One of the primary foundations of faith for the Christian is the triune nature of God, or Trinity. This Trinity, unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a basic belief and yet one of contention for our unbelieving friends. They argue that we believe in one God but we actually worship three gods – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

Honestly, this is a hard concept for me as well. My faith allows me to believe this without fully understanding it because I have the Holy Spirit helping me. But to better help you understand it and understand our verse today, I did a little (actually a lot) of digging.  

In this part of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is giving final instructions to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. They have been in the desert for 40 years following God and waiting to enter into the land of milk and honey.  

Because of an earlier sin, Moses is not going to be entering with the rest of his nation, so he is giving them final instructions to keep them safe and thriving. Like a mom reminding her teenaged child who is driving someplace without them for the first time, “don’t be on your phone while driving; use your blinkers; no taking anyone else in the car with you; call me when you get there”, the children of Israel (just like the teenaged child) have heard these instructions countless times, but Moses wants to ensure they are well when he is no longer with them.  

In our short verse today, also known as the Shema for the Jewish faith, the name of God is repeated three times. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” I found this fascinating, the word LORD in our verse is the Hebrew word Yehova (or YHWH) – the word the Hebrews would not even speak out of reverence for God. The word God in our verse is the Hebrew word Elohim. Here is the cool part – Elohim is a PLURAL noun even though the verbs associated with it are singular.  

According to John Ritenbaugh, the noun Elohim is plural but it is always used with a singular verb when it speaks of the true God. This indicates a unity and diversity within the nature of God. This unity and diversity is revealed in Scripture as the doctrine of the Trinity. A good example of this is that of a family. Family is one unit, even though it has many members. If one allows the Bible to interpret itself, it clearly shows that Elohim is an institution consisting of more than one Person. 

As you read on Monday, Elohim is the name used of God in the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” All three persons of our most holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were there from the very beginning.