Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Old Testament Recap

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, I rather foolishly decided to skim back over the last three years' worth of posts to kind of see if I could see some trends or patterns in the use of heart/hearts in the Old Testament...it took me the better part of two days, lol.  I knew there was a lot...but, y'all, it's a LOT.

Some really good stuff in there, too.  I scribbled down some notes on things that recurred....

God hears prayers of the heart/ in the heart.

The basis of obedience is the heart; faith must be taken to heart...otherwise, it's just performance.

Fear melts hearts.

A fully devoted heart protects against hardening of the heart.

A hardened heart is one that refuses to consider truth.

David's heart was his qualification to be king.

When we read that we are not to judge one another it is instruction not to make assumptions about what is in another's heart.

A heart that is not fully committed will make wrong decisions.

We are to give NO heart space to idols.

Circumcision of the body is pretty much useless unless the heart is circumcised as well 

And, this thought recurred so often that I just copied the best description of it... 

 God knows EXACTLY what is in an individual's heart.  He KNOWS where we are ignoring that nagging thing that tries to remind us of the right thing; he KNOWS where we are choosing to believe a narrative that indulges some desire that is not entirely admirable.  He KNOWS.  We can fool others, we can even fool ourselves, but we can't fool HIM.

The idea that 'God knows my heart' should have each of us shaking in our shoes.  HE KNOWS.

If you want numbers, I sort of have them.  I think this reflects the scope more than actual numbers because I am SURE I forgot to count the words a few times.  But the exact numbers probably don't matter; there was enough difference that my booboos wouldn't have changed the ranks for the top three, at least.

As best as I could count, Strong's 3820, Leb, was translated 'heart/hearts' 285 times.  Strong's 3824, Lebab, was translated as 'heart/ hearts' 139 times.  In the early books, we encountered more occurrences of Lebab, but after the Pentateuch Leb became the most frequently used word.  The meaning of these two words is almost identical; I didn't really pick up on why one would be used over the other.  But, last fall, I stumbled onto an essay by Chaim Bentorah that expounded on Lebab, explaining that it was used to indicate a heart joined to God's.  Knowing that earlier might have changed some of the way those verses hit; if you go back and re-read posts from before 11/7/25 just keep that little tidbit of info in mind; it might give more insight.    The third most frequent word was WAY down the count with 19 occurrences...Strong's 5315, Nepes (or Nepesh, I think I picked up on the phonetic spelling a few times).  and has a more emotional context, like passion, appetite, desire. There were about 19 other words, most of which were used only once or twice.  We had a couple of Sixes and fives, one four...and the rest were ones and twos.

So, three years in and we're just now heading into the New Testament...and Greek/ Aramaic.

But...anyone else surprised by New Testament concepts regarding the heart that actually were first in the Old Testament?  I mean, I knew there was a mention of the importance of the heart...but it really is emphasized all the way through the OT more than I realized....

 

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, well, here we are, at the end of the Old Testament in our look at 'heart/ hearts' as translated by the NIV 84. Haggai does not have any references to 'heart' listed, so we're not stopping there, but we will be looking at three out of the four final minor prophets.

Our first reference is anticipating the restoration of Israel after punishment; it's worth noting that Mr Scofield's notes indicate that Zephaniah was writing during the reign of King Josiah,  before the fall to Babylon and the Exile, which is prophesied in chapter 1.  But the encouragement is...the judgment has an expiration date

Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel!  Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! -- Zeph. 3:14; 'heart' is  Strong's 3820, Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.

There was hard stuff...devastatingly hard stuff...coming, but the prophet calls for rejoicing because of the restoration on the other side. That actually is a pretty strong  theme throughout the Bible...enduring tribulation for the glory that comes after.  Maybe someday that will be a blog series, lol.

There are several verses referencing heart/ hearts in Zechariah; the first passage is in response to a question about observing a couple of traditional fasts, a bit of a historical review.

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.  In your hearts, do not think evil of each other.' But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD was very angry."  -- Zech. 7:9-12;  in verse 10, 'Hearts' is Strong's H 3824, lebab - inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.  From previously mentioned writings of Chaim Bentorah, we have also learned that this word carries a connotation of joining one's heart to God's.  Now I have to ponder the significance of thinking evil of someone in the joining of my heart to God's heart.  Does this mean I am accusing someone before God if I inwardly complain about them in some way?  Or, how could I join my heart to God's and then also think evil of someone in that same space?  That's deep, y'all...  in verse 12, 'hearts' is H 3820 again. Making one's heart as hard as flint will definitely shut God out, so there is no joining of hearts implied there.

