, would use imagery like, “The people hear the words of God, but they don’t listen.” To hear was to obey.
The shema is a cry of devotion––the heart of one saying, “I will both hear the Word of the Lord and I will obey His commandments wholeheartedly as I love the Lord God with all of my heart, soul, and might.” While reciting the exact prayer isn’t necessary for believers, the message behind it is a good one to keep at the forefront of our minds––a constant reminder for all followers of Yahweh to hear and obey God with all that we are.
