Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Ezekiel, part 2

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our cruise through the NIV 84, looking at words translated 'Heart/ hearts' , has brought us to the middling chapters of Ezekiel. We'll look at four selections today, starting in chapter 18...

"Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and and a new spirit.  Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD.  Repent and live!"  -- Ez. 18:31-32; 'heart' is the familiar Strong's H 3820,  Leb inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding 

Here's another passage that foreshadows the concept of a new birth... a new heart and a new spirit.  The plea to repent and live...Why will you die? strikes me as especially poignant.  Why indeed?  It's just as relevant today. 

In chapter 20, Ezekiel is doing a review of Israel's history:

"Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would  not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands -- because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths.  For their hearts were devoted to their idols."  -- Ez. 20:15-16; 'Hearts' is H 3820 again.

A heart devoted to an idol cannot be a heart devoted to God.  

"Therefore groan, son of man!  Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief.   And when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say, 'Because of the news that is coming.  Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water.'  It is coming!  It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. -- Ez. 21:6-7; the second occurrence of 'heart' is , once again, H3820, but the first one is a word we have not seen yet, Strong's H4975, Matnayim - loins, side, greyhound (? 'perhaps an extinct animal').  I actually think this is a literal reference to, um, broken loins....let's just say acute, excruciating pain.  The NIV translating it as a broken heart is an idiomatic translation that's a little more delicate than an exact translation would be.

In any case, Ezekiel is instructed to grieve over the coming judgment.  His timeline is that he is prophesying after the first deportation of Jewish leaders to Babylon, but before the final destruction of Jerusalem.    The context of the chapter is very clearly prophesying the final and utter defeat of the nation of Judah. Judgment was coming...and the people were not believing it.  

The warning continues; we have another reference to melting hearts...

"So that hearts may melt and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at their gates.  Oh! It is made to flash like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter."  -- Ez. 21:15; 'Hearts' is, again, H 3820.

It actually did not matter one whit that the people didn't think it was going to  happen; that they were doing what seemed right to them.  Horrible, tragic, absolute judgment was coming.  

And all the people had to do to avert it was listen to the prophet, confess and repent of their idolatry, and follow God's covenant.

Why will you die?

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Ezekiel, Part 1

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Why does it always take so long to get back into the routine after Christmas?  Or is it just me....?

But better late than never and it's a new year and we are jumping into the final stages of the Old Testament; if I am looking at my notes correctly, we have about 10 weeks left before we come to the end of the minor prophets in our look at 'heart/ hearts', as translated by the NIV 85.  And today we are starting the surreal book of Ezekiel.

There are not a lot of references to 'heart/ hearts' in Ezekiel, given the length of the book. He focuses on ...other things, mostly.  But there are a few verses for us to look at, and we will begin in chapter three, with God giving instruction to Ezekiel:

And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you." -- Ez. 3:10; 'Heart' is the second most frequent word we've seen,  Strong's H3824, Lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding. Also, as we have seen of late, it has a particular connotation of joining one's heart to God's.

God is about to give Ezekiel some very specific instructions about what he is to say and do and charged him to listen carefully and 'take [it] to heart'.  

Sound instruction not just for an Old Testament prophet, but for all of us today.  We listen willingly enough to the word from God...but falter at the 'take it to heart' part.  James warns us of being hearers of the word but not do-ers of the word.  If we don't take God's word seriously, applying it to everyday life, letting it influence our actions and deeds...have we even really heard it?

There are consequences for not taking the word to heart.

"Then in the nations where they have been carried away captive, those who escape will remember me -- how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.  They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices." - Ez. 6:9; 'Hearts' is the most common Hebrew word translated 'Heart/ hearts', Strong's H3820, Leb: Inner man, mind will, heart, understanding

Rebellion and idolatry ...turning away from God and embracing idols (of any kind) bring judgment.  Judgment either leads to rejection of God completely or conviction and repentance.  It's rough to see oneself from God's perspective and recognize our self centered behavior for what it is.

