Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Verse 1 in chapter 10 of Proverbs begins "The proverbs of Solomon:" ...and we begin a journey through a rather random compilation of Solomon's wise sayings; some of which get repeated. We're not really going to be dealing with a general train of thought, as we were in the earlier chapters we covered. So I'm just going to take the next 7 verses that mention heart/ hearts as 'all I can manage today', lol. Our first stop is Proverbs 10:8 -
The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin. 'Heart' is Strong's H3820, leb- inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding; which is the most common Hebrew word that we have seen.
This is a common device for Hebrew poetry...a phrase that is stated, and then either confirmed or contrasted. We will see (statement) and/ but (statement) over and over again as we look at these proverbs.
Remember the earlier posts in Proverbs, in which we found that the heart is where instruction is either embraced or rejected...this is echoing that. One whose heart has wisdom to accept instruction is compared to someone who babbles his own mind instead...and has a less than desirable outcome.
Moving on to verse 20 of the same chapter:
The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. Heart is H3820 again.
'Tongue of the righteous' would mean the words, speech, or teaching from a righteous person...contrasted with the heart (where wisdom is embraced or rejected) of a wicked person. One has great value...the other has little. Interesting that these two proverbs flip the discussion; the first is heart vs speech; the second is speech vs. heart.
The next one is...ominous...
The LORD detests men of perverse heart but delights in those whose ways are blameless. -- Prov. 11:20; Heart is H3820 again.
Now we have God's perspective on the heart...and having a perverse (H6141 -Iqqes: Twisted, distorted, crooked, perverse, perverted) heart is, well, a problem. How do we reconcile that with 'God is love?' The word the NIV translates as 'detests' is H8441, toeba -- a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable. It might be a shade more accurate to say 'A perverse heart is an abomination to the LORD', which is pretty close to the King James. That actually makes the action of the statement on the heart...it's the perverse heart that's doing the thing; it wasn't initiated by God. If a thing is detestable, abominable...then the reasonable reaction is to despise, detest, abhor that thing. However, the ball is in the heart's court. God does provide a way to correct and renew a perverse heart....and thus become a delight. This isn't two different people here...it's two different life choices.
Pauses to think on that a moment before continuing...
I am quickly coming to expect that any verse with 'heart' in it in Proverbs is going to expound on the same theme.
There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace. -- Prov. 12:20; 'Heart' is once more H3820.
Deceit and joy seem to be different kinds of things...like, deceit is an action while joy is an emotion or experience. How does our impression of 'deceit' (H4820 - mirma: deceit, treachery) change if we consider it to be a state comparable to 'joy'? As in, deceit has an effect on the individual...comparable to the effect of joy? Deceit as an emotional state? The result upon oneself from plotting evil...planning wrong doing... I am suddenly reminded of a post I recently saw on social media, talking about a particular actor who was constantly in character of the villain he portrayed (I am deliberately being vague to avoid search engine hits) . Problem was, that character was so dark and so twisted that the actor couldn't shake it off...and died of a drug overdose soon after completing the filming. Even actual pretend evil...had a horrible effect.
A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly. Prov. 12:23; 'heart' is H3820 once again.
This brings to mind a modern proverb...maybe from Will Rodgers?...'Better to keep one's mouth shut and be considered a fool than to start talking and remove all doubt.' This one is hard, for one who has just discovered she's in the half of the population that has a continuous inner narration going on. I have words coming out my ears, lol, and too often I have spoken when it would have been much better to hold my peace. In those cases I usually didn't have all the background info, or I had heard something out of context, or whatever, and by talking I proved that I didn't know squat about the subject. Because it was a heart-level ignorance. Folly. Ouch. Humiliation is bitter...but it isn't fatal and can be educational. If we allow it.
An anxious heart weights a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. Prov. 12:25; 'heart' is ...you guessed it...H3820.
Another video I recently saw on social media (Facebook Reels is a bottomless time-sucking pit, but there are some gems there. I'm not sure if that's good or bad...) made the point that studies have shown that all it takes is 8 minutes with a friend to help pull someone out of a anxious spot. "Do you have 8 minutes?" became, to the individual and a friend, a code phrase meaning...'I really need an encouraging word right now'. I think that's a great idea. Encouragement is a gift...and it doesn't cost anything but a few minutes of time.
The last verse for today is Prov. 13:12, which is a familiar one:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Of course, 'heart' is H3820.
Funny thing about humans, though...we focus on the deferred hope and kinda ignore the fulfilled longings. Sure, there are things that I have been hoping for ...for years...and if I focused on those things I could get very, very blue. But in so many ways I am living my dream...and I tend to take that all for granted. The antidote to the 'hope deferred' illness is...gratefulness for the fulfilled longings.
And that is a good selah spot to stop for this week...
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