Sh'ma! HEAR! (and OBEY!)

(painting by Gina, January 2010)

"Sh'ma Y'israel, YHVH Eloheinu,YHVH echad...

Hear, Israel. YHVH our Elohim (God), YHVH is ONE.
And you shall love YHVH Elohim
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your might."
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Sh'ma Y'israel..."
"Hear, Israel..."

I have been asked, both directly and indirectly, why it is that I have made so many changes and why it is that I am doing so many "Jewish" things. Actually the things I am doing are YHVH's commanded things, and it happens that He commanded them to His people...ALL of His people, beginning with Adam, but more specifically to His chosen people Israel. As a believer in Yeshua, I am grafted into the people of YHVH. I am part of the commonwealth of Israel. If I choose to love the God of Israel with all my heart, then I should also choose to follow His Word with all that I am!
These blog posts give many answers to why I am choosing to live the way I do. But eveything can be summed up in this scripture from Deuteronomy.

Many of us are most likely quite familiar with this scripture. For those who live in relationship with YHVH and live by the Word of YHVH, this scripture is of utmost importance...a constant reminder to HEAR and OBEY every part of YHVH's Word!

This scripture is called the "Sh'ma" (sheMAH or shaMAH) because of the first word in the verse. Sh'ma is the Hebrew word for "hear", and thus this verse begins with "Sh'ma Y'israel" or "Hear, Israel...".
(Sh'ma is Strong's Concordance H8085, for those who care to look it up.)

Did you know that "sh'ma" means more than just to hear something through your ear. Sh'ma, according to Strongs Concordance, is much more than just hearing. It means: to hear, to listen to, to obey; to hear with attention, to consent or agree to, to yield to, to be obedient; to declare.

Take a look at these scriptures...

Exodus 19:5-6 (spoken to the people of Israel)
And now, if you "sh'ma, sh'ma" (it's repeated twice in the Hebrew - translated "diligently obey") My Voice, and shall "sh'ma" (guard) My Covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples - for all the earth is Mine - and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart (holy) nation.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28
See, I am setting before you today blessing and a curse: the blessing, when you "sh'ma" the commands of YHVH your Elohim (God) which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not "sh'ma" the commands of YHVH your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other mighty ones which you have not known.

Deuteronomy 13:4 (spoken to Israel regarding their desire to follow prophets who may sound good and may prophesy with accuracy, but who try to lead Israel away from YHVH)
Walk after YHVH your Elohim and fear Him, and guard (a form of "sh'ma") His commands and "sh'ma" His Voice, and serve Him and cling to Him.

1 Samuel 15:22
Then Shemu'el (which means "heard of God") said, 'Does YHVH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice, as in obeying ("sh'ma") the Voice of YHVH? Look, to "sh'ma" is better than an offering, to heed is better than the fat of rams.'


This command to love and obey our Lord YHVH is not just an "Old Testament thing". We are also commanded to love and obey YHVH and His Son Yeshua throughout the New Testament. Even though the word used is a Greek rather than a Hebrew word, the command is still the same!

Hebrews 5:7-10
During Yeshua's life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver Him from death; and He was heard because of His godliness. Even though He was the Son, He learned obedience (Greek "hupakoe") through His sufferings. And after He had been brought to the goal, He became the source of eternal deliverance to all who obey (hupakoe) Him, since He had been proclaimed by God as a cohen gadol (high priest) to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.

John 14:15,23-24
(Yeshua said) If you love me, you will keep (Greek "tereo" or guard) my commands....If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Someone who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words - and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.

1 John 5:2-3
Here is how we know that we love God's children: when we love God, we also do (tereo or guard) what he commands. For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome...

So, why is it that I have recently been changing so many things in my life?
Why have I stopped celebrating pagan festivals and begun to celebrate YHVH's appointed times?
Why have I taken to heart the command to set apart the Sabbath for Him?
Why do I support and pray for Israel as YHVH's chosen people to be His Light to the nations?
Why do I seek to know His Word and do it?

Because I love Him!

I want to know YHVH Elohim, through Yeshua the Messiah, in every way He intended and in the depth that He designed. He has laid out the key to my relationship with Him in His Word, and I want to know, love and obey Him with all that I am! I have discovered that as I seek to sh'ma His Word more and more, I have so much richer understanding and deeper love for my God...YHVH Elohim through Yeshua HaMashiach in the power of Ruach Elohim. My God is ONE!

Many times when I am reading the Tanakh (Old Covenant) or the B'rit Hadashah (New Covenant), I feel like Josiah when he found the Book of the Law after many years of Israel's turning away from YHVH and disregarding His Word (2 Kings 22 - 23). Josiah was so upset at what he heard when he realized his people were no longer following YHVH's Word that he tore his clothes in shame and repentance and ordered that everything in Israel that was against YHVH's word to be removed, torn down and destroyed. Josiah "turned to YHVH with all his heart, and with all his being and with all his power, in accordance with all the Torah of Moses." (2 Kings 23:25)


I also want to love YHVH with all my heart, with all my being and with all my might!
I want to SH'MA...HEAR and OBEY!

Shabbat Shalom,
In the Name above all names...Yeshua,

Gina