We go all the way to chapter 11 for the next mention of heart/ hearts, and what happens when there is repentance and restoration:

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." -- Ez. 11:19;  all instances of 'heart' are H 3820.

This, to me, is one of the most amazing concepts in the Old Testament, foreshadowing the whole idea of a new birth.

But, for the folks who get angry at the judgment and reject God

"But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."  -- Ez. 11:21; 'Hearts' is H 3020 again.

For a bit more detail on the consequences of idolatry...

Then the word of the LORD came to me:  "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces.  Should I let them inquire of me at all?  Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicket stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.  I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'"  -- Ez. 14:2-5;  all instance of 'heart' are H 3020.

This is an interesting concept...that one who holds idols also puts a stumbling block right in his or her own way. Something that causes a trip and a fall.  And...here's the thing.  That idol doesn't have to be a  Baal or an Ashtoreth.  It could be ANYTHING that takes precedence over taking God's word to heart.

Anything.

That takes some soul searching.

" 'When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself.  I will set my face against that man and make him an example and a byword.  I will cut him off from my people.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" - Ez. 14:7-9; 'Heart' is, once again, H 3820.

Serving idols in one's heart and still going through the motions of devotion to God...brings judgment.  Not just to the individual, but, as you read on down in the chapter, the prophet who ministers to him also falls under the same judgment.  

Idolatry is a serious thing, and the worship of God can NOT be contaminated with it.  We see this over and over in the prophets.  But this is not just a warning to not have little stone statues with burning incense in the house...it's a warning to not give up heart space to serving something that is not God.  

That heart space matters.  

A New Year...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

WHAT an original title for the post, lol.  I started writing, left, came back, looked at it and rolled my eyes.

Eh.  It works.

It's January, which means we have a crew of folks at church doing The Shred...which is not a diet-and-exercise routine, lol.  It's a plan to read the entire Bible in 30 days.  I did it two years ago, and debated doing it again, but decided I'd do another personal challenge instead.

It's still a repeat, but it's a test to see if I can do something I've been thinking about for a while.

One of the past challenges I've done is reading the Bible through in a year, following a simple formula of reading 3 chapters in the Old Testament and 1 chapter in the New Testament every day. If you stick to it faithfully, you'll actually finish before the year is over...sometime in October, I think.  But everyone misses a day here and there, so finishing in a year is a definite challenge...but one that's attainable.

But I added another layer on it.  One of the Bible study tools I teach is what I call the Bible Survey, that basically involves writing a sentence summary of each chapter as you read it.  We did that in four years when I was teaching the High School Girls class. 

I wondered if it would be too hard to add the Bible Survey on top of the 3 + 1 reading.

I grabbed a college-ruled, three subject spiral notebook at the grocery store last week and started on Sunday.  Two chapters in Genesis on page one, one chapter in Job on the first page of the second division, and one chapter in Matthew on the first page of the third division.

Today I'm on day 4 owing to a bit of a late start, but, like I said, there is a bit of wiggle room in the 3 + 1 plan.

I will still be doing the Heart/Hearts study on Fridays (or maybe Saturdays...lol).

I feel good about this.  If I am instructing folks to do this, I should be doing it myself, no?  

Here we go...

'Tis the Irrational Season....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

It was Madeleine L'Engle who educated me on Advent...what she called 'The Irrational Season'.  That was also the title of book three of what is termed her 'Crosswicks Journals' (Books one and two being A Circle of Quiet and The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, respectively).  Reading The Irrational Season, I learned that Advent is not really just about anticipating Christmas, but is eschatological, looking for the coming of Christ, in all aspects.  Irrational to think about Christ coming to us, or returning, especially in our current scientific-facts-based thinking.  But irrational is not fake...is not imaginary...just contrary to what we consider logic.  Irrational numbers are factually existent...as is irrational faith.

