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

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Back from travels...for a bit, anyway...and our journey through the NIV '84 looking at words translated as 'heart/ hearts' has brought us to the last third of the book of Matthew, and we are diving in to Jesus' discussion of the Parable of the Sower.  First, he explains why he teaches in parables, quoting from Isaiah 6 :

"'For this people's hearts have become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' "   -- Matt. 13:15;  both instances of 'heart' are Strong's G2588 - kardia - the heart.  Just for grins, I looked up the post that covered Isaiah 6 and discovered that  Jesus is actually applying that prophecy to his generation, and that, while the first instance of 'heart' is the familiar H3820, leb, the second use, in which he refers to them understanding with their hears, is actually H 3824, lebab...which we later learned from other sources has a particular connotation of a heart united with God.  Jesus understood that they would close their eyes and stop their when he taught in parables.  But make no mistake...it was still a deliberate choice to not listen, to not see, and therefore not understand. Because there would be those who chose to see, to hear, and to understand the parables, so those who did not would have no excuse.

He then goes on to explain the parable of the sower, which I am not going to get into fully, but there is one mention of 'heart' in that explanation:

"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  this is the seed sown along the path."  -- Matt. 13:19; 'heart' is, once more, G2588.

Taking the prefaces to this explanation, the 'does not understand' doesn't seem to have the connotation of someone who is struggling to line up the message of the kingdom with teachings s/he may have heard before.  No, this is someone who has chosen to not hear, not see, and therefore not understand...and the message does not impact his/her worldview or lifestyle in any way.  It is simply dismissed.  Or so we think.  Jesus actually implies that if an individual doesn't take the message to heart, the enemy makes sure it is dismissed.  The thief comes to steal, you know.  It is a cycle...the choice is  made to not consider the message, the message is not comprehended, the enemy keeps the message from any further consideration, making the next time the message is presented even easier to brush away.

The next time we see 'heart' used, Jesus is arguing with the Jewish leaders about ceremonial washing, pointing out that it's not what goes into a person that defiles the individual, it's what comes out...words and deeds

"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man 'unclean.'  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are what make a  man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean'.   -- Matt. 15:18-20;  Both instances of 'heart' are, again, G 2588.

And we tend to think anything that comes from the heart is good and loving.  Um, not so much.

But the heart is the origin of truth in a person; that is, who they really are.  And, as such, actions from the heart are the real picture of who the person is.

Jesus, speaking on forgiveness, with the story of the servant who was forgiven a huge debt by his master but demanded payment of a small debt from a fellow servant, described the punishment for the one who failed to forgive, then added

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." -- Matt. 18:35; 'Heart' is G 2588 again.

If one forgives from the heart, then there is no shred of unforgiveness anywhere.  That is where the root of unforgiveness is located; forgiving from the heart gives that nowhere to germinate.

In the next chapter, we have the leaders trying to trap Jesus once more by asking him about divorce.  

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.  But it was not that way from the beginning." -- Matt. 19:8  'Hearts' here is interesting...it translates, not to a word, but to a phrase in English.  Strong's G4641, sklerokardia,  is a word that literally translates 'hardness of heart'. 

I have always thought that was an odd turn...that Moses permitted them to divorce their wives.  Not 'the law of Moses', although it is not uncommon for us to see The Law referred to as 'Moses' in the New Testament, and that may be what's happening here, but it's interesting that Jesus implies that Moses was the one who gave them the out of divorce due to their hard-heartedness.  (We will encounter this same discussion in Mark and I'll look harder at it there because of the phrasing in that passage).  In other words, it was something permitted, but not desired.  Because of the hard hearts of mankind.  Jesus went on to specify that a divorce just meant a split, it did not mean the exes were then free to marry someone else.  The only circumstance that Jesus implied was a legit breaking of the marriage was unfaithfulness, which is a broken covenant and a pretty serious deal.  

We don't take covenant seriously in our time, I fear.

The last verse in Matthew to mention 'heart' is when Jesus answers the question about the greatest commandment in the Law:

Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment."   -- Matt 22: 37-38; 'Heart' is, what I think is going to be the regular Greek word, G 2588 again.

He is, of course, referencing Deuteronomy 6, famously known as the 'Shema':

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  - Deut. 6:4-5

Which was a passage all the Hebrews learned from an early age and we shall see again as we go through the Gospels.

