Strength and Wealth

In some ancient Near Eastern languages the words for ‘strength’ and ‘wealth’ are interchangeable. Interestingly, Deuteronomy 6:4, the so-called shema, Moses tells the Israelites to love the Lord their God with all their hearts and with all their souls and with all their strength. The problem with this verse is that it literally says to love God with ‘all your exceedingly.’ Obviously, ‘all your exceedingly’ doesn’t make sense and so translators have to figure out how to put that into sensible English.

Funny thing is that ancient translators experienced the same problem. The translators of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament made before the time of Christ, used the words power or might. This is where we get the translation ‘all your strength.’ The targums, Aramaic translations of the Old Testament, use the word mammon. This is the very word Jesus uses when he says, “You cannot serve both God and mammon,” i.e., money.

The point is that in Deuteronomy we are being told to love God with everything we’ve got, including our money. It’s not about tithing. It’s about loving God with all you’ve got, not just the first 10%. It’s also not a guilt trip. It’s not that Moses is some greasy con-man who just wants people’s money. It’s that God wants us to love him with every financial decision we make: paying rent, eating out, buying groceries, investing in your 401(k)…everything. God’s desire is that we revel in his blessing while eagerly desiring to pay that blessing forward.