It feels highly irrational to me that Christmas is a mere 3 days away.  My inner clock wants the calendar to be somewhere in early November.   I hurt my back; I caught a nasty respiratory virus; I was Elizabeth, mother of John, in our church Christmas production.  All of which contributed to the missing time.  

A lot of words to say that I decided to put the Heart study on hold until after the holidays.  It's a convenient place to take a break, having just finished Lamentations, so we will dive into Ezekiel in the new year.

But I am still finding myself reflecting on things...and reading seasonally appropriate thoughts.

I have a slew of Christmas/ Advent related books...and they occupy the space under the tree, giving the feeling of 'something there' before and after the gifts show up.  The cat comes and goes, lol.

I wish I had time to sit down and read through all the books there...so much Good Stuff.  But tonight I picked up Miracle on 10th Street, which is a collection of seasonally appropriate writings from none other than Madeleine L'Engle.   Tonight I landed on an essay titled 'The Other Side of Reason'...I am not sure where it was first published.  I could look through my collection of Madeleine's writings but...time...I'm just going to quote it from the anthology in front of me.

To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity.  The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver.  In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command....Mary did not always understand.  But one does not have to understand to be obedient.  Instead of understanding -- that intellectual understanding which we are so fond of -- there is a feeling of rightness, of knowing, knowing things which we are not yet able to understand.

Irrational.  But somehow solidly right.

Merry Christmas.

Blogging Bible Study - The Heart of the Matter: Lamentations

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

In the holiday season...posts will just come when they come, lol....My schedule is all whacked and most of the time I'm not even sure what day it is....although I confess I am completely dumbfounded that Thanksgiving is in 4 days.  I'm kind of afraid I'll forget to do something critical.  But, we are still proceeding to look at 'heart/hearts' as translated by the NIV 84...and we have arrived at Lamentations.

I don't know if you all have notes in your Bibles; my NIV 84 has Scofield's notes and there is some interesting information about the poetry in Lamentations.  The first four chapters are rather like Psalm 119...Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 have 22 verses; in chapters 1 and 2, each verse which starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  Chapter 3 has 66 verses...22 sets of 3 verses, and each of the three verses in a set starts with the same Hebrew letter, so that each of the 22 sets is alphabetical (like the 8 verse sets in Ps. 119).   Chapter 5 is not alphabetical; however, it is poetic in the sense that the second phrase of each verse is shorter than the first phrase, which has a somber cadence.

So Jeremiah wasn't just a prophet, he was also quite the poet.

I am just going to comment on the context and the words used here; the depth of grief Jeremiah expresses in this short little set of poems is sobering.  This is a small little glimpse of his sorrow.

In chapter 1, Jeremiah is writing as if he were Jerusalem/ the nation of Judah

"See, O LORD, how distressed I am!  I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious.  Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me.  All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done.  May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me.  Let all their wickedness come before you; deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins.  My groans are many and my heart is faint."  Lam 1: 20 - 22;  both instances of 'heart' are Strong's H 3820 - Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. 

Jeremiah is writing out his own grief in chapter 2

My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.   -- Lam. 2: 11  'Heart' is a word we haven't seen before, H 3516 - kabed - liver, heaviest organ.  This is another one of those words that I think has been translated idiomatically as modern English speakers don't have a concept of the liver being poured out in sorrow...but the heart, yes, we would definitely have a concept of the heart being poured out.

The hearts of the people cry out to the LORD.  O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest.  Arise, cry out in the night as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.  Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.  -- Lam 2: 18 - 19;  both instances of heart are again H 3820. 

Jeremiah identifies himself with his nation in chapter 3::

He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. Lam 3: 12- 13; 'Heart' here is H 3629, kilya  -- kidneys, reins.  I'm just going to observe that the ancient Hebrews were varied in their organ references; us modern folks do not associate emotions with organs so much.  The NIV has translated this, as was done above with 'liver', as 'heart' because...idioms.  