To love God with all one's heart doesn't mean to love nothing else...it is the love that puts all other loves in context.  Loving one's neighbor, loving one's family, etc., are all done best when God's love comes through a heart that loves him.  If we love him, then his love is able to go through us to others.  Loving God does not mean loving others less...it is the thing that multiplies love.

That's worth a selah.

More miles on the car...

..only this time, it's my car.

July 17 was the Flute Player's 30th birthday.  It was the first year that she and her hubby were not able to come home in July, where we would have a birthday celebration a pinch early.  My Sweet Babbo was in Missouri for the Royal Ranger Camporama and I got a wild idea to go down for her birthday and surprise her.  But her birthday present was a bit outsized so it wasn't suitable for flying and, as my last adventure driving solo was not great, I threw it out there to The Princess and my DIL The Dancer.  Welp, The Princess, being a Disney Travel Agent, got us a deal on a Disney Value Resort room and we were off Wednesday afternoon, stopping overnight in Valdosta and arriving Thursday afternoon before the Big Day on Friday.  We did a bit of poking around in Disney Springs, but missed the complimentary water park admission due to afternoon storms.

We had Friday morning in Epcot, then were joined by The Actor and his Little Red Haired Girl for lunch whilst the birthday girl had her fave cheeseburger pods in Animal Kingdom, then came over to hang out...she thought...with her brother and sister in law.  Only we were there too.  I totally got caught in the moment and botched the video of her reaction, but we got a great photo of all of us just a wee bit later:

We hung out the rest of the day in the park, spent most of Saturday together,  left our resort on Sunday to hang with them at church and have lunch, wherein the large present was presented

It was a hit, as The Flute Player's favorite princess is Rapunzel.

Then we hit the road to sleep in Albany GA on Sunday night and come the rest of the way home on Monday.  It was a whirlwind weekend, and I am somewhat stunned to think that this time last week we were pulling into the hotel in Valdosta.  Time flies...

But, hopefully I will get enough back in a routine to dive back into the Heart study on Friday!

Blogging Bible Study - The Heart of the Matter: Matthew, Part 2

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Sigh.  Life is busy and I'm afraid I'm just going to be rather erratic for a season here.  It seems like this has been the case for a LONG TIME now; all I can do is take a breath and keep going, lol.  But we are moving into the New Testament in our look at 'Heart/ Hearts' as translated by the NIV 84 (which is the version my Exhaustive Concordance uses, lol).  My list shows 12 verses/passages left so I'm just going to split that in half and do six of those today and six next week.

We start first with a story that is partly told in Matthew but has more detail elsewhere, about a group of folks that brought a paralytic, who was lying on a mat, to Jesus.

Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."  At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"  Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?  Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are  forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?  -- Matt. 9:2 - 5.  'Take heart' is actually a phrase that is translated in King James as 'Be of good cheer'.. the Greek word here is Strong's G2293,  Tharseo, which is a verb that literally means 'to be of good cheer';  'to be of good comfort'; or 'to be of good courage';   the second use of 'hearts' is the Greek word we have seen before, Strong's G2588, cardia -- 'heart', which is used for both the physical organ and the center of all physical and spiritual life.

I can see Jesus telling the paralytic to be encouraged, to have hope...but I can also see him giving him a heads up that he's going to need to be brave and attempt something he knows he cannot do.  He gives the cripple a minute to process that encouragement before he tells him to get up and walk.  He could have done that first, but I think he was using that opportunity to educate the skeptics as well as providing a couple of beats for the guy to begin to make the paradigm shift.  'Take heart' is, of course, an idiomatic translation but to us it makes sense.  Now, the skeptics...the teachers of the law, the people who should have known the scripture so well that they would have recognized Jesus right away,  but instead they stay within the realm of what they understand.  Which is that no human has the ability to forgive sins.  Therefore, in their minds, Jesus was blaspheming by claiming that authority for himself.  This would seem to be straightforward reasoning...but Jesus called it 'evil thoughts'.

Think about that for a minute.  Jesus referred to a simple logical conclusion as 'evil thoughts'. Why would that be evil?  Because they refused to change their paradigm when it was challenged.  There is another logical response to what they were experiencing: if no human can forgive sin, then Jesus must be more than a human...which Jesus goes on to prove to them by telling the guy to get  up and walk, and he does.  So what is the evil here?  This wasn't of the 'I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid' sort of evil, this was a case of choosing to ignore what is clearly demonstrated before them.  Refusing to believe the evidence of their own eyes and calling it something else that kept them comfortable.

