Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Covering the rest of the 'heart' references in Exodus today. It has been a bit interesting to discover that the word 'heart' is not consistent across translations. My Exhaustive Concordance is based on the 1984 edition of the New International Version, and it lists the very first mention of 'heart' in Exodus in the NIV 84 as Ex. 4:14:
Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you and his heart will be glad when he sees you."
But when I looked this up in Blue Letter Bible, I found that the 2011 update to the NIV, which is what is used on that site, phrases that last sentence as "He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you."
Doesn't even mention 'heart'.
But according to the interlinear translation the sentence actually is "And moreover behold he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart".
The Hebrew word used for heart, Leb (Strong's H3820, 'inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding') is actually in the structure of the sentence.
I suppose this is the simplification of the language; the translators likely considered the phrase 'in his heart' to be redundant. Of course, if someone is glad, they are glad in heart...right?
Well, maybe. Part of the reason I'm not a huge fan of the 2011 edition.
Let's say it is redundant...that just serves to emphasize it. By removing the redundancy, the impact of the emotion is reduced. Aaron isn't just glad to see his brother, he is glad all the way to his core. Given the likely circumstances under which Aaron and Moses last saw each other, I kinda think this represents a shift in Aaron's perspective. I mean, it's been 40 years...and suddenly he decides to go find Moses? How did he even know where to look? He HAD to have had a prompting from God to do so.
The help Moses needed was already on its way. With gladness of heart.
The next mention of 'heart' in Exodus, aside from all the heart-hardening references, is in 25:2 - again, this is Leb:
"Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give."
This was the instruction to collect the materials needed to construct the tabernacle and its furnishings. Notice...this was not done by a taxation but by a free offering. That thought is repeated in the last reference to heart in Exodus, 35:21, in which the people actually bring the offerings:
and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came forward and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.
Once more, this was not a tax, but a freewill offering that was brought by men and women for the construction, furnishing, and use of the Tabernacle. The people were moved in their hearts to give of their possessions and their skills to make the place of corporate worship and communion with God. I wonder how they all felt when the process was finished and they saw the whole thing assembled....
There is one other reference to 'heart' in Exodus:
"Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastplate of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord. Also put the Urim and Thummin in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD." - Ex. 28:29-30
I thought this might be a different Hebrew word, since it so clearly references the actual physical, blood-pumping heart, but it is still H 3820...Leb
So if there was any doubt, these verses clearly link the seat of emotion and decision with the location of the physical heart, as the same word is used for all of those applications.
Kind of a nerdy aside...Leb is NOT the most elemental form of the word. I'm kind of waiting to see when we get to a verse that uses the actual primitive root word from which Leb is derived.
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