Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - 1 Samuel Part 1 - Samuel and the Fall of the House of Eli

 Posted  by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our perusal through the Bible looking at occurrences of 'Heart/ Hearts'  has wandered through Joshua, but, despite the prevailing thought that Ruth is a romantic story...there isn't a single mention of heart/hearts in the entire 4 chapters.  It's all about the inheritance, not romance.  So that brings us to the book of 1 Samuel, which has a surprising number of mentions.  I debated trying to look at the references thematically, but decided the best thing is probably to just follow the narrative, so today we're looking at the first 4 chapters (all references today, per usual, are from the NIV 84).

1 Samuel opens with the story of Hannah, the favored but childless second wife of one Elkanah, who was an Ephraimite.  Up to this time, the spiritual leaders of Israel had been the priests descended from Aaron, with the current leaders being Hophni and Phineas, sons of Eli of the house of Aaron.  These were corrupt leaders, who pursued their own agenda and abused their position, as we find in chapter 2, and Eli, their father, did nothing to correct them.  But this was all peripheral to Hannah, who was desperate to have a son.  When Elkanah's family were in Shiloh for a time of sacrifice and worship, Hannah made her way to the tabernacle to bring her pain and hope to God; Eli was sitting in a chair at the entrance.

As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.  Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk?  Get rid of your wine." -- 1 Sam 1:13 [Heart: Strong's H3820]

Would all my private pray-ers wave at me?  I can pray with others, in front of others, for common concerns but if it comes to praying for me or mine...I wanna keep that between me and God.  This verse is extremely comforting to me...it is the second one we've encountered that indicates that God hears the prayers spoken only in the heart. Those burdens or concerns that should not be spoken to others can be spoken to God.  He hears.  And there's something else that this passage says, kind of tangentially, about Hannah's heart.  She didn't react to Eli's judgmental rebuke with offense.  She replied with humility, and Eli blessed her....although he didn't apologize.  She was comforted all the same...she left, she ate, and she received the answer she sought. And, as she had vowed, she brought her son Samuel back to Shiloh to serve God as soon as he was weaned, which I am sure was extremely difficult for her, but she rejoiced that God had heard her and blessed her even then.

Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high.  My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance"   -- 1 Sam 2:1, Strong's H3820.

Hannah's song goes on through verse 10; it's pretty amazing.  And they do, indeed, leave Samuel with Eli to be raised to serve God.  Hannah had 5 more kids...two daughters and three sons. Hannah saw Samuel when they came to Shiloh for worship, about once a year, and she would bring him a coat she'd made.  Her heart was brought from pain and despair to contentment.

But Eli and his family were under judgement.  You know how you think you know something and then suddenly realize it wasn't what you knew?  Yeah, that happened.  I thought Samuel was the one who prophesied the downfall of Eli's house...and he did, but he wasn't the first.  An unnamed 'man of God'  (1 Sam 2:27) came to Eli, apparently  while Samuel was still very young, and gave him a blistering prophecy, which includes

"Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life." -- 1 Sam 2:33.  'Heart' here is a different Hebrew word - nepes (Strong's H5315), which is more commonly translated 'soul', having distinct implications of 'breath' .  Why it was translated 'heart' here instead of  'soul' I cannot guess...because 'grieve your soul' would make just as much sense.  In both cases, the implication is the seat of emotion.    

The man of God goes on to proclaim that, to prove his word true, both Hophni and Phineas would die on the same day, and that God said, "I will raise up for my self a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind.  I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always." - 1 Sam. 2:35. (Strong's H3824)   As I typed that, I am reminded of something we'll see later, when God rejects Saul with almost the same language.  And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we have encountered a reference to God's heart since the very first post, which looked at God's heart being grieved, and God making a promise in his heart.  In this case, he's referring to a man who does what is in his (God's) heart.  Which implies that humans can know the heart of God...or at least, know it enough to know his character and order their lives in accordance with the character of God.  Which is both an encouragement and a challenge.

In chapter 4, we come to the fulfillment of the prophecy of both the unknown 'man of God' and young Samuel.  I don't know how old Samuel is at this time; the chronology is a little vague, but the Israelites are battling the Philistines and try to use the Ark of the Covenant as a magic weapon of some sort, thinking God would act to protect it, which fails utterly.  Hophni and Phineas are killed and the Ark is captured.  News travels...

That same day, a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head.  When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God.  When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry. -- 1 Sam 4:13 (Strong's H3820 again).

Eli, with a premonition of doom, probably related to the prophecies he had heard, was worried about the Ark and seated where he could get news.  I also wonder if Eli had counseled against taking the Ark to battle.  It was a bad idea...especially since they had had no word of God to do so (remember Ai?).  God did, of course, protect the Ark, but not how the Israelites had expected.  They were soundly defeated for their presumption.  Not once in the account of the fighting is there any indication the Israelites did what God had demonstrated to them over and over was necessary...seek His counsel for the coming battle.  Eli's heart knew.  And when he got word, he fell backwards from his chair...stricken?  Fainted?  Hard to say, because he broke his neck.  So even if he had a stroke or a heart attack, the fall killed him.