That's worth a selah.

The next reference is in the account of the woman with the issue of blood (endometriosis?)  who touched Jesus' garment as he was on his way to heal a sick girl and is somewhat similar.

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you."  And the woman was healed from that moment.   -- Matt 9:22; 'heart' is, again,   Strong's G2293, 'be of good courage'...this time, to a terrified, desperate lady who literally could have been stoned for what she did.  Her life was also changed in that moment.

Jesus is speaking in the next verse we'll look at - 

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls." -- Matt. 11:29; 'heart' here is cardia once more, but this time we are talking about Jesus' heart, specifically, how he describes his character. He is gentle and humble, all the way through to his heart, which means he will be a kind and gracious teacher...and it's also a description of what we are to learn from him...how to be gentle and humble in heart.

In the next passage, Jesus is chastising the Pharisees, who have accused him of doing miracles by the power of the evil one.

"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?  For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."  -- Matt 12:34; 'heart' is cardia  again.

I can attest to this myself; I can think of more than one occasion on which I'd had an...opinion...that I kept to myself.  Fully intended to never let that thought see the light of day.  But I did think on it.  Over and over as time passed.  And you know what?  When I was in the heat of the moment, with no intention or forethought, that opinion came out of my mouth in the hearing of others.  Ooopsie.

What is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth.  I think this is one of the reasons Paul enjoins us to 'take every thought captive'...there are some things that should not be expressed.  But if it is pondered, examined,  agreed with...it will come out.  Why are we going to give an account for our words?   Because the words reveal the condition of the heart.

That's another selah.

The last verse for today is prophecy; Jesus is speaking: 

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." -- Matt. 12:40; 'heart' is, once more,  cardia, the connotation being in the middle or central or inmost part.

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law were looking for a miraculous sign...and Jesus said the only sign would be that of the prophet Jonah, speaking of his resurrection. I have always marveled at the audacity of those folks asking for a sign when Jesus had clearly performed miracles of healing, of multiplication, casting out demons and raising the dead.  But they STILL WANTED A SIGN.  Something greater than that.  

They wanted the choice to be made for them.  They did not want to be responsible for acknowledging the fulfillment of all prophecy.  Like the Israelites at Sinai, they didn't want to deal with God themselves but pushed the responsibility on to Moses. And they still ignored the sign he gave them, even when it was fulfilled.

Because they had already made up their minds to not believe.

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

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our multi-year journey through the NIV 84, looking at verses containing 'heart/ hearts' has finally brought us to the New Testament.  And, as it turns out, the first mention of Heart/hearts happens Chapter 5, so today we're looking at Heart/ Hearts in Matthew's presentation of the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed is the pure in heart, for they shall see God.   - Matt 5:8; 'heart' is Strong's G2588, Kardia - the heart, the organ...which is the center of the circulation of the blood...the seat of physical life;  the center of all physical and spiritual life.  

In this case, I think it's pretty obvious that this is referring to spiritual purity...a heart that is free from ethical and moral corruption, mixed motives, self deceit; one that is blameless and innocent. 'See', according to Mr. Strong, is a word that indicates 'to gaze with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable'  .  So, while I feel this also applies to seeing God work around us, I honestly believe this is a reference to actually beholding God, at the very least, in the next life.  But maybe Jesus was also referring to his immediate audience...that the pure in heart would recognize God when they see him.  But here's the takeaway...the ability to see/ recognize/ perceive God is dependent upon the state of the heart

Which kinda contrasts with the next verse...

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  - Matt 5:28; 'Heart' is G2588 again.

You do realize that Jesus wasn't just talking about adultery here, right?  That it was an example of the concept.  Now, I don't think this is referring to a random thought that pops into the mind...it's the consideration, entertaining one's mind with the forbidden thing.  Imagining it.  Wondering if there's some way to make it happen.  The progression we have talked about in other posts...'I saw...I coveted...I took...I hid'.  Coveting is what happens when one actually considers taking the the thing, and that's where the sin starts, and I think that's why Jesus hit that point so hard.  If repentance happens at that stage, then the taking and hiding never happen.  Thinking about it...obsessing over it...committing the action at the heart level...is where the actual rebellion happens.  It's a very small step from that to actually doing the thing.  It starts in the heart.

This leads right into 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -- Matt. 6:21; 'Heart' is, once more, G2588.

What is desired shows where the heart is.   And where the heart is matters. 

