The First Shema

and he said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:10

Heard – “Sh’ma, O Israel” is the center of the faith.  Every day Israel is called to listen and obey.  The word shema means both – listen and obey.  But the first time it is used in Scripture, it isn’t about listening or obeying.  It’s about fear.  When Adam says, “I heard your voice,” he isn’t proclaiming the sovereignty of the Lord.  He isn’t declaring his loyalty to God’s Word.  He is running scared.

Scripture accurately describes the dual nature of our reality.  We can turn nearly any action into a declaration of God’s goodness or a statement of our depravity.  The result of sin is always to shift the action from God’s order toward disorder.  When you think about it, God’s instructions provide an orderly existence – a harmony between all the created elements of the world – that results in well-being for everyone (shalom).  But sin disrupts that order.  The Hebrew word hata (miss the mark) consists of the consonants Cheth-Teth-Aleph.  The pictograph of these consonants is “a fence that surrounds strength.”  In other words, sin puts a fence around strength.  It prevents you from participating in the strength of life.  It keeps you on the outside.  We can see the relationship to other Hebrew words that describe sinful behavior.  ta’ah (to go astray) is the picture of surrounding the eye so that you cannot see.  asham (sin or guilt) is the picture of what destroys the essence of a person.  It is the reintroduction of chaos.  When we don’t listen and obey, all these other images erupt in our lives.

Adam heard God give the command.  He listened but he did not obey.  As zakar, he was created to remember.  His only relationship requirement was to remember what God said and live according to God’s words.  God told Adam everything that he needed to know in order to maintain a perfect relationship with Him.  But Adam listened to the naked snake.  Standing next to his ‘ezer, he participated in the rebellion.  He said nothing.  His silence brought about the Fall just as much as Eve’s conversation.  Adam listened and obeyed the voice of the snake instead of the voice of God.  Adam is the first occurrence of the observation that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. 

Unfortunately, this becomes Adam’s default behavior.  This isn’t the only time when his silence causes generational disaster, as we shall see.  But it is a critical reminder to us.  Silence is not golden.  It’s godless.  When we are faced with the temptation to not remember who God is, who we are and the difference between us, we must speak up.  We must listen and obey.  We must object to the serpents who suggest that our own feelings are the final arbiter of moral behavior.  We must respond as the second Adam responded – “It is written.”

Topical Index:  shema, hata, ta’ah, asham, listen, obey, heard, Genesis 3:10