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven." - Lam. 3:40-41; 'Heart' here is the second most common Hebrew word, Strong's H 3824, Lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.  I am also reminded that 'lebab' has the connotation of joining one's heart to God, which certainly makes sense here.

At the end of chapter 3, Jeremiah laments the treatment he has personally received from those in positions of authority, and asks God to avenge him.

Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.  Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!  -- Lam. 3: 64-65; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.

There are no references to 'heart/ hearts' in chapter four; chapter five is a prayer on behalf of the people:

Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.  The crown has fallen from our head.  Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this, our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.  -- Lam. 5:15-17; both instances of 'heart'  here are H 3820.

Aside from the bit in Lam. 3:21-26, which is the famous 'Great is thy faithfulness' passage, reminding us that there is hope even in the bleakest judgment...this is a very sad little book.  As it should be, lamenting the fall and destruction of a nation.  Hearts faint.  Hearts melt.  Hearts are poured out on the ground; hearts are pierced.  Joy has departed.  

Repentance was declined. Judgment fell.  Jeremiah, who had seen all his warnings ignored, lamented.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Jeremiah, part 7

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, I'm going to be honest here... due to December time off blackouts at work, I can't use vacation/ non-emergency PTO in December.  And since my hubby has been using up most all of his time off on  boys ministry related events...I have extra to use before, like, Thanksgiving. This means I have been taking random days off since I got back from Indiana...as a result, I am completely lost in any given week, lol, and have no idea what day it is.  So until I get back to a normal schedule, I might be, you know, off a day or so.

But be that as it may, we are finishing Jeremiah in our look at the words translated as 'Heart' and 'Hearts' in the NIV 84.

There is no mention of  'heart/ hearts/ in the narrative of the fall of Judah, the final exile, and the disobedience of those who were left in Judah, which is documented through chapter 45;  in chapter 46, the text shifts to a pronouncement of judgment of the nations in the area, and that is the context of all the verses we will look at today. 

This is what the LORD says: "Look!  An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.  Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken.  In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor. Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD. -- Jer. 48:41; both 'hearts' and 'heart' are Strong's H 3820, Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.

Ok, as a woman who has gone through natural childbirth four times, I am slightly offended at the surface implication that a woman in labor is weak.  Just sayin'.  But I suppose the actual connotation is that a laboring woman is totally absorbed in the task at hand and certainly is in no shape to fight any other battle.  And that IS the truth.  Once things hit a certain point, I couldn't even carry on a conversation.  The outside world did not exist. Imagine an entire army so preoccupied with...whatever...that they couldn't even raise a token resistance to the invaders.  Because she defied the LORD.

The next declaration is against Edom:

"The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill.  Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.  - Jer. 49:16; 'Heart' is, once again, H 3820.

The high ground is no advantage when God declares judgment.  Whatever victories have happened in the past, when judgment falls...everything falls.

And, once more, the 'woman in labor' analogy...

"Look!  An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah.  In that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor." -- Jer. 49:22.  Both instances are, as before, H 3820.  Edom will fall.

The last mention of heart/ hearts in Jeremiah is in the pronouncement against Babylon...but this verse is directed towards the people of God in exile in Babylon...

Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler. -- Jer. 51:46. 'Heart' this time is H 3824. lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.

Interesting that this form of 'heart is used here.  As we saw last week, this form has an extra emphasis on joining one's heart to God's.  The Jews in exile were going though some stuff, no doubt about that.  But God is actually encouraging them to keep their hearts towards him through the uncertain times.  

If we truly know the one who's ultimately running the show...he's got it.

Good for folks in these uncertain times, too.

Blogging Bible Study : The Heart of the Matter - Jeremiah, Part 6

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Back after a bit of a chaotic couple of weeks; all is well, it's just been...hectic, lol.  But we are diving back into our cruise through the words listed in the Exhaustive Concordance of the NIV 84 translated as 'heart/hearts' and we are starting today in Jeremiah 29: 13, one of the most encouraging promises we have encountered in this study; the original audience was the nation of Judah, who had neglected to follow the commandments of God fully and was on the brink of disastrous judgement...I am actually going to include the whole context here:

This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you  and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.   I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and I will bring you back from captivity."    - Jer. 29:10 - 14a.

