Blogging Bible Study: Heart of the Matter - Psalms, part 1

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It is time to dive into the deep waters.  I have pondered and pondered what the best approach to looking at all the instances of heart/hearts in the book of Psalms  might be...should I lump all the instances of  a particular Hebrew word together?  Should I try to categorize the verses some other way?

I finally decided just plowing through it might be the best approach; I'm going to try to take it 10 chapters at a time, although I may tweak that, depending.  There's going to be a lot of repetition, I'm sure, but maybe the repetition is important.  And it ain't gonna go fast....but I really don't have a deadline so we'll just take it as it comes.  So, here we go...

The first three Psalms don't mention Heart/Hearts at all...at least, not in the NIV.  So we begin in the 4th Psalm, one of David's:

In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.  SELAH. - Ps. 4:4 ; 'Hearts' is H2834 - Lebab, one of the two most-frequently seen Hebrew words in this study....the inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.

Speaking to the reader/ listener,    Not really any indication of what to search FOR...but maybe we aren't to look FOR anything in particular, so much as to check one's heart over good and know what's there.  Be honest and self-aware.  Not a bad nightly discipline.

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.  -- Ps. 4:7; 'Heart' is H3820 - Leb, the other one of the two most-frequently used Hebrew words for 'heart', which is actually derived from H2834.  

Speaking to God, David acknowledges that the joy brought by fellowshipping with the Lord is better than an unbeliever's abundance... 'grain' and 'new wine' are wealth-related words.

From the 5th Psalm, a Psalm of David, who is speaking of his enemies:

Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction, their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.  - Ps. 5:9.    King James and the NASB translate 'heart' as 'inward part';  the Amplified uses 'Heart'; it is Strong's H7130, Qereb:  "properly, the nearest part, i.e., the center, whether literal, figurative, or adverbial (especially with preposition)."  

Rotten to the core.

Psalm 7 is listed as 'a shiggion of David'...probably referring to the musical style.

We have a prayer and a declaration:

O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.  My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart."  Ps. 7:9-10. '  'Hearts' in verse 9 is H3826 - Libbah, which is 'feminine of H3820; the Heart'.  There are no other listed options for that translation, and it's used 7 times in the OT; once in Ezekiel and the others are all in Psalms and Proverbs.  "Heart" in verse 10 is H3820., the first repeated Hebrew word today! 

But, wow, what a timeless prayer...bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure. Amen.

David starts the 9th Psalm

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. -- Ps. 9:1; 'Heart' is H3820 again. 

'With all my heart'...David is thoroughly committed.

In the Tenth Psalm, the Psalmist (who isn't specifically named) is in the midst of a description of a wicked man:

He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. --Ps. 10:3; 'Heart' translated from a word we have seen before, but not often...H5314, Nephesh  - "Soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, passion"; I get the feeling 'heart' is used more as an adjective here...describing the cravings that are deep-seated; passions, even.  The word translated as 'cravings', H8378, can imply lust, appetite, covetousness.

The wicked one boasts of lusts and appetites and heaps approval on folks who acquire a bunch of stuff...and snubs God.

Um...wow.

Some things don't change.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Job, Part 4

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Hoo, boy, it's been a minute.  Back from Vacation, but with the Big Data Fix project still hanging over my head I'm just about maxed out.  Not to mention...Christmas looms and I have, um, Projects that are moving rapidly up the priority ladder...

And Psalms is still intimidating me, lol.

But I'm going to do my best to get through all the verses dealing with 'heart/hearts' in the last 11 chapters of Job; the NIV exhaustive concordance lists 5.

In chapter 32, we find that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar finally give up arguing with Job, as they were getting nowhere.  A fourth friend, Elihu, who showed up at some point (probably before the arguing started), has patiently listened to all the discussion but grew increasingly frustrated as NO ONE seemed to make any valid points:  Job just justified himself, and the other three guys couldn't pull out any solid evidence against Job but judged him nonetheless.  Elihu admits to being younger than all the others, and, out of courtesy, listened to them until they quit arguing, then had to make the points that no one else made. "...I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst.  I must speak and find relief;" he says in Job 32:19-20a.

