Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Ezekiel, part 2

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our cruise through the NIV 84, looking at words translated 'Heart/ hearts' , has brought us to the middling chapters of Ezekiel. We'll look at four selections today, starting in chapter 18...

"Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and and a new spirit.  Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD.  Repent and live!"  -- Ez. 18:31-32; 'heart' is the familiar Strong's H 3820,  Leb inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding 

Here's another passage that foreshadows the concept of a new birth... a new heart and a new spirit.  The plea to repent and live...Why will you die? strikes me as especially poignant.  Why indeed?  It's just as relevant today. 

In chapter 20, Ezekiel is doing a review of Israel's history:

"Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would  not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands -- because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths.  For their hearts were devoted to their idols."  -- Ez. 20:15-16; 'Hearts' is H 3820 again.

A heart devoted to an idol cannot be a heart devoted to God.  

"Therefore groan, son of man!  Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief.   And when they ask you, 'Why are you groaning?' you shall say, 'Because of the news that is coming.  Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water.'  It is coming!  It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. -- Ez. 21:6-7; the second occurrence of 'heart' is , once again, H3820, but the first one is a word we have not seen yet, Strong's H4975, Matnayim - loins, side, greyhound (? 'perhaps an extinct animal').  I actually think this is a literal reference to, um, broken loins....let's just say acute, excruciating pain.  The NIV translating it as a broken heart is an idiomatic translation that's a little more delicate than an exact translation would be.

In any case, Ezekiel is instructed to grieve over the coming judgment.  His timeline is that he is prophesying after the first deportation of Jewish leaders to Babylon, but before the final destruction of Jerusalem.    The context of the chapter is very clearly prophesying the final and utter defeat of the nation of Judah. Judgment was coming...and the people were not believing it.  

The warning continues; we have another reference to melting hearts...

"So that hearts may melt and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at their gates.  Oh! It is made to flash like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter."  -- Ez. 21:15; 'Hearts' is, again, H 3820.

It actually did not matter one whit that the people didn't think it was going to  happen; that they were doing what seemed right to them.  Horrible, tragic, absolute judgment was coming.  

And all the people had to do to avert it was listen to the prophet, confess and repent of their idolatry, and follow God's covenant.

Why will you die?

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

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Why does it always take so long to get back into the routine after Christmas?  Or is it just me....?

But better late than never and it's a new year and we are jumping into the final stages of the Old Testament; if I am looking at my notes correctly, we have about 10 weeks left before we come to the end of the minor prophets in our look at 'heart/ hearts', as translated by the NIV 85.  And today we are starting the surreal book of Ezekiel.

There are not a lot of references to 'heart/ hearts' in Ezekiel, given the length of the book. He focuses on ...other things, mostly.  But there are a few verses for us to look at, and we will begin in chapter three, with God giving instruction to Ezekiel:

And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you." -- Ez. 3:10; 'Heart' is the second most frequent word we've seen,  Strong's H3824, Lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding. Also, as we have seen of late, it has a particular connotation of joining one's heart to God's.

God is about to give Ezekiel some very specific instructions about what he is to say and do and charged him to listen carefully and 'take [it] to heart'.  

Sound instruction not just for an Old Testament prophet, but for all of us today.  We listen willingly enough to the word from God...but falter at the 'take it to heart' part.  James warns us of being hearers of the word but not do-ers of the word.  If we don't take God's word seriously, applying it to everyday life, letting it influence our actions and deeds...have we even really heard it?

There are consequences for not taking the word to heart.

"Then in the nations where they have been carried away captive, those who escape will remember me -- how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.  They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices." - Ez. 6:9; 'Hearts' is the most common Hebrew word translated 'Heart/ hearts', Strong's H3820, Leb: Inner man, mind will, heart, understanding

Rebellion and idolatry ...turning away from God and embracing idols (of any kind) bring judgment.  Judgment either leads to rejection of God completely or conviction and repentance.  It's rough to see oneself from God's perspective and recognize our self centered behavior for what it is.

We go all the way to chapter 11 for the next mention of heart/ hearts, and what happens when there is repentance and restoration:

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." -- Ez. 11:19;  all instances of 'heart' are H 3820.

This, to me, is one of the most amazing concepts in the Old Testament, foreshadowing the whole idea of a new birth.

But, for the folks who get angry at the judgment and reject God

"But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."  -- Ez. 11:21; 'Hearts' is H 3020 again.

For a bit more detail on the consequences of idolatry...

Then the word of the LORD came to me:  "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces.  Should I let them inquire of me at all?  Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicket stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry.  I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'"  -- Ez. 14:2-5;  all instance of 'heart' are H 3020.

This is an interesting concept...that one who holds idols also puts a stumbling block right in his or her own way. Something that causes a trip and a fall.  And...here's the thing.  That idol doesn't have to be a  Baal or an Ashtoreth.  It could be ANYTHING that takes precedence over taking God's word to heart.

Anything.

That takes some soul searching.

" 'When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer him myself.  I will set my face against that man and make him an example and a byword.  I will cut him off from my people.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" - Ez. 14:7-9; 'Heart' is, once again, H 3820.

Serving idols in one's heart and still going through the motions of devotion to God...brings judgment.  Not just to the individual, but, as you read on down in the chapter, the prophet who ministers to him also falls under the same judgment.  

Idolatry is a serious thing, and the worship of God can NOT be contaminated with it.  We see this over and over in the prophets.  But this is not just a warning to not have little stone statues with burning incense in the house...it's a warning to not give up heart space to serving something that is not God.  

That heart space matters.  

A New Year...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

WHAT an original title for the post, lol.  I started writing, left, came back, looked at it and rolled my eyes.

Eh.  It works.

It's January, which means we have a crew of folks at church doing The Shred...which is not a diet-and-exercise routine, lol.  It's a plan to read the entire Bible in 30 days.  I did it two years ago, and debated doing it again, but decided I'd do another personal challenge instead.

It's still a repeat, but it's a test to see if I can do something I've been thinking about for a while.

One of the past challenges I've done is reading the Bible through in a year, following a simple formula of reading 3 chapters in the Old Testament and 1 chapter in the New Testament every day. If you stick to it faithfully, you'll actually finish before the year is over...sometime in October, I think.  But everyone misses a day here and there, so finishing in a year is a definite challenge...but one that's attainable.

But I added another layer on it.  One of the Bible study tools I teach is what I call the Bible Survey, that basically involves writing a sentence summary of each chapter as you read it.  We did that in four years when I was teaching the High School Girls class. 

I wondered if it would be too hard to add the Bible Survey on top of the 3 + 1 reading.

I grabbed a college-ruled, three subject spiral notebook at the grocery store last week and started on Sunday.  Two chapters in Genesis on page one, one chapter in Job on the first page of the second division, and one chapter in Matthew on the first page of the third division.

Today I'm on day 4 owing to a bit of a late start, but, like I said, there is a bit of wiggle room in the 3 + 1 plan.

I will still be doing the Heart/Hearts study on Fridays (or maybe Saturdays...lol).

I feel good about this.  If I am instructing folks to do this, I should be doing it myself, no?  

Here we go...