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"God is One"
Some time ago,
during a deputation tour, my wife and I were invited to meet with
several Israelis. They had taken it upon themselves to prepare a meal
for us and we enjoyed both the food and the fellowship together. Later
in the day a spiritual discussion developed. One of the young men,
Noah, said, “Christians believe Jesus is God” but added, “Our faith is
based upon God’s word: ‘Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God the LORD
is one!’” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
Jewish people love a challenge
This was a good
opportunity to ask if the group knew that the Hebrew word for “one” (echad),
in the text quoted, was used in the Tanakh in a plural context! Someone
commented that this was so and we agreed to continue discussing the
topic. Together we read God’s account in Genesis 2:24 of the man and
the woman becoming “one flesh”. The Israelis seemed
surprised, recognising that the word in this verse refers to two
separate persons becoming one. Without any prompting Rena, one of the
young women in the group, suddenly said, “I have never read the New
Testament”! Vicky responded by handing her a copy, which she accepted,
assuring us it would be read. Noel wanted to continue the study, so we
turned to Judges 20:11: “All the men of Israel were … united together
as one man”. The group noted that in this verse echad
refers to 400,000
persons! Noel’s brow was beginning to
pucker and we took this as a sign that we should continue the
discussion.
Only one son
We went on to
read how the Angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham about his willingness
to sacrifice his only son (Genesis 22). The Hebrew
word used for “only son” is yachid, which means “one and only
one”. We continued by discussing the Hebrew prophet’s words in
Zechariah 12:10: “They will mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only
son”. Again the group noted the word for “only son” or “one and only
son” was yachid. We asked why, in their opinion, Moses hadn’t
used this word in Deuteronomy 6:4 as this would have left no doubt in
our minds that God was an absolute unity? At this stage there was
silence!
Before leaving, we gave a copy
of the Bible to Noel for we are confident that if our friends continue
to seek the truth, God will honour his promise, “Faith comes by
hearing,
and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Later we learnt that
Noel had been reading the copy of the Scriptures we had given him and
comparing it with his Hebrew Bible. We continue to rejoice in our
hearts knowing that God will reveal himself to those who seek the truth.
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