I am reading the Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 6:5. This is the famous "commandment" to love God with all your heart/soul/strength. Jesus quotes it, Jews still say it nightly at bedtime and in the morning today, etc.
The text begins with the verb "וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔" which is often translated "you shall love." But the verb conjugation is conjugate-perfect. As I understand it, this is "reversed" through the vav to imperfect form. You would then have "you will love" or "you are still loving." That is to say that the act of loving God is ongoing and incomplete.
Contrast this with the presence of an imperative in the previous verse (Deut 6:4) after which the prayer is named. The verb shema ("שְׁמַ֖ע") is in the command form of the verb. You might translate it as, "Listen up!"
Compare this to the Exodus 20:3, the first commandment, where the verse says "You shall not have other Gods than me." Here, the "to be" verb is in the imperfect directly. It is also not in the Jussive/Imperative form.
A contrasting example is in Genesis 1:3 where the verb "to be" is in imperfect jussive form (a command) of "to be" is used for "be light!" in the command to start off creation.
I'm trying to understand what this means in terms of the commandments. My thinking is that this is more of an image of the law as a trellis and not a system of judgment. If one follows the law, then you are like the vine that grows following the trellis. If not, the vine-grower cuts off the branch and throws it in the fire. There is not malice in this.
So the question: Why is this not in the imperative form as "shema" is in Deut 6:4? What does it mean to say "you will love" or "you are loving the Lord your God?" Is this a commandment or a prediction or a statement about what will happen? As I understand it, Deuteronomy, in particular, is quite deterministic in it's anthropology and theology.
Thoughts?