"My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know."  -- Job 33:3; 'Heart' is the familiar Leb, Strong's H3820.   Elihu spends a bit of time explaining why he feels like he should speak, then begins his discourse on the righteousness of God and Job's presumption to argue against him, and is especially scornful of Job's statements that living righteously has no real reward.

"The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help." -- Job 36:13; 'Heart' is H3820 again.

As Elihu is speaking, a huge thunderstorm blows up and is threatening; he uses it as an illustration 

"At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place." -  Job 37:1, "heart"  is once again H3820.  

He finally concludes

"The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.  Therefore, men revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?"  --Job 37:23-24...H3820 once more.

Then, what happened next had to be stupifyingly awesome, God actually spoke audibly to the group from the storm (Job 38:1), asking Job question after question that he clearly couldn't answer.  God did not tell Job why all the suffering happened, but he did lay out his knowledge and wisdom, basically saying 'I know what I'm doing." 

The final mention of 'heart/hearts' in the book is God speaking:

"Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?"  -  Job 38:36

My NIV has a footnote on  'heart' in this verse, stating that its meaning is uncertain.  King James translates it 'Inward Parts'; it is Stong's H2910 - tuha; another word which can be translated 'reins'; it's only used one other time in the Old Testament in Ps. 51:8, and actually has the connotation of being covered over or layered with fat, and implies the seat of the mind and thoughts.  No one mentions this, but it would make sense to consider this 'who taught the organs how to function?' as that fits right in with the litany of things only God can do.  In either case...Job clearly had no grounds to accuse God of not knowing/ not understanding any aspect of his creation...including Job and all his problems.

Job repents of his earlier rash words in chapter 42; God, pleased with Job, instructs him to make a sacrifice and pray for his friends.  There is suddenly sympathy from Job's neighbors and family, and they took up a collection for him, which he invested, once more  receiving God's favor and protection on all he did, becoming even more wealthy than he was in the beginning (AND...he had 10 more kids. Bless his wife; there's no mention of other wives or concubines anywhere).

His story wasn't over when the hardship hit; he lived 140 MORE years and saw his great-great-grandchildren before he died "old and full of days." (Job 42:16-17)

God is a bit like Mary Poppins...never explaining anything.  But he does nothing without a purpose and we need to remember that purpose exists...even if we never see it and can't understand it.

Someone we know nothing of may be watching...

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Job, Part 3

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We are about half of the way through Job on our look at 'Heart/hearts' verses in the Bible, in the midst of the argument and rebuttal between Job and his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.  In the third round,  we pick up in a harangue by Eliphaz, accusing Job of all SORTS of low-down, mean and nasty things, and he sums up by saying if Job would just repent and turn back to God everything would be fine.

"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.   Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.  If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;..." -- Job 22:21-23a (Heart is the familiar Strong's H 3824 -Lebab)

Job responds that he wants to plead his case before God; he recognizes that 

"...he stands alone, and who can oppose him?  He does whatever he pleases.  He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.  that is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.  God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me."  Job 23:13-16 ('Heart' here is the other familiar word, Strong's H 3820 - Leb)

Of course, Job (and his friends) still believe that God is directly responsible for all the evil...that he caused it, rather than just allowing it, and none of them consider for a moment that there may be a purpose beyond their experience.

Bildad makes the last response to Job in chapter 25, and Job sarcastically chews him out, basically saying that he doesn't know what he's talking about.  Then Job launches into his final speech, which manages to assert his own integrity and state his longing for wisdom enough to comprehend why God acted as he did; then he reflects on how his life was before the disaster hit, and the good works that he did while he was wealthy and had influence, e.g.

"Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.  The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow's heart sing. I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban."   -- Job 29 :11-14; (Heart is H 3820 again).  

Then he laments his current state, and concludes by relating a list of evils, saying 'If I did these things, then I deserve this.'...

"If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,  then may others eat what I have sown, and my my crops be uprooted.  If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her."  -- Job 31:7-10 ('Heart' is H 3820 in both instances).  

Yeowch, y'all.  That's harsh. But that's raw emotion.  Job doesn't believe he has done anything to deserve what has happened to him.  He continues,

"If I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep...then let my arm fall from my shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint."  - Job 31:19-20,22  

This is a new one; the word the NIV renders as 'heart'  is  Strong's  H2504, Chalats - " châlâts, 'khaw-lawts'; from H2502 (in the sense of strength); only in the dual; the loins (as the seat of vigor):—loins, reins."

