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Deuteronomy 6:4-9
So we are in a devotional series talking about what it means to be all in. We are ultimately asking ourselves where in your life are you “all in?” And in reference to this Jesus is asked the question what is the greatest commandment? And He responds by reciting the Shema and then, He actually adds more to it.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV) Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
So last week we talked about what the Greek and Roman understanding or thoughts about the soul are. Today I want to talk a bit about the Old Testament or Hebrew understanding of the soul. The word nephesh is used over 700 times in the Bible and it can mean more than just soul. But in this context, in the Shema we are talking about the non-physical, immortal essence of a human being that is trapped in the physical body, and released in death.
Nephesh – can mean other things. It is used for the word throat. And since life is controlled by breathing in and out and eating and drinking food, life is sustained by the things coming into the body through the throat. It can also simply mean the whole or complete person. In the Bible people don’t have a nephesh they are nephesh, a living, breathing, complete human being.
Biblical writers do have the concept of people existing after death, waiting for the resurrection. However, they rarely wrote about it. And when they do, they don’t use the word nephesh. Often we assume that the Bible translates nephesh into soul but that’s not the case.
Psalm 119:175 (NLT) let me (nephesh) live, that it may praise you.
Our main text today, to love God with all my soul – nephesh - is to devote my entire physical existence to my Creator, my entire being with all of my capabilities and limits to love my God. You know the question is this, can we say today this moment that we are fulfilling that command in everything we are saying and doing.