Deuteronomy 6:5 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might.”
Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” From the Greek – KJV
Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love THE LORD JEHOVAH your God from all your heart and from all your soul and from all your power and from all your mind.’ From the Aramaic – Peshitta Bible
This passage has always bothered me because Jesus was making a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6:5, yet it appears He misquoted the passage. In Deuteronomy 6:5 He says we are to love the Lord God with all our might, but in Matthew 22:37 He says we are to love Him with all our mind.
No matter how you look at it, mind and might are two different things. How could Jesus have made such an error and stranger still why did not the Pharisees who were trying to trap Jesus and knew every letter of the law backwards and forwards not pick up on it? It wasn’t until I read Matthew 22:37 in my Aramaic Bible did I realize what a clever thing Jesus did. In the Aramaic He did quote the passage correctly, only he inserted a bit of commentary into it to challenge the Pharisees.
In the Greek the word mind is dianoia which simply means mind, understanding or imagination. Jesus, however, was not speaking in Greek, He was speaking in Aramaic and according to the Aramaic Bible what he said was from you power and your mind. He used two Aramaic words kayla (power, strength) and Reina (mind, will) for the Hebrew word mo’ed (strength, will). You see, there was a big debate as to whether the greatest commandment meant we were to love God with all our hearts, soul and might (strength) or hearts, soul and will. To love Him with all our might would mean we grit our teeth and force ourselves to love God with all our hearts and soul, but to say we love Him with our wills would mean we just simply sit back and make a choice to love Him. The problem is mo’ed could mean either or both.
The Pharisee who asked this question, as we learn in verse 35 asked it to test Jesus. Even a child knew the answer to the question on what the greatest commandment was, they recited it every day in their morning prayers when they said the Shema. However, Oral Tradition taught something call Derech Eretz (literally – the way of the land). Derech Eretz is a good teaching, it teaches respect for all mankind, including the elderly, the handicapped and those in need regardless of their race, religion or color. Such is the teaching in Israel today. However, in Jesus’s day the Pharisees taught Derech Eretz was equal to the study of Torah. In the Mishnah in Tractate Avoth 2:2 it declares “Beautiful is the study of Torah with Derech Eretz, an involvement with both makes one forgets sin.”
This Pharisee wanted Jesus to answer in his own native language, Aramaic, which meant that he would have had to more clearly define the Hebrew word mo’ed (strength and/or will). If he would have said kayla (strength) he would have said that you must use your own power to do good works as loving mankind to show your love for God. If he would have just said reina (will) he would have simply said you must choose to love God regardless of Derech Eretz. Instead, Jesus used both Aramaic words which clearly defined the word mo’ed as the strength of your will. In other words, in the Hebrew this commandment would read, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all the strength of your will.” Then Jesus pulled a little Pharisaical trick where, when the want to equate oral tradition with the Torah but not place it equal or greater than Torah they say: “The second is like unto it.” Here Jesus confirms the importance of Derech Eretz by saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself without placing it above the commandment to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength of your will.
So Jesus did not misquote Deuteronomy 6:5 He only translated it into the Aramaic. But what is strength of the will? Love is often hard. When I performed a marriage as a pastor I would ask the bride and groom, “Do you promise to love?” I think I half expected them to answer, “How could you ask such a stupid question, of course we do, that is why we are here.” But see I was not asking for that moment, I was asking them if they promised to love five years later when the honeymoon was over, there were problems, conflicts and other desires. I was asking that when you get so frustrated with your mate, when you feel you do not love this person, do you promise to love with mo’ed (the strength of your will). When love no longer just happens, you must choose to love and sometimes it will take all the strength of your will to love that person. “Do you promise to do that?”
So too it is with God. Sometimes it takes all the strength of our will. When the battles get tough, the mountains too steep and you cry out to God and seemingly get no response and you find it hard to love God in the midst of your struggle can you look up and say: “God, I still love you no matter what happens.” That is loving Him with all you mo’ed. You just don’t love God, you choose to love God and sometimes it takes all the strength of your will to make that choice, just as Jesus clearly pointed out that the second is like the first. Sometimes you confront a person that you cannot love, but you must make the choice to love and sometimes it takes mo’ed (all the strength of your will) to follow Derech Eretz (respect and love for all mankind).
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