The next verse, like the verse in Zephaniah, references a future restoration of God's people:

The Ephraimites will become like mighty men, and their hearts will be glad as with wine.  Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.  -- Zech. 10: 7; both instances of 'hearts'  are H 3820.   God's people and their children will rejoice after that restoration.

Zechariah then prophesies a coming attack against Jerusalem in which God will fortify the city and protect his people

Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, "The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God." -- Zech. 12:5; 'Hearts" is, once again, H 3820.  This is a deep acknowledgement of truth, knowing that it is God who gives them their strength.

Now, finally, we are at the the book of Malachi, a little book about practical judgments against God's people, who are going through the motions of worship but are clueless about what true devotion means.  The first verse we have is directed at the priests, who are supposed to be leading the people spiritually:

"If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.  Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me." -- Mal. 2:2;  both instances of 'heart' are, again, H 3820.

It is one thing to go through all the rituals of worship; it is something else entirely to set one's heart to honor God.  It is entirely possible to do all the stuff related to worship and still not honor God.  It's especially easy in our place and time, because it is so easy to completely separate worship from daily life.  It's far too easy for folks to claim to follow Jesus because they show up for Sunday worship...maybe even serve in that house...but do whatever seems desirable to them the rest of the week, serving their own desires and ambitions without a consideration for honoring God and his ways.  It was no different in Malachi's time.

Our last verse in the Old Testament  is the last verse in the Old Testament...looking forward to the one who was yet to come.

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."  -- Mal. 4: 5-6; again, both uses of 'Hearts' are translated from H 3820.

Jesus himself said that John the Baptist was the one who came as Elijah; but I think this possibly has a future interpretation also. Many scholars believe that Elijah is one of the two Prophets mentioned in Revelation, who appear during the tribulation time.  In which case, this would not just be a figurative prophecy but a literal one...Elijah returns just before the final judgment falls.  But this passage implies a healing between generations and, to be honest, I am not sure just exactly what that should look like.  It may be that John the Baptist did do that in his day; it may be that the Prophets in the end times will also have that aspect to their ministry.  Or, it may be that the message from John to follow Jesus is the ministry of reconciliation that comes around when there is an awakening/ revival.  

Or all three.

Next week, I will take a pause to kind of look back over the journey so far before we jump into the New Testament and change languages....

...And the Crazy Continues...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.

I thought I would get in that last post from the Old Testament portion of  the heart study before we left town for a week and a half...but there was just too much work to do, on too many fronts, to do it justice.  We should get that this weekend, though.  Hopefully.

But I thought I'd throw in a post about where we went.  The Actor, aka Number 2 Son, had a birthday the day before Mother's Day, and we had a carload of household goods that came from the grandparents' house in Elkhart to take down to them, so we headed down for that weekend, then checked into Disney's Caribbean Beach resort for four nights before making the return trip.  The kids were blessed with a couple of days off of work to hang with us in Disney, so we got an almost family vacation out of it (Thanks Pastor John!).

I will say, those long hot days are getting harder the older I get...but we had a good time.  My feet almost feel normal at this point, lol.

The Essential Photo...the Actor's wife, the Little Red-Haired Girl, had to work.  Different boss.

I will share one thing that struck me whilst we were there...we had several character meet-and-greet moments, some because we stood in line and some because we got a couple of major discounts on character dining.  And after the last day, something that I had kind of been subconsciously stewing on finally bubbled up into actual coherent words.

Every one of those character interactions involved a character who behaved exactly as if we were the folks s/he had been waiting all day to see.  And I watched them treat the folks before and after us in line the same way.  I'm not sure how that training goes, but it was clear that is a major priority.  They noticed details...even with the limited visibility out of the, um, outfits they were wearing.   I had a celebration button ("I'm celebrating a data base migration!")  and every character pointed it out.  I have had characters notice those little pins on my lanyard before.  I tell you, it's one of the charms of visiting the kingdom of the mouse...it's a real esteem boost, even knowing that it's the job.  It *feels* real at the moment.

I need to study that approach.  I don't think I need to immediately embrace everyone I meet, but surely I can learn the art of making folks feel like I've been waiting all day to meet up with them.  

Everyone needs a bit of that from time to time.