Deuteronomy 6:5: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
Mark 12:30: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.”
We all recognize that love is a gift. It is something that you give freely. By giving someone love you are giving them your heart and making yourself vulnerable to that person, giving that person the power to wound you and hurt you. That is a true gift and one not given lightly. It is a gift that is solely up to you and your right to give it or to not give it. To give of yourself in such a way it must be a voluntary act of one’s will. If this is the case then why does God command us to love Him?
This has often plagued me as many others and as I am now into my eleventh day of the search for the One Whom my soul loves I am finally addressing this question. Why must God make it a command that I love Him. By commanding me to love takes away the idea of giving Him a gift. That is the only gift I can give Him, surely He is not taking that away from me.
I went to my English Bible and found the words thou shalt love in Deuteronomy 6:5. That sounds like a command to me. In fact the New Testament even calls it a commandment. Do it or else. Someone once described it as being on a sinking ship and the captain commands you to get into a life boat. It is a command meant to save your life. So too with God who commands you to love Him or face the consequences of not loving Him. That’s cool, but it doesn’t satisfy me. If I am on a sinking ship and the captain points to a spot in the life boat and says it is reserved for me and everyone else is taken care of, I mean he does not have to order me into the boat.
However, when I looked in my Hebrew Bible I found something interesting. Thou shalt love is the word ‘ahavat which is love in a grammatical preterite tense. It is not in an imperative form. Imperative is a command. A preterite is, well let me quote form the Gesenius Hebrew Grammar book, the standard Hebrew grammar that is used in our seminaries and Bible colleges. I quote on page 312-313, “To express facts which are undoubtable imminent and therefore in the imagination of the speaker, already accomplished (perfectum confidentiae).” A preterite is not a command but an expression of one’s imagination, of something that has been accomplished or will be accomplished. Hence we should render this not: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” But “Thou will love the Lord thy God.” Better yet, “Thou does love the Lord they God.”
In ancient times and up through medieval times and still in some areas today the Jews arrange a marriage. Sometimes the bride and bridegroom do not meet until the day of their wedding. That is the origin of the bridal veil as the groom could not look upon his bride until they were married. The bride will often ask her mother before the wedding, “But what if I don’t love him?” The mother’s answer would always be: “You will, you will learn to love each other.” Every day an orthodox Jew puts on his phylactery and recites Deuteronomy 6:5, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God…” However, one rabbi told me the way he prays this verse is: “I will love the Lord my God…” He then commented that he is not sure when he will reach that state of perfect love but he is confident he will so he expresses it as a given as a preterite.
We used to call the preterite a future perfect tense. For instance, David says that his enemies are destroyed, Preterite tense. His enemies are not destroyed, they are still out there, but his faith is so strong and he is so certain of God’s protection he says it as if it is a fact. In fact as a preterite tense, “Thou shalt love the Lord” could be more properly rendered as “I do love the Lord God with all my heart, soul and might.” If it is not true right now, I am confident that one day, one day I will be able to stand before God face to face and say: “I love you with all my heart, soul and might.” So if it is not true now and it will be so why not just say it as a fact. After all it is a command. Ouch, there is that word again. What shall I ever do with that word command? Welcome to my meditation for Day #12.
My study help that I use says it this way. They are quite good actually after having read this word study about Preterite tense.
H8816 Perfect
The Perfect expresses a completed action.
1) In reference to time such an action me be:
1a) one just completed from the standpoint of the present
“I have come” to tell you the news
1b) one completed in the more or less distant past
in the beginning God “created”
“I was (once) young” and “I have (now) grown old” but “I have not seen” a righteous man forsaken
1c) one already completed from the point of view of another past act
God saw everything that “he had made”
1d) one completed from the point of view of another action yet future
I will draw for thy camels also until “they have done” drinking
2) The perfect is often used where the present is employed in English.
2a) in the case of general truths or actions of frequent occurrence — truths or actions which have been often experienced or observed
the grass “withereth”
the sparrow “findeth” a house
2b) an action or attitude of the past may be continued into the present
“I stretch out” my hands to thee
“thou never forsakest” those who seek thee
2c) the perfect of intransitive verbs is used where English uses the present; The perfect in Hebrew in such a case emphasises a condition which has come into “complete existence” and realisation
“I know” thou wilt be king
“I hate” all workers of iniquity
2d) Sometimes in Hebrew, future events are conceived so vividly and so realistically that they are regarded as having virtually taken place and are described by the perfect.
2d1) in promises, threats and language of contracts
the field “give I” thee
and if not, “I will take it”
2d2) prophetic language
my people “is gone into captivity” (i.e. shall assuredly go)