There's a whole sermon in just those three verses.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Old Testament Recap

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, I rather foolishly decided to skim back over the last three years' worth of posts to kind of see if I could see some trends or patterns in the use of heart/hearts in the Old Testament...it took me the better part of two days, lol.  I knew there was a lot...but, y'all, it's a LOT.

Some really good stuff in there, too.  I scribbled down some notes on things that recurred....

God hears prayers of the heart/ in the heart.

The basis of obedience is the heart; faith must be taken to heart...otherwise, it's just performance.

Fear melts hearts.

A fully devoted heart protects against hardening of the heart.

A hardened heart is one that refuses to consider truth.

David's heart was his qualification to be king.

When we read that we are not to judge one another it is instruction not to make assumptions about what is in another's heart.

A heart that is not fully committed will make wrong decisions.

We are to give NO heart space to idols.

Circumcision of the body is pretty much useless unless the heart is circumcised as well 

And, this thought recurred so often that I just copied the best description of it... 

 God knows EXACTLY what is in an individual's heart.  He KNOWS where we are ignoring that nagging thing that tries to remind us of the right thing; he KNOWS where we are choosing to believe a narrative that indulges some desire that is not entirely admirable.  He KNOWS.  We can fool others, we can even fool ourselves, but we can't fool HIM.

The idea that 'God knows my heart' should have each of us shaking in our shoes.  HE KNOWS.

If you want numbers, I sort of have them.  I think this reflects the scope more than actual numbers because I am SURE I forgot to count the words a few times.  But the exact numbers probably don't matter; there was enough difference that my booboos wouldn't have changed the ranks for the top three, at least.

As best as I could count, Strong's 3820, Leb, was translated 'heart/hearts' 285 times.  Strong's 3824, Lebab, was translated as 'heart/ hearts' 139 times.  In the early books, we encountered more occurrences of Lebab, but after the Pentateuch Leb became the most frequently used word.  The meaning of these two words is almost identical; I didn't really pick up on why one would be used over the other.  But, last fall, I stumbled onto an essay by Chaim Bentorah that expounded on Lebab, explaining that it was used to indicate a heart joined to God's.  Knowing that earlier might have changed some of the way those verses hit; if you go back and re-read posts from before 11/7/25 just keep that little tidbit of info in mind; it might give more insight.    The third most frequent word was WAY down the count with 19 occurrences...Strong's 5315, Nepes (or Nepesh, I think I picked up on the phonetic spelling a few times).  and has a more emotional context, like passion, appetite, desire. There were about 19 other words, most of which were used only once or twice.  We had a couple of Sixes and fives, one four...and the rest were ones and twos.

So, three years in and we're just now heading into the New Testament...and Greek/ Aramaic.

But...anyone else surprised by New Testament concepts regarding the heart that actually were first in the Old Testament?  I mean, I knew there was a mention of the importance of the heart...but it really is emphasized all the way through the OT more than I realized....

 

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, well, here we are, at the end of the Old Testament in our look at 'heart/ hearts' as translated by the NIV 84. Haggai does not have any references to 'heart' listed, so we're not stopping there, but we will be looking at three out of the four final minor prophets.

Our first reference is anticipating the restoration of Israel after punishment; it's worth noting that Mr Scofield's notes indicate that Zephaniah was writing during the reign of King Josiah,  before the fall to Babylon and the Exile, which is prophesied in chapter 1.  But the encouragement is...the judgment has an expiration date

Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel!  Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! -- Zeph. 3:14; 'heart' is  Strong's 3820, Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.

There was hard stuff...devastatingly hard stuff...coming, but the prophet calls for rejoicing because of the restoration on the other side. That actually is a pretty strong  theme throughout the Bible...enduring tribulation for the glory that comes after.  Maybe someday that will be a blog series, lol.

There are several verses referencing heart/ hearts in Zechariah; the first passage is in response to a question about observing a couple of traditional fasts, a bit of a historical review.

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.  In your hearts, do not think evil of each other.' But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD was very angry."  -- Zech. 7:9-12;  in verse 10, 'Hearts' is Strong's H 3824, lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.  From previously mentioned writings of Chaim Bentorah, we have also learned that this word carries a connotation of joining one's heart to God's.  Now I have to ponder the significance of thinking evil of someone in the joining of my heart to God's heart.  Does this mean I am accusing someone before God if I inwardly complain about them in some way?  Or, how could I join my heart to God's and then also think evil of someone in that same space?  That's deep, y'all...  in verse 12, 'hearts' is H 3820 again. Making one's heart as hard as flint will definitely shut God out, so there is no joining of hearts implied there.