It's not the same word that was rendered 'reins' in the last study; I did a little perusal of other translations and found that the KJV renders it 'loins';  the latest edition of the NASB renders it 'body', and the AMP  reads 'If his loins have not thanked me (for clothing them)...'  I kinda get the idea that the thanking is not just for the quality of the garment but also for the fact that it literally covers up the individual's shame of being naked...as in, the part of the body that is covered is grateful.  I suppose the NIV used 'heart' in the term of the inner man being grateful, like the NASB's use of 'body', to  avoid the slightly crude imagery of the loins being grateful.  Either way, it doesn't really conflict with Job's point.

Moving on...

"...if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in its splendor, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high"  -- Job 31:26-28;  'Heart' is once more H3820.

Job admired the sun and moon...God's handiwork...but he didn't worship them, as have many societies throughout the centuries.

Finally, 

"...If I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt f the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside -- ...then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley."  The words of Job are ended. -- Job 31:33-34, 40. 

Another interesting translation.  The word translated 'heart' here does not appear anywhere else in the Old Testament.  It is Strong's H2243, hob, apparently derived from H2245...'bosom' ,which is the word used in the Amplified. "Heart" is not a far stretch from 'bosom', but I wonder what was unique to the word 'bosom' that made it the only word that would do in that verse, since it is not used elsewhere?

We will finish Job in the next post; I want to hang here a minute and look at Job's refusal to 1) curse God  or accuse him of wrongdoing, though he was very frustrated that God didn't explain himself and 2) admit to any wrongdoing...because he really and truly had no hidden sin in his life.  His practice was regular confession and sacrifice; there really was nothing that should have brought judgment of this level against him.

But Job and his friends never even considered that the suffering wasn't some sort of judgment.  'Bad things happen to Bad People and Good things happen to Good People' was the basis of their assessment of Job's situation...and it was an error.   Terrible things can and do happen to good people...look at Jesus, for crying out loud.  But what happened to Jesus wasn't about Jesus at all... and what happened to Job really wasn't at all about Job.

Good points to keep in the back of the mind as we head into the conclusion.

What do you mean Monday is Labor Day?????

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's been busy in...and out of...these parts.  Work like crazy, and head out of town for the weekend.

I worked Friday the...9th? Yeah, the 9th.  Then was gone the next two weeks.  Fridays are normally not a work day, as our church offices are closed, but there is a big project going down and I went in to get a jump on it.  

Then the 16th was our 44th wedding anniversary, and we repeated a trip from ten years ago and spent the weekend at Cheaha State Park...which includes the highest point in Alabama.

Pulpit Rock, from the lodge area

Gorgeous views.  And, according to my Strava reading, we walked 5 miles on Saturday. 

My Sweet Babboo at the top of the mountain.

 May have overdone it just a bit, being 10 weeks out from hip replacement, but I survived so I'm hopeful the upcoming family trip to Famous Florida Theme Parks will not be too rough on the hip.

Called my mother to check in with her on Tuesday last week and my dad, from the background, hollered, 'We have a lot of corn going to waste up here!'  ...long story short, I got permission to take yesterday and today off from work and did a spur-of-the-moment trip up to the farm, driving up by myself on Friday.

18 quarts of corn to put in freezers, from roughly 8 dozen ears we pulled on Saturday, was a good day's work.

The folks decided they didn't want to freeze again on Monday, so I came back a day early (shhh).  Spending today doing things I had MEANT to do over the weekend, lol.

But...I want to chat a bit about Sunday.  I had contacted one of my high school buddies that I was up for the weekend and would love to catch up.  We decided to meet at Culver's in Brownsburg, IN, for lunch.    

We hadn't seen each other for 2 years;  we hadn't had a long, just-us conversation in, well, a really long time.

We sat in a corner and talked for EIGHT HOURS.  It flew by.  I did mention once or twice that I should probably go, but the conversation clearly wasn't over so I didn't push it.  And I'm so glad I didn't.  The last hour and a half to two hours was some real, heart level conversation.  If we had stopped after four or six hours, we would never have gotten to the deep part.  

