Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
As I mentioned on my Facebook page, when I linked last week's post, I am way out of whack on my blogging schedule...well, actually, everything is way off schedule...and I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get it reined back in. It may be January, for all I can tell from here. But I'll sit down and have a dive into the list of verses with 'Heart/ hearts' in them as much as I can...
Our journey though the Bible looking at the NIV 84 renderings of 'heart/hearts' has brought us to the Psalms, and I'm just kinda arbitrarily looking at ten-psalm chunks. More or less. Ps. 119 will likely be a post of its own, lol...
But this is week two in the Psalms and we are looking at the 11th through the 20th Psalms. Taking a deep breath, 'cause there are a lot of references here....
And we don't get far before we hit a verse w/ 'Heart' in it:
For look, the wicked bend their bows, they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. - Ps 11:2; 'heart' is once more Strong's H3820, Leb - 'the heart, also used (figuratively) for the feelings, the will and even the intellect, likewise for the centre of anything'. Just for grins, I also looked up 'upright' and found that it is Strong's H3477 - yasar - 'just, meet(-est), pleased well right(-eous), straight, (most) upright(-ly, -ness).
David is the psalmist here, and this verse is actually the middle of a quote. He opens the psalm by stating that he takes refuge in God, and asks how anyone can then instruct him to (paraphrased) 'run away and hide because the wicked are laying traps for the righteous and the foundations are crumbled, so what can a righteous person do anyway? ' He then uses the rest of the psalm to affirm that God is on the throne, he sees everything, and the wicked will get their due from him.
This seems especially pertinent to me, right now, because there's a lot of hand-wringing about the foundations being destroyed and what can the righteous do and, oh woe is...all of us. I'm sure you've heard it. Yes, it's bad. Not gonna lie. But read the rest of the psalm. God is on his throne. He's still ultimately calling the shots. Don't pull the quote out of the context of David basically chastising the person who's so worried. His refuge is in God, and he's looking to the final outcome that God is going to bring.
The next two verses, in Ps. 13, which is another one of David's, kind of summarize the whole psalm:
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? ... But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. - Ps. 13: 2, 5; in verse 2, 'Heart' is Strong's 3824, lebab, which we have also frequently seen: the Heart (as the most interior organ) - bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage (faint) (tender-) heart(-ed), mind ; while verse 5 is 3820 again. A repeated pattern in Psalms is that David (or another psalmist) will ask a question, and then answer it with a declaration of faith. I think this is an interesting couplet; on the one hand, his heart is sorrowing; on the other, his heart is rejoicing. This appears to be happening at the same time. Despite the sorrow in his heart, David rejoices in God's salvation. They are not mutually exclusive things.
As probably anyone who is grieving with hope can attest.
Ooo, 14:1 is a verse I have talked about before. Also a psalm of David.
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile, there is no one who does good. "Heart" is Strong's 3820 again.
I have a footnote from the NIV translators that clarifies that the words rendered 'fool' in the Psalms denote someone who is morally deficient, not someone lacking intelligence.
I have always thought it interesting that this verse (and we will encounter it again; it's repeated verbatim later in Psalms) specifies that the phrase is spoken in the heart, not out loud. This is not someone who proclaims an atheistic viewpoint. This is someone who, to all outward appearances, seems to believe. S/he is going through the motions of proper Christian (or, at the time, Hebrew) ritual. Yet, when it comes down to it, the individual does not believe that God matters, and follows his/her own agendas, keeping up the religious activities for the sake of appearances. It is what one does, after all. This is the person who divides life between 'religious activity' and...everything else, and who will be most surprised at the end of all things to see the results of that, because 1) it will be real after all and 2) none of their religious activity will help them at all.
Psalm 15, another one from David, begins with a question...who can live on God's holy hill?
The answer is two sentences, the first of which begins in verse 2 and goes on for two and a half more verses:
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even whin it hurts, who lends money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Ps. 15:2-5a; 'Heart' is Strong's 3824 again.
You know, that's a rougher list than I was expecting, really. A lot more to it than just 'clean hands and a pure heart', which we'll encounter next post. 'Keeps his oath even when it hurts'....wow...that's worth a selah right there...but I gotta keep going.
Two verses in Psalm 16, another psalm of David:
I will praise the LORD , who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me, Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. -- Ps. 16:7-10
We've hit one of the outlying words that the NIV translates as 'heart' again...'heart' in verse 7 is translated from Strong's H3629 - Kilya, which we have encountered once before back in Job 19, and means 'kidneys' or 'reins' but is apparently translated 'heart' because...why, NIV translators? It's an essential organ? Strong's definition includes 'figuratively, the mind (as the interior self)', so I suppose that could be clearer represented to modern audiences as 'heart'...but maybe it would be just as clear as 'gut feeling'? But...looking beyond the semantics, maybe it's a reference to learning from dreams? Or to the all-too-common-to-the-human-experience of laying awake a night ruminating over things there wasn't time to think about in the daylight? When we finally slow down and are quiet? The very first verse we looked at in Psalms hit on that theme...'When you are on your beds, search your hearts...' I don't think it's a great stretch to apply that here. 'Heart' in verse 9 is H 3820 again; gladness in the seat of emotions reflects deep security.
Ps. 17 verse 3 also applies to the night....
Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. 'Heart' is H3820 again. This is a psalm of David, and he is DETERMINED to live right. He seems to be confident that, at the moment, anyway, he is sticking to that resolve and has no conviction of wrongdoing,
In verse 10 of the same psalm, David is in the middle of a description of his enemies:
They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance.
Ok, wow, another interesting translation. KJV translates that verse 'They are enclosed in their own fat, with their mouth they speak proudly.'...and the word that's translated 'heart' in the NIV and 'fat' in the KJV is H2459 - heleb, but the definition from the Lexicon cited is 'the best/most excellent' ...not body fat. The cream of the crop, the best of the best, the prime part. Given that this IS poetry, that phrasing fits with speaking arrogantly/proudly....his enemies are bound up in pride. Which isn't too far from a callous heart, really.
Pressing on, four more verses to look at.
Psalm 18 is a song of praise David wrote 'when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul"
In verse 18, David is referring to the enemies he has defeated
They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
King James translates this, 'These strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close places'.
So 'lose heart' is 'fade away'. The Hebrew word is, surprisingly, H5034, Nabal - yup, the very same as Abigail's first husband (1 Samuel 25), and it does, indeed, mean 'foolish' in some of the forms. But it also can mean to wilt, fall away, fail, faint, come to naught, wither. However you phrase it...God has given him a clear victory.
Psalm 19 is a psalm of David extolling God's work and God's word.
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. -- Ps. 19:8; 'Heart' is H 3820. This is in a litany of similar poetic statements, using different words/ phrases for the word of God and the effects it has. It's nice poetry, and it definitely should encourage anyone to make a study of the Word.
Verse 14 is VERY familiar:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. 'Heart' is, again, H3820. I just want to point out that it's not just what we SAY, it's what we THINK. What is in the heart matters, as we have seen before.
Psalm 20 is another psalm of David, and the first 4 verses list blessings prayed over another, concluding with
May he give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed. -- Ps. 20:4; 'Heart' is H3824 again. But, putting this with the previous verse ...if the meditations of one's heart please God, then the desires of one's heart will be aligned with God's heart, and the plans will be his plans.
That's a lot today; I kinda think that's how its's going to be. But there's a lot of ...ponderable...points to consider. I'll probably read back through this a few times before the next post just to get them absorbed.
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