The next verse, like the verse in Zephaniah, references a future restoration of God's people:

The Ephraimites will become like mighty men, and their hearts will be glad as with wine.  Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.  -- Zech. 10: 7; both instances of 'hearts'  are H 3820.   God's people and their children will rejoice after that restoration.

Zechariah then prophesies a coming attack against Jerusalem in which God will fortify the city and protect his people

Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, "The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God." -- Zech. 12:5; 'Hearts" is, once again, H 3820.  This is a deep acknowledgement of truth, knowing that it is God who gives them their strength.

Now, finally, we are at the the book of Malachi, a little book about practical judgments against God's people, who are going through the motions of worship but are clueless about what true devotion means.  The first verse we have is directed at the priests, who are supposed to be leading the people spiritually:

"If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.  Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me." -- Mal. 2:2;  both instances of 'heart' are, again, H 3820.

It is one thing to go through all the rituals of worship; it is something else entirely to set one's heart to honor God.  It is entirely possible to do all the stuff related to worship and still not honor God.  It's especially easy in our place and time, because it is so easy to completely separate worship from daily life.  It's far too easy for folks to claim to follow Jesus because they show up for Sunday worship...maybe even serve in that house...but do whatever seems desirable to them the rest of the week, serving their own desires and ambitions without a consideration for honoring God and his ways.  It was no different in Malachi's time.

Our last verse in the Old Testament  is the last verse in the Old Testament...looking forward to the one who was yet to come.

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."  -- Mal. 4: 5-6; again, both uses of 'Hearts' are translated from H 3820.

Jesus himself said that John the Baptist was the one who came as Elijah; but I think this possibly has a future interpretation also. Many scholars believe that Elijah is one of the two Prophets mentioned in Revelation, who appear during the tribulation time.  In which case, this would not just be a figurative prophecy but a literal one...Elijah returns just before the final judgment falls.  But this passage implies a healing between generations and, to be honest, I am not sure just exactly what that should look like.  It may be that John the Baptist did do that in his day; it may be that the Prophets in the end times will also have that aspect to their ministry.  Or, it may be that the message from John to follow Jesus is the ministry of reconciliation that comes around when there is an awakening/ revival.  

Or all three.

Next week, I will take a pause to kind of look back over the journey so far before we jump into the New Testament and change languages....

...And the Crazy Continues...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

I thought I would get in that last post from the Old Testament portion of  the heart study before we left town for a week and a half...but there was just too much work to do, on too many fronts, to do it justice.  We should get that this weekend, though.  Hopefully.

But I thought I'd throw in a post about where we went.  The Actor, aka Number 2 Son, had a birthday the day before Mother's Day, and we had a carload of household goods that came from the grandparents' house in Elkhart to take down to them, so we headed down for that weekend, then checked into Disney's Caribbean Beach resort for four nights before making the return trip.  The kids were blessed with a couple of days off of work to hang with us in Disney, so we got an almost family vacation out of it (Thanks Pastor John!).

I will say, those long hot days are getting harder the older I get...but we had a good time.  My feet almost feel normal at this point, lol.

The Essential Photo...the Actor's wife, the Little Red-Haired Girl, had to work.  Different boss.

I will share one thing that struck me whilst we were there...we had several character meet-and-greet moments, some because we stood in line and some because we got a couple of major discounts on character dining.  And after the last day, something that I had kind of been subconsciously stewing on finally bubbled up into actual coherent words.

Every one of those character interactions involved a character who behaved exactly as if we were the folks s/he had been waiting all day to see.  And I watched them treat the folks before and after us in line the same way.  I'm not sure how that training goes, but it was clear that is a major priority.  They noticed details...even with the limited visibility out of the, um, outfits they were wearing.   I had a celebration button ("I'm celebrating a data base migration!")  and every character pointed it out.  I have had characters notice those little pins on my lanyard before.  I tell you, it's one of the charms of visiting the kingdom of the mouse...it's a real esteem boost, even knowing that it's the job.  It *feels* real at the moment.

I need to study that approach.  I don't think I need to immediately embrace everyone I meet, but surely I can learn the art of making folks feel like I've been waiting all day to meet up with them.  

Everyone needs a bit of that from time to time.