So, that's my takeaway lesson to share today, lol.  Don't skimp on the conversations, and don't quit before they're done.  But more than that, be intentional about keeping in touch.  

Hopefully we will.

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

 Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

Job is...interesting.  It kind of falls into the same category as Ecclesiastes.  The words are coming from individuals who are not necessarily speaking the heart of God.  This is a narrative, a recording of conversations about faith from folks who are speaking from assumptions that they can't really back up (sound familiar?).  People who are coming from a 'this is what makes sense to me' viewpoint...because when the events recorded in Job took place, there was no written word, no Law...just the oral traditions..  Job is considered to be the oldest book of the Bible;  Job is generally accepted to have lived during the time of the Patriarchs, before the deportation to Egypt, due to his very long life. So we can, perhaps, understand why there may have been some misunderstandings about the character and nature of God.

So what that boils down to is that the context has to be carefully considered when looking at verses from Job.  A verse considered outside of that context could be...misleading.

I have debated how to cover this, since there is so much here.  There is a pattern to the speechification, with each of the friends speaking and Job answering. Eliphaz and Bildad each speak three times and Zophar speaks twice.  So I think I will split it into rounds.  The first round is Job's original lament, then comments from each friend with a rebuttal from Job in chapters 3-14  and actually only has 2 references to heart/ hearts; the second round is chapters 15 - 21, with three references. 

It's worth noting that the discussions/ arguments all seem to agree that Job's afflictions are judgement. The difference is that  Job has no idea what he could have done to warrant such calamity and his friends are all convinced that he has some hidden, secret sin that needs to be confessed ...and press him to just open up and confess/ repent.  Hence the arguments.  Job gets ticked at this friends for the presumptions of his guilt, and gets rather sarcastic with them at times (another reason to consider the context of any particular verse).

So, with that in mind...let's see what the book of Job has to say about heart/ hearts...

The first reference is in chapter 10, and Job is speaking to God here

"But his is what you concealed in your heart, and I know this was in your mind: if I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.  If I am guilty -- woe to me!  Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction." -- Job 10:13 - 15;   'heart' is Strong's H3824 again...Lebab - 'inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding'.   Back in 10:2, Job asked God to tell me what charges you have against me.  He kind of portrays a common misconception of God...that God sits in the heavens and waits on us to mess up so he can smack us down.

Zophar's response to Job also contains the word heart - 

"Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear."  -- Job 11:13-15; 'heart' is Strong's H3820, Leb, the common variant of Lebab, 'inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding'.

Hammering home the opinion that Job just needs to repent of the hidden thing and he'll be fine.

In the second round of exchanges, Eliphaz asks

"Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?" - Job 15:12-13   'Heart is H3820 again.  Um, the guy lost absolutely everything...from his wealth to his position in the community to his health to his children.  Job was grieving.  He didn't understand.  We know that he couldn't possibly have understood as the tragedy really wasn't about him at all...it was about the individual who was watching his life.  But I think this illustrates some unconscious expectations that folks have...that their friends who suffer loss should do their grieving in a specific way and be 'over it' at some random time.  

It doesn't work that way.  Grief is individual, and what happens in the heart of someone going through it is really not open to inspection by other people.  The loss of his children was a permanent loss.  He eventually got all his stuff and his standing in the community and even his health back, but he never got his children.  He had more, to be sure, and they were fine folks to be proud of.  But his older kids were just a memory for the rest of his life.  

To add insult to injury, Eliphaz went on to describe the consequences to folks who do evil...implying that the events that happened in Job's life fell into that litany, so therefore, he must have done evil.

It was rough.

Job responds, rather testily ('miserable comforters are you all!' - 16:1), but sums up where he is:

"My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart." -- Job 17:11; 'heart' is  H 3824 again.

Job really believed his story was at an end.

But, after Bildad reiterates the fate of the wicked, Job replies with a speech that includes a declaration that rings through the ages and is all the more poignant given his circumstances:

"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes -- I, and not another.  How my heart years within me!" -- Job 19:25-27

Wow, this is interesting...the word translated 'Heart' here is Strong's H 3627 - Kilya, which, well, means 'Kidneys' -- seat of emotion and affection, figuratively.

