The Nature of God and Christ - Members Site - United Church of God

THE NATURE OF GOD AND CHRISTDoctrinal Study Paperthe Jewish people so greatly that they accepted his teaching as the Word of God and hisrepresentation of one God as yachid. 7So what is the meaning of echad? According to Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon,echad means “to unite, to join together, to be in unity.” 8 Echad also conveys the idea of being“bound together” like the cords of a rope. The tighter the cords are bound, the greater thestrength produced. Echad does indeed mean “one” but it is a oneness that is produced by acollective unity. This idea of collective unity is clearly demonstrated in Genesis 2:23-24, “AndAdam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and bejoined to his wife, and they shall become one [echad] flesh.” Here two distinct individuals are“one” flesh. This is not talking about one in number but one in collective unity, harmony, peaceand the sharing of common goals. Adam and Eve were joined together, twisted, bound andwrapped together in singleness of purpose.The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament confirms this broader meaning forechad:“one, same, single, first, each, once…, closely identified with yahad to be unitedand…stresses unity while recognizing diversity within that oneness… [i.e.] Adam and Eveare described as ‘one flesh’ (Gen 2:24), which includes more than sexual unity… Ezekielpredicted that the fragmented nation of Israel would someday be reunited, as hesymbolically joined two sticks (37:17).” 9The above sources clearly show that echad cannot be used to justify strict monotheism.As shown above, the notion of strict monotheism as the hallmark of Jewish orthodoxy canlargely be attributed to the work of Mamonides.In summary, the Shema is not addressing philosophical issues such as absolute orcompound unity of God. (Would anyone even be thinking of such a question in ancient Israel?)Rather, it is proclaiming to the children of Israel that the LORD alone is their God—He and noother.For this reason, the New Jewish Publication Society Version (NJPSV) translatesDeuteronomy 6:4 as, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is our God, the LORDalone.” Moshe Weinfeld, a leading Jewish biblical scholar who for technical grammaticalreasons translates it as “Hear, O Israel! YHWH our God is one YHWH,” titles his discussion ofDeuteronomy 6:4-25 “Exclusive allegiance to YHWH.” The entire thrust of Deuteronomy 6:4was that the Lord alone was to be Israel’s God.7 Sam Stern, http://www.thechristianrabbi.org/threeasone.htm.8 H.W.F. Gesenius, Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1979, p.28.9 R. Laird Harris, Gleason Archer and Bruce Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Moody Press.Page 10September 2005© 2005 United Church of God, an International Association