“To love God, then, with all your heart and with all your
soul, means with your whole self, including your rationality, mental capacity,
moral choices and will, inner feelings and desires, and the deepest roots of
your life. To this profound pair the
Shema adds a third, remarkable item: (literally) ‘and with all your
very-muchness’…. This word is
everywhere else used adverbially, meaning ‘greatly,’ ‘exceedingly.’…. It may even be that this third word is simply
intensifying the other two as a climax. ‘Love
the Lord our God with total commitment (heart), with your total self (soul), to
total excess!’ Loving God should be ‘over
the top!’ “
– Christopher J.H. Wright “Deuteronomy: Understanding the Bible Commentary Series” p.
99
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