I am going to take just a second here and go a little more in depth on the word translated as 'heart' here.  It is Strong's H 3824, Lebab  - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.  It is the second most common word translated as 'heart/hearts', but we haven't had it come up for a while and I have stumbled onto a little more info about that word in the meantime.  I have been using Chaim Bentorah's Hebrew Word Study: Revealing the Heart of God as a devotional study off an on for a while and I recently read the essay he'd written about this very word.   This word is spelled, in Hebrew, Lamed Beth Beth (I don't have the Hebrew alphabet available) .  Bentorah writes "I have read in Jewish literature that when you find the word Heart with a double beth after the lamed, it indicates your heart and God's heart joined together."   The word we have seen used the most frequently, Leb, is spelled Lamed Beth.   

Which all puts a slightly different spin on this phrase...you will find me when you seek me with all your heart...if we put that context on it.  Seeking God with one's whole heart is actually melding one's heart with God's.  Which kind of implies not holding back any part of one's heart from God but yielding the whole lot to him.  And it is significant that God is telling this to them on the front end:  seventy years, then they will call to him and yield to him and they would be restored, not only back to their land, but, ultimately, to the relationship God and his people were meant to have.

But...the people had neglected the Sabbaths, they had mixed their worship of God with the local pagan deities and they had rejected the true prophets who brought words of warning and calls for repentance.  There was judgment coming.

The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart.   In days to come, you will understand this.  -- Jer 30:34; 'Heart' is that Hebrew word we have seen translated as 'Heart' the most often,  Strong's 3820, Leb -- inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. 

Over and over again, the residents of Judah were warned that God's judgment was coming.  They'd already seen the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel,  and had been told over and over that, unless they repented, they would not escape a similar fate.  

God never stopped loving his people, though, even when they were suffering the consequences of their actions.

"Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight?  Though I often speak against him, I still remember him.  Therefore, my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD. -- Jer 31:20.  This is another one of of those instances in which the NIV renders a word as 'heart' because that makes more sense to modern readers than a literal translation.  The Hebrew word translated as 'heart' here is Strong's H4578 - Me'e - internal organs, inward parts, bowels, intestines, belly.   We folks of the late 20th and early 21st century do not think about yearning for someone with the bowels, but that was a common idiom/imagery in ancient Israel.  

Ephraim was a reference to the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom of Israel, which had fallen to the Assyrians during the reign of Hezekiah in the south.  By Jeremiah's time, there was little remaining of those folks in that area as the Assyrians had carted most of the people off and left them scattered about their empire, bringing in other folks from foreign countries to work the land there.  The genealogies  were lost and the folks who were now living in what used to be the northern kingdom now had no way to determine their ancestry...and they became what was later known as 'Samaritans'.  But God remembers Ephraim.  He knows where those descendants are.  Their story isn't over, despite it looking like they have all been lost to history.  God hasn't lost them.

There is a new covenant is coming, as we see just a few verses later:

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD.  "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people."    -- Jer. 31:33; 'Hearts' is, once more, H 3820

A new covenant...written upon the heart.  This, of course, refers to the new covenant Jesus sealed with his sacrifice.

One more passage to look at today...

"I will give them singleness of heart and action, so they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul."  -- Jer. 32:39-41 ; both instances of 'heart' are H 3820 again.

"Singleness of heart and action"...I think this is still in the future, because even Paul writes about doing the thing he knows he shouldn't do, and not doing the thing he knows he should do; a war in his spirit between the old and new nature (Romans 7).  But in the coming eternal kingdom, the old nature has gone and there is no more internal battle.  That will be at the fulfillment of all things, when the enemy has been routed and God truly reigns in all the earth.