JANUARY 20, 2023 Deuteronomy 6:5-6 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. In Judaism, the phrase “And you shall love” is known as the v’ahavta –- literally, the “And you shall love.” It […]
JANUARY 19, 2023 Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. In Hebrew, the word Sh’ma (“hear”) is written with the Hebrew letters shiyn, mem and ayin. The Hebrew word echad (“one) is written with the letters alef, chet […]
JANUARY 18, 2023 Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These verses, known as the Sh’ma, essentially sum up the first two commandments given to Israel at Mount Sinai. Just to refresh our memories, they are, “I am […]
JANUARY 17, 2023 Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. After relating the Ten Commandments to the next generation of Israelites, Moses proceeded to declare to them the fundamental creed of Israel — six Hebrew words that are […]
JANUARY 16, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:22 These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. There is tradition in Judaism that […]
JANUARY 15, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:17-21 You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or […]
The LORD reminded Moses that He appeared to the forefathers as God Almighty (El Shaddai, אל שדי), but He did not reveal His personal name the LORD (HaShem): “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them” (Exodus 6:3-4).
This seems like a contradiction because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did know God Almighty by His holy name, “the LORD.” Abraham invoked the Name the LORD when he first entered the land of Canaan. He swore an oath in the name of the LORD. When the Almighty made the covenant between the parts with Abraham, He said, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” Abraham replied, “O Lord LORD (HaShem), how may I know that I will possess it?” (Genesis 15:7-8).
Obviously the forefathers did know His name, “the LORD.” If so, why did He say to Moses, “By My Name, the LORD, I did not make Myself known to them?”
Rashi reconciles the seeming contradiction. He explains that the LORD did reveal His name, “the LORD (HaShem),” to the forefathers, but He did not reveal the meaning of His Name to them. Rashi understands the name, “the LORD,” to imply God’s unchanging nature. The LORD is “I will be as I will be.” The unchanging God is faithful to keep His word. The Name of the LORD implies, “[I am] faithful to uphold [verify] my words (ne’eman le’ammet debarai, נאמן לאמת דברי).” He is the Promise Keeping God.
According to Rashi’s explanation, the ineffable name, “the LORD” implies God’s unchanging character, His covenant devotion, and His mercy. God revealed His name, “the LORD,” to the patriarchs, but He did not reveal the meaning of His name.
For example, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation with descendants as countless as the stars. He promised that the land of Canaan would be given to those descendents. He also predicted that Abraham’s seed would be enslaved by a foreign nation and ultimately liberated from that nation:
God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.” (Genesis 15:13-14)
The forefathers did not see these promises fulfilled. They knew the name, “the LORD,” but God did not reveal the essential meaning of that name in that they did not see the covenant promises fulfilled: “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
In the days of Moses, the time had come for God to fulfill the covenant promises He made to Abraham. God was ready to reveal the essential meaning of His name: “I am faithful to uphold my words.”
Va'era – וארא : “And I appeared” Torah : Exodus 6:2-9:35 Haftarah : Ezekiel 28:25-29:21 Gospel : Mark 3
JANUARY 14, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:11 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Growing up, many of us considered this instruction to mean that we were not to attach God’s Name to a swear word. While I certainly believe to do so […]
JANUARY 13, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:9-10 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. This is another reminder that the God of Israel is a jealous God, unwilling to […]
JANUARY 12, 2023 Deuteronomy 5:7-8 You shall have no other gods before Me.You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. In our previous devotion, we established that if the God of Israel […]