The KJV translates this phrase - 'though my reins be consumed within me'...reins?  Looking at the descriptions in the lexicon, I am taking it to mean that 'reins' just referred to internal organs in general.  Which would make sense in the verse....'I myself will see him with my own eyes -- I, though my internal organs are consumed within me'.  It still shows Job's absolute faith that he would see God, although one connotation is that he was anxiously awaiting that moment and the other is just a reiteration of his conviction that it didn't matter what happened to his physical body (ie, making a pairing of 'after my skin has been destroyed' and 'my internal organs are consumed within me') he knew he would stand before God as himself.

That whole declaration is a pretty amazing thought for the time.  Job called God 'my redeemer'...which clearly not only describes a personal relationship to God but foreshadows the coming of Jesus, the Redeemer. It was Job's anchor in the pain. 

Blogging Bible Study: Heart of the Matter - Job, intro

 Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

Ok, folks, deep breaths here.  As there are no verses containing the words 'heart' or 'hearts' in the NIV translation of Esther,  we have arrived at the 'I am quite certain I have bitten off more than I can chew' portion of the study...the Books of Wisdom.  If I have counted right (and my squiggling notes could have messed up the count); we have, to date, covered roughly 160 verses.  In the five books of wisdom, I count something in the neighborhood of 234 verses; 120ish of those are in Psalms.

Just the fact that I even counted them kinda shows how much I am intimidated by this, lol.    Now, I know this is my study and I can adapt/ adjust as much as ever I want, but I really, really do want to just keep ploughing on.  I suspect we're going to see a LOT of repetition, especially in the Psalms.  I don't want to be a snooze fest over here, but neither do I want to overlook something just because I'm trying to do a Readers Digest Condensed Version.  As I've seen in the past, I just never know when some little gem is going to come up where I least expected it.  Like today, for instance....

So we are going to stick our collective toe in the water today with just one verse...because Job changes tone REALLY FAST and the first 'hearts' verse is not really related to the rest of the discussion.

The first two chapters are basically the introduction for the rest of the book, providing the context for the arguments that follow.  In that opening passage, we find that 1) Job was a righteous man 2) Job was a wealthy man 3) Job had 10 children and 4) Job was protected by God.  The scenario is that God showed Satan that Job was an example of a human who did what was right, and Satan taunted God, saying that Job would abandon his faith if that protection was removed.  So God gave permission for Satan to do as he pleased with Job life and family, but he was forbidden to harm Job himself.  Consequently, in very short order Job lost all of his livestock, all of his wealth, almost all of his servants... and all of his children.  When Job still blessed the name of the Lord even in the midst of all his loss, Satan sneered that Job was still protected and would certainly abandon his faith if he suffered physically.  So God gave the enemy permission to torment Job physically, but he was forbidden to take his life.  Job contracted a debilitating affliction, with boils forming all over his body.  He sat in the refuse pile and scraped the boils with broken bits of pottery.  But he did not sin in what he said.

He was joined there by three  (ultimately four, but we don't know when Elihu showed up) friends, Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar, who sat with him at the dump for a week in silence.

Then the arguments started.

But today, I am just looking at that intro bit, and in it, as I said, there is one verse that mentions 'Hearts':

His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.  When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified.  Early in the morning, he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."  This was Job's regular custom.  -- Job 1:4-5; 'Hearts' is Strong's H 3824, Lebab, which we have seen repeatedly...the inner man, mind will, heart, soul, understanding.

I just want to point out something that I really hadn't considered before covering this today.  Here we are, in the opening verses of the oldest book of the Old Testament...and sin is described as something that happens in the heart.  This is not a New Testament concept.  Now, we know from the choice of David as king that God considered the heart to be of supreme importance, but I'm not sure this isn't really the first time we have encountered the concept of sin taking place in the heart. 

But that's just a function of how the books are arranged.  If we started with the oldest book, that concept would be introduced right from the git-go.

One can sin in one's heart... and that sin has to do with one's opinion of God. 

Yup, that's a concept I know we are going to touch again before we leave the Books of Wisdom...

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Nehemiah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Nehemiah.  He was a character.  Crackerjack administrator...but the dude had a temper.  And he got rather...violent...at times.  I imagine people were rather afraid of him.  He didn't put up with ANY nonsense...not from the enemies of the people, and not from the people themselves.

