To do what matters most, we must understand Deuteronomy 6:4-5. And to understand this passage, we need to appreciate it as God’s call for Israel to brace for impact with Canaanite culture. Polytheism makes idol worship like picking stocks: Try to avoid the losers while buying the winners. For a Canaanite living in the second millennium BC, there were over 150 “gods” to choose from. Literary sources from the time suggest that some of the big guns were:
- El (“the mighty one”), aka Lupton, head of the divine assembly that meets “at the source of rivers” in the mountains. El’s three wives are Astarte (or Asherah), Athirat, and Anath.
- Asherah, she who treads/subdues the sea
- Ashtaroth, daughter of El and Asherah, goddess of fertility, love, and war
- Baal (“lord” or “owner”), possibly also goes by Hadad (“lord of heaven”), a storm god who is into thunder and lightning
- Mot, god of the underworld and death who always wins his annual battle with Baal
- Dagon, sometimes represented as the fish god, but probably also a storm god
- Molech, an Ammonite god of consuming and “purifying” fire. Children were sacrificed to this god.
According to J S Deere (Bible Knowledge Commentary ad. loc. Deuteronomy 6), “the ‘gods’ of the ancient Near East rarely were thought of as acting in harmony. Each god was unpredictable and morally capricious. So a pagan worshiper could never be sure that his loyalty to one god would serve to protect him from the capricious wrath of another.” The Canaanite worship challenge was figuring out how to appease one “god” without offending another. Sounds like attempting to serve two masters – good luck with that!
Against the backdrop of a religion that juggles appeasement of rival “gods,” Moses declared, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). When Moses says, “The Lord is one,” he is not just saying “God first” but “God only.” And “God only” is the biblical starting point for any discussion of how we can do what matters most.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is part of Israel’s mission briefing before entering the Promised Land. Once God’s people crossed the Jordan, they would enjoy the benefits of an established infrastructure, including ready-made houses, cisterns, and vineyards. But receiving these blessings would expose Israel to risk. They might take these gifts for granted, forget the Lord, and adopt the polytheistic worship of their predecessors. God anticipated this danger and declared, through Moses: “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 6:14–15).
The oneness of the one true God is clearly set in contrast to some hierarchy of Canaanite gods. When Moses said, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one,” Israel faced a clear choice between the God of Israel OR every other so-called god. There was no middle ground. Either love the God of Israel who is without rival or peer, OR “go Canaanite” and try to prioritize many gods in the hope of appeasing the ones who matter more. This is really just a variation of the classic 123 plan, only the “priorities” to be ranked are gods and demigods as opposed to people and activities.
Monotheism is both simple and freeing. Every Israelite may shout, “There is one God! He is our God! And we are free to give Him 100%. We choose to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might without fear of offending any other so called god, without having to divide our allegiance and measure our devotion.” People of the one true God are liberated to go all-in with the God who is one.
So here is the first principle of priorities: We have only one priority! It is our joy and privilege to serve God alone in all that we do, to love him with reckless abandon. Precisely here is the beauty of loving the God who is one.
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