Editing Openai/696101e5-816c-800f-90b6-810bfa6850cb (section)

=== Assistant: This is a beautiful connection, and you’re right: in Hebrew, “hearing” and “obeying” are not separate ideas—they are on… ===
This is a beautiful connection, and you’re right: in Hebrew, “hearing” and “obeying” are not separate ideas—they are one reality.

==== 1. Shema (שָׁמַע) — Hearing That Becomes Doing ====

The Hebrew verb ''shema'' means:
* to hear
* to listen attentively
* to obey / respond with action

There is no biblical concept of “hearing” that stops at the ear. To truly hear is to act. If there is no action, Hebrew thought would say: you did not hear at all.

This is why Israel’s central confession begins:

: “Hear, O Israel…”
: — Deuteronomy 6:4

The verse does not mean “receive audio information.”
It means: align your life with what God has said.

==== 2. Why Jesus Says “Don’t Tell Anyone” ====

When Jesus heals someone and tells them to remain silent, He is not asking for passive secrecy. He is calling for shema.

In effect, Jesus is saying:

: “You have heard Me.
: Now respond in obedience—
: not by speaking, but by trusting.”

Silence, in this case, is obedience.

To speak prematurely would actually be disobedience, even though it feels religious.

==== 3. Speaking Can Be a Substitute for Obedience ====

From a Hebrew perspective, talking about what God did can become a way to avoid full submission.

Jesus often requires:
* restraint instead of testimony
* waiting instead of broadcasting
* trust instead of explanation

This mirrors the Hebrew conviction:

: Obedience precedes understanding.

You don’t talk your way into faith.
You walk your way into it.

==== 4. The Deep Irony: They “Heard” the Miracle, But Didn’t “Shema” ====

In the Gospels, many healed people immediately tell everyone, even when Jesus tells them not to.

From a Western mindset, that feels right.
From a Hebrew mindset, it’s tragic irony.

They:
* heard Jesus’ words
* but did not shema them

Which means: they did not truly hear Him, even though they were healed by Him.

This echoes God’s complaint throughout Scripture:

: “They hear, but do not obey.”
: — theme throughout Isaiah and the prophets

==== 5. Demons Are Silenced for the Same Reason ====

Notice that Jesus also silences demons when they identify Him.

Why?

Because right words spoken from the wrong posture are not obedience.

Truth spoken without submission is noise.

Only those who shema are authorized to speak.

==== 6. Why Jesus Waits Until After the Resurrection ====

After the cross and resurrection, Jesus says:

: “Go and tell.”

Why the shift?

Because now:
* obedience has been fully modeled
* the meaning of the miracle is complete
* the cross has taught what kind of Messiah He is

Only then can speaking itself become an act of shema.

==== 7. A Hebrew Summary ====

In Hebrew thought:
* Hearing = Obeying
* Obeying = Trusting
* Trusting = Waiting
* Waiting = Faith

So when Jesus says, “Tell no one,” He is not suppressing testimony—
He is testing hearing.

: Will you shema Me even when silence costs you praise, attention, or certainty?

==== One Final Thought (Deeply Hebrew) ====

Miracles do not authorize speech.
Obedience does.

And sometimes the most faithful response to God’s power
is not proclamation—
but quiet alignment.

If you’d like, I can also show how this same shema–obedience theme runs straight through Jesus’ phrase:

: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”