000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

The New Testament does not refer directly to the book of Ruth. However,
we discuss New Testament references to Ruth 4 on Proper 27/Year B.
Deuteronomy 6:1–9* (Paired)
Proper 26 [31]/Year B 199
This passage, which contains the Shema (from the Hebrew word for
“hear” in Deut. 6:4), has become a defining text for Judaism. Beginning
in antiquity and continuing to today, the Jewish community recites it in
daily and weekly worship (m. Ber. 1:1–3:6) where it continues to function
much as it did in the time of the Deuteronomists. As we note in discussing
the historical context of the book of Deuteronomy (Proper 17/Year B),
while Moses appears to direct these words to the people who arrived at
the border of the promised land, the redactors designed this material to
admonish the exilic or postexilic community to live faithfully so that the
days of the congregation “may be long” and so that “it may go well” with
the community in the years following the exile (Deut. 6:1–3).
Scholars disagree about how to interpret the main theme of the Shema
in Deuteronomy 6:4. It could be rendered: “The LORD is our God, the
LORD alone” (NRSV). In this case, the meaning is that God alone is God
of Israel. Given the multiple opportunities the people had to worship other
gods, they were to maintain complete fidelity to God and were to do all
that God said. Another possibility is, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one”
(or slight variants). In this case, the meaning is that God is undivided and
has integrity (“the Lord is one”), and, therefore, the community can count
on God to keep God’s promises. This affirmation would be important to a
community whose confidence in God’s trustworthiness had been challenged
by the exile. It asserts that the occupation of the nation and the
deportation do not call God’s integrity and trustworthiness into question.
God can work through such circumstances to keep the divine promises.
In Deuteronomy, love always involves actions for the good of another.
God’s love is expressed through God’s actions (4:32–40; 5:8–10; 7:7–11;
10:12–22; 23:5). Members of the community love God by walking in
God’s ways, by living in covenantal love in mutual support, peace, and justice
(10:12–22; 11:1–7, 13–17; 13:1–6; 19:9; 30:1–6, 15–20). While for us
the heart is the seat of feeling, in the ancient world the heart was the center
of the will, the center of thought and discernment. The soul was a place
of feeling, even of passion.
The combination of heart, soul, and might speaks of the passionate
totality of the self actively expressing love for others in the community
and even for those outside (e.g., aliens). The self becomes one in response