In Deuteronomy 6, Moses summons Israel to attention and covenant loyalty:
“Hear, O Israel! Yahweh our God, is one Yahweh!”
This confession, foundational for Israel of old and for the Church today, is immediately joined to the command to love God with one’s whole heart. In Old Testament thought, the “heart” is not merely the seat of emotion, but of thought, understanding, and will. Likewise, the Hebrew verb for “love” in this context means more than affection. It denotes covenant fidelity, steadfast devotion, and obedience.
To love the one God, then, is to give Him undivided loyalty in every aspect of your life.
Jesus himself reaffirmed this as “the first and greatest of all the commandments” (Mark 12:29; cf. John 14:15). And following the Old Testament, love for God in the New Testament is not reduced to emotional displays, but what Paul later calls “the obedience of faith.”
This helps explain the central place of Scripture in ancient Jewish worship. Rabbinic tradition regarded the diligent study of God’s revealed Torah as among the highest forms of worship. Torah was seen as the very expression of God’s will and glory. As The Adult Jewish Education Handbook observes:
“The rabbis also explicitly argued that though many activities can help earn one a place in the world to come, e.g., honoring your parents, deeds of loving-kindness, making peace between a man and his fellow, the study of Torah equals all of these put together” (p. 33).
That perspective stands in marked contrast to much modern Christian practice, where worship is often reduced to a weekly church service centered on music, and passive listening, with little to no engagement with Scripture. By contrast, the Bible calls believers to something far more concrete and demanding: attentive hearing, disciplined study, and obedient faith.
For Christians, this means listening above all to the Son of God, the promised Jewish Messiah and prophet like Moses. In Deuteronomy 18:18–19 God declares:
“I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it will be that whoever will not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”
True worship, then, is not passive, nor is it a once-a-week musical experience.
It is the serious and obedient response to the words God has spoken through His beloved and uniquely procreated human Son.
To the Israel of old, God gave the command to Shema—“Hear!”
The same command stands for the new Israel, the Church (Gal 6:16), as the voice from heaven says:
“This is My Son, whom I love, because He pleases Me. Listen to him!” (Matt. 17:5b)
