Deuteronomy 6

Christians have creeds—short, bulleted statements that sum up their key beliefs. Like the Apostles Creed. Or the Nicene Creed. People in the Jewish faith don’t have that. But if they did, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 would be it. Jews call this section the Shema. That’s Hebrew for “hear,” or something similar: listen, pay attention, wake up. Jews often title sections in the Bible after the first word in the section. Not especially creative, but respectful.

More literally, “tie them” to your hands and forehead. Many Jews do just that. They take the passage literally and put Bible verses like the Shema and the Ten Commandments into small Bible boxes that they tie onto their forearms and foreheads. The Hebrew word for them is tefillin, “phylacteries” in English. Archaeological discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls show that Jews have been doing that since at least the 100s BC.

Many Jews put small Bible boxes near their front doors. These boxes, in Hebrew, are mezuzot. Some people brush their fingers across the box as they come and go, as a reminder of the laws God gave them to live by.

“Inheriting” mature vineyards and olive orchards was a huge deal. It took newly planted grape vines three to five years to produce a good crop. Olive trees in Bible times took a generation. They produced their best when they were over 40. (People can be like that, too. Spread the good news.)

More literally, “Swear only by His name.” That might refer to making a promise, such as swearing an oath on the Bible. But some scholars say it more likely points back to the contract God made with the people at Mount Sinai. He would protect them and make them successful at what they did. In return, they would obey his orders.

The story appears in Exodus 17:1-7. Moses gave the site a double-trouble name, in Hebrew: Massah and Meribah. Massah means “test,” as in getting pushy with God. Meribah means “complain,” “argue,” or “fight.” The Israelites continued their pattern of pushing against God. That got them sentenced to 40 years in the desert badlands, south of what is now Israel. The location of the site is unknown. Exodus 17 puts it somewhere between the Israelite campsite at Rephidim and Mount Sinai. Those two sites appear to have been within walking distance, as the Exodus story reports it. Numbers 32:51, however, seems to place it near the oasis of Kadesh in the Zin Desert.

Many Jewish people celebrating the Passover service (Haggadah in Hebrew) use this verse to launch into retelling the story of God delivering their ancestors from Egyptian slavery and taking them to freedom into the land God promised the descendants of Abraham. The land today is Israel and Palestinian Territories.