Every morning and evening, observant Jews recite a prayer called the Shema. This practice is prescribed by the following passage from Deuteronomy, which is also the opening section of the prayer:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Jews also follow the admonitions from this passage in other ways. They place the written text in a small case called a mezuzah which is fastened to the doorpost. They strap the words to the forehead and arm in small boxes called tefillin for weekday morning prayer. And Jewish parents teach their children to recite these words from an early age.
The Book of Mormon never quotes this passage, but its influence is pervasive. Echoes of the Shema appear as Nephite prophets teach their children, cultivate a holistic religious practice, and urge people to let God’s word sink deep into their hearts.
King Benjamin taught his sons that the brass plates enabled their ancestors to fulfill this commandment. “It were not possible,” he explained, “that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates.” Benjamin said that the plates enabled them to read and understand the mysteries of God “and have his commandments always before our eyes.” He concluded by urging his sons to “search them diligently,” echoing the Lord’s admonition in the Shema to “teach them diligently” (Mosiah 1:4-5, 7).
About 50 years later, the prophet Alma used Shema-like language as he entrusted those plates to his son Helaman. “Let all thy doings be unto the Lord,” he counseled, “and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever” (Alma 37:36). Then, he added:
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God.
Alma 37:37
This pattern of bookending the day with prayers is consistent with the admonition in the Shema to speak the words of God “when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Alma also urged the Zoramites to fill their lives with prayer. When they asked him “whether they should believe in one God” (Alma 33:1), which echoes the opening of the Shema, Alma responded by quoting a prayer of Zenos, in which he recounts praying in the wilderness, in the field, in his house, in his closet, and in the midst of congregations (Alma 33:4-9). In other words, “when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.“
The Shema advocates not only filling one’s life with God’s commandments but also internalizing them. “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.” So it’s striking that Abinadi rebuked the corrupt priests of King Noah by saying, “I read unto you the remainder of the commandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts” (Mosiah 13:11). Centuries earlier, Enos reported that “the words which [he] had often heard [his] father speak … sunk deep into [his] heart” (Enos 1:3). And after the people of King Benjamin took upon themselves the name of Christ, he urged them to “retain the name written always in your hearts” (Mosiah 5:12).
The consecration embedded in the admonition to love God with all one’s heart, soul, and might (which Jesus identified as the first great commandment) also appears multiple times in the Book of Mormon. Notably, Moroni ends the book with a promise that Christ’s grace is sufficient for those who deny themselves of ungodliness and “love God with all [their] might, mind and strength” (Moroni 10:32). This formula of ‘might, mind, and strength’ preserves the Shema‘s three-part structure while substituting “mind” and “strength” for “heart” and “soul,” which is consistent with earlier admonitions from Nephi, Benjamin, and Alma (2 Nephi 25:29; Mosiah 2:11; Alma 39:13).
Taken together, all of these passages suggest that Nephite prophets accepted the mandate of the Shema to fill their lives and their hearts with God’s word and to love Him with every part of their being. They might not have quoted it, but they lived it and they taught it.
Today, I will strive to remember God always. I will let His words sink deep into my heart, pray to Him morning and night, and teach His words to my children.
So awesome! I was just commenting to my wife that Alma 37:37 is reminiscent of Deuteronomy. No doubt that the Nephi prophets drew upon the Torah. Great find!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.