The Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon
That you will neither feed Ashurbanipal, the crown-prince, son of Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, your lord, nor give him to drink, nor anoint him with a deadly poisonous plant nor will you make magic against him, nor make the gods and goddesses to be angry with him. You swear that you will love Ashurbanipal, the crown-prince, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, your lord as you do yourselves. That, before Ashurbanipal, the crown-prince, you will not slander his brothers, his mother's sons. That you will not speak anything that is not good about them, that you will not put your hands on their houses; that you will not transgress
Deuteronomy 6:5
3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number—as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. 6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up.
Notes and References
"... The well-known “Shema Yisrael” in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ... A present-day reader may wonder why the text does not state: “The LORD our God is the only God.” This would align with other monotheistic statements in the Hebrew Bible. It seems self-evident that Yahweh, “the LORD,” is one God and not multiple gods. Knowing the Hebrew inscriptions of the eighth-century Kuntillet Ajrud, which mention “Yahweh of Teman,” “Yahweh of Samaria,” and “Yahweh and his Asherah,” provides insight into Deuteronomy 6:4’s emphasis on the unity of Yahweh, who is to be worshipped in only one sanctuary. The call to “love” Yahweh wholeheartedly and exclusively gains new significance when viewed in the context of Neo-Assyrian vassal treaties, which demanded undivided “love” for the Assyrian overlord from his subjects and vassals. This demonstrates how understanding the historical realities in which and for which a biblical text was written can enhance comprehension of its theological statements ..."
Krüger, Thomas Recent Developments in the History of Ancient Israel and their Consequences for a Theology of the Hebrew Bible (pp. 5-13) University of Zurich, 2010