Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Psalms, part 14 , Ps. 141- 150

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, we have persevered and now we are at the end of Psalms...looking at  verses containing 'Heart/hearts'  in the NIV 84 translation.  We only have three verses in the last ten psalms to look at today.

Psalm 141 is one of David's...

Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.  -- Ps. 141:4; 'Heart' is Strong's H3820, Leb, one of the two most frequently used Hebrew words  -- 'Inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding' 

This verse actually strikes me as a plea to resist the camaraderie, the  fellowship, the approval of hanging with bad characters; y'know...peer pressure.  To be part of the crowd, breaking the rules, feeding the appetite...the Psalms are often talking about suffering at the hands of such folks; in fact, this same Psalm goes on to ask for protection against their traps...but here is a request to resist the temptation to join them.  Which is a real threat.  Joining the crowd who doesn't give a hoot about righteousness or justice, who twist language around so that words don't mean what they mean,  who seek power and pleasure can seem to be the best/ easiest thing to do when one is worn down, and I think it's interesting that this is mentioned as an occasion to ask for divine assistance.  The affirmation of that bunch is a siren song of its own; we need help to stand firm against it at times.

Psalms 143 is also one of David's psalms, this verse needs the preceding one for context:

My enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead.  So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.  -- Ps. 143: 3-4; 'Heart' is H3820 again.

Here is the state of one who is worn down; weak, fatigued, fighting to hold on to what is right and true. Of course, the Psalm goes on to declare David's trust and hope in the Lord, but this is the confession of his condition before he encourages himself by remembering God's love.

And, finally, the last mention of 'heart' in the unattributed Psalm 148:

He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart.  Praise the LORD.   -- Ps. 148:14; 'heart' is ...not in the original language.  We go from 'near' (Strong's H7138 - qarob  - 'near, nigh, at hand' ) to 'Praise' (Strong's H1984, halal, which is one of the seven main Hebrew words used for 'Praise')...which begins the final phrase of the verse.

So this actually would read 'people near.  Praise the LORD.'  The King James translates this as 'a people near unto him.' as did the Amplified,  the ESV,  the NLT, the NASB...  all the translations kind of filled in the 'near to what' blank, but only the NIV used the phrase 'his heart'.  Now, I do believe 'near to him' is implied there; that makes sense, and it sort of follows that a people near to God would also be near his heart, however..I can't dig into any depth based on implication.  The people of God are near.   But that's pretty deep all on its own...