When the story opens, he is a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in the Babylonian capitol of Susa. That means he was one of the king's most intimate and trusted servants.  Nehemiah's brother had traveled to Jerusalem and returned, bringing word of how poor and unprotected the city was.

Nehemiah was sorely grieved to hear that news, and he began to fast and pray, first for the city, and then for favor with the king...because Nehemiah wanted to Do Something About It.

Sure enough, not too long after that, Nehemiah took the king his wine while he was pondering the condition of his hometown...and the king noticed.

so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart."  I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever!  Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" -- Neh. 2:2-3; 'Heart' is  the common Strong's H 3820 - Leb - 'the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything' 

The king then responded, 'What do you want?' (verse 4), and Nehemiah had a moment in which he realized his prayer was being answered.  He breathed a quick prayer...the narrative doesn't say what, but I believe it was for favor and for the right words, then asked for  permission to go and rebuild the city, with the proper letters for safe conduct and for needed supplies.

The king only asked him to set a time frame for this, which Nehemiah provided,  and Nehemiah traveled with a military escort back to Jerusalem.

I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men.  I had not told anyone what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding.  -- Neh. 2:11-12; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.

He inspected the wall, made a plan, and then shared that plan with the people, who immediately jumped  on board.  There were, however, foreigners nearby who were not happy to see Jerusalem rebuilt and who gave Nehemiah fits.  At first, it was just scorn heaped upon the folks doing the building, but the people ignored them, following Nehemiah's lead, and kept working.

So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. -- Neh. 4:6; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.

Then the jeering turned to threats...enough that the people began to be afraid.  Nehemiah set guards and the workers were armed as they went about building the wall.  There was a kerfluffle about borrowed money, and Nehemiah took the lenders to task for charging interest on the loans and the lenders agreed to NOT charge their brothers any interest.  Nehemiah pointedly did not get any financial advantage for his position...deliberately not taking the governor's allowance.

Then the opposition plotted against Nehemiah himself, trying to get him away from the job so they could kill him, but he refused to even answer the charges they trumped up against him and the wall was finished in 52 days (Neh. 6:15), which was such an astonishing accomplishment that everyone in the area knew that it was done with the help of God (6:16).

So the wall was built, and the schedule for the opening/ closing of the gates was set, but the houses had not been rebuilt inside the city and there weren't a lot of folks living there yet.  

So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families.  I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return.  this is what I found written there:  -- Neh. 7:5; 'Heart' is, again, H 3820.  This is followed by a long list of names and numbers, concluding that there were 42,360 folks who were there (likely just counting the men, but that's not clear), with 7,337 servants and 245 singers.  Just for grins, I went back to Numbers to see how many folks came into the land originally...according to Numbers 26:22, the tribe of Judah alone had 76,500 men 20 and older.  So there was, indeed, a remnant that took up residence in Jerusalem.  Judgement had fallen hard on the people, but it was past.  

First, there was a holiday in which Ezra read from the book of the Law, with the Levites explaining so the people could understand (8:8).  The people, convicted by what they heard, were weeping, but Nehemiah encouraged them and told them to celebrate.  There was a later day in which the people came together to fast and repent, with a prayer that reviews their history and confesses their sins that comprises most of chapter 9, with the final mention of 'heart' being a reference to Abram/Abraham:

You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Cannanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites.  You have kept your promise because you are righteous.  -- Neh. 9:8; 'Heart' here is Strong's  H 3824, lebab, which we have also seen used regularly, as it is the word from which  H 3820 is derived.

There is more in Nehemiah about Nehemiah's zealous actions to set the people on a path to prevent them from ever repeating the mistakes of the past...which did creep in a little, but he was FIRM in his refusal to allow the people to return that way.

It is worth noting that the people indeed, never fell again into the trap of pagan influences again.  Possibly due to Nehemiah's strict adherence to the Law in those matters.  Following generations were taught what to do and what not to do and the people remained on their land until 70 AD.  But that's a different circumstance and a different story for another day.

What impressed me going through this again is how much the heart matters in accomplishing God's will/plan.  Abram's heart was faithful;  Nehemiah's heart was grieved.  God put into his heart a plan that saw a miracle happen, because the hearts of the people were committed.

How committed/ receptive to God is MY heart?

Selah.