Video
Shema – Listen
Is hearing and listening the same thing? In this video, discover how sound entering your ear-drums isn’t synonymous with “listening”, at least from a biblical perspective. This video is the first installment of our Word Studies series, a six-part exploration of the ancient biblical prayer called “The Shema.”
Resume
Shema, som betyder "hør" eller "lyt" på hebraisk, er en central bøn i jødisk tradition, der udtrykker hengivenhed til Gud. Bønnen indledes med ordene: "Hør, Israel, Herren er vor Gud, Herren er én." Ordet "shema" anvendes i den hebraiske bibel til mere end blot at høre lyde; det indebærer også at være opmærksom og at reagere på det, man hører. For eksempel nævner Leah, der ikke blev elsket af sin mand Jakob, sin søn Simon, fordi Gud har "hørt" hendes nød. I Salmernes Bog beder folk Gud om at "shema" deres stemme, hvilket også er en anmodning om, at Gud skal handle. I 2. Mosebog opfordrer Gud israelitterne til at "shema" ham fuldt ud og holde hans pagt, hvilket understreger, at lytning og lydighed er nært forbundet. I det gamle hebraisk findes der ikke et særskilt ord for "adlyde"; derfor bruges "shema" til at beskrive både at lytte og at følge instrukser. Dette viser, at ægte lytning kræver både respekt for den, der taler, og handling. Profeterne i Israels historie kritiserede folket for at have "ører, men ikke lytter", hvilket indikerer, at de kunne høre, men ikke handlede i overensstemmelse med Guds ord. Shema repræsenterer således en dyb forbindelse mellem at høre, forstå og handle i tro.
Læs transskription
For thousands of years, every morning and evening Jewish people have prayed these well-known words as a way of expressing their devotion to God. They’re called the “Shema”: “Hear, o Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And as for you, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your strength. Now, the first word of the Shema is “hear” or “listen”, which in Hebrew is pronounced “shay ma”. That’s where the prayer gets its name. Now, shema is a really common word in the Hebrew Bible and it’s obvious why. Hearing is a very universal activity. It’s usually connected with the ear, as in Proverbs chapter twenty: “Ears that shema and eyes that see: the Lord has made them both.” Now, that seems basic enough, but if you look at the other ways that Hebrew authors can use the word shema, they use it to mean more than just “let sound waves enter your ear.” In Hebrew shema can also mean “pay attention to” or “focus on”. So when Leah, who wasn’t loved by her husband Jacob, she has a son and she names him Simon or, in Hebrew, “shim-ohn” because, she says, “The Lord has sham-ohd that I am unloved.” So shema means to hear and to pay attention to and, even more. It can also mean “responding to what you hear”. This is why so many of the cries for help in the Book of Psalms begin with a call that God “listen”. Psalm 27:7 “Shema my voice when I call, oh Lord. Be merciful. Answer me.” So asking God to shema is, at the same time asking God to act; to do something. It’s similar to when God asks people to listen. Like when the people of Israel come to Mount Sinai God says, “If you shema me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Now, there are a couple interesting things about this verse in Exodus. In Hebrew, the word shema is repeated twice in this sentence to give it emphasis. If you “Shama, Shama” meaning, “Listen closely”. But also notice that from God’s point of view, listening is basically the same as keeping the Covenant. So when God asked the people to “Shema,” what he means is that they listen and obey. And that’s the last fascinating thing about shema. In ancient Hebrew,, there is no separate word for “obey” meaning, “to carry out the wishes of someone who knows better than you or is in authority over you. So, in the Bible, if you want to say, “I will listen and do what you say,” you use the single word, “shema”. In Hebrew, listening and doing are two sides of the same coin. This is why, later in Israel’s history, when the people were breaking their covenant promises to God, the Hebrew prophets would say things like, “They have ears, but they’re not listening.” The Israelites of course could hear just fine. But they weren’t actually listening or else they would act differently. And so, in the end, listening in the Bible is about giving respect to the one speaking to you and doing what they said. Real listening takes effort and action. And that’s the Hebrew word, “Shema”. Hey guys, thanks for watching the Bible project. We hope this video is helpful. It’s part of a brand new series called, “Word Studies” and we hope to make a whole bunch more. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus and has profound wisdom for the modern world. You can watch all of our videos here on YouTube and check us out on our website at thebibleproject.com Thanks