God hears our hearts...and God's heart can be known.  That's a good place to start if one is honestly seeking God.  

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter- Judges, The Song of Deborah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

In all the book of Judges, there are only three verses that reference 'heart/hearts'...all Strong's H3820 ...and they all occur in chapter 5. Mr. Scofield has labeled this chapter 'The Song of Deborah and Barak', a poetic response to the victory of Israel over the Canaanite army of Jabin, led by one bad dude named Sisera, who was dispatched in a grisly manner by a lady named Jael.

The song praises God for the victory, lauds the leaders who took initiative, berates the tribes that lagged and didn't fight, and recounts the actions of Jael, the woman who dealt the enemy the final blow.

My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people.  Praise the LORD!...The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, rushing after him into the valley.  In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.  Why did you stay among the campfires to hear the whistling for the flocks?  In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.  - Judges 5:9, 15-16 NIV84

I really like the first verse of the song...When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves -- praise the LORD!  (5:2); that kind of sets the tone for the whole song.  The leaders stepped up and the people followed.

Y'all, that'll preach.  But we are here to talk about hearts.

And the uses for 'heart' are kinda different than what we have looked at before.  The first one indicates that the heart of the psalmist (in this case, Deborah, from v. 7) is with the folks who rose up willingly to fight the battle.  She was interceding for them and proud of them.  They were doing the right thing.

It's a contrast to the use of 'heart' later in the chapter, which is the same phrase repeated:  In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart.  The folks of the tribe of Reuben apparently did not muster to the battle as the passage implies that they stayed around the campfires to mind sheep.  But what DID the 'searching of heart' actually mean here?  That they hemmed and hawed over the call to arms too long and missed it?  That they wanted to go to battle but couldn't convince themselves it was worth the risk? That they dug around in order to find an excuse not to go and decided they had to mind the sheep?  I'm honest, I really don't know what their issue was.  But whatever it was...they were listening to the internal dialogue and did not show up to help Israel defeat their enemies.

And that, too, will preach.  The enemy doesn't have to flat out convince us to choose wrongly; he can just throw us into enough internal conflict that, if we don't recognize what's going on, we spend so much time wrestling over some aspect of the issue that we ultimately take no action.  Which was his actual goal anyway.  Searching one's heart to find and root out sin and disobedience is a good thing; searching one's heart to find an excuse to not turn up when called is a whole 'nuther issue, and I'm as guilty of that as the next person.  

I would even go so far as to posit that searching one's heart to find an 'out' in such a situation is the first step to hardening one's heart to reject such appeals in the future.  And that is definitely a problem.

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Joshua, Part 2

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Of all the rest of the verses in Joshua that reference heart/hearts, one refers to hardened hearts; the rest refer to hearts devoted to God.

And...I'll be honest, given the current world events, I kinda feel like I need to treat that one verse with kid gloves; folks who are not convinced of the origin and authority of scripture could have a knee-jerk reaction to the content. So I am providing some context, but I can't quote the whole preceding two chapters about the battles....

Joshua waged war against these kings for a long time.  Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he  might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. -- Josh. 11: 18-20 (all references today from the NIV 84).

There are references in Scripture to the reasons why God commanded the Israelites to be merciless; I'm not going to chase that rabbit right now but if you are curious, look up the sin of the Amorites, and also look up the references to the practices of the people who occupied the land before the Israelites returned...particularly where God promises to send judgement upon the Israelites should they adopt those practices.  Conquering/ invading nations was one way God visited judgment upon disobedient and rebellious nations...even Israel/ Judah were subject to that judgement because they fell into the heinous idolatry of the day.  But it's a long and heavy topic and I'm looking at hearts so...I will also recommend going back and re-reading the posts about the hardening of Pharoah's heart from earlier in the study for a more detailed look at just what leads to a heart being hardened.

But...what is the protection against a hardened heart that brings judgment?  A fully devoted heart.

[Joshua speaking to the people] "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and serve him with all your heart and all your soul." - Josh. 22:5

[Joshua speaking to the people] "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.  You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed.  Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed."  -- Josh. 23:14

[from Joshua's last address to the people] - "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." -- Josh. 24:23

I think it's interesting that Joshua reminds them that they know in their heart and soul what God has done for them...they have experienced it themselves.  They saw the Jordan run dry, they felt the ground shake when the walls of Jericho fell, they utterly defeated alliances of armies that far outnumbered them.  They had also seen the ground open up and swallow rebellion,  watched Aaron stand between the living and the dead to make atonement to stop a deadly plague, and they knew the sting of defeat because of greed and rebellion in the camp.  God kept ALL of his promises.

But the ultimate reminder from Joshua's last words to the people he led...fully commit your heart to your God.  

[I didn't include the Strong's numbers in the verses as I have been doing...it seems distracting when I re-read past posts.  But I still feel like I should still include them, so we'll try footnotes, lol. Josh. 11:20 uses H 3820, while the other three references are all H 3824, both of which we've looked at before..in fact, H 3820 is listed as a form of H 3824.]

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter -- Joshua part 1, Melted Hearts

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Part of the reason this post got delayed is that I wrote down a reference incorrectly when I was making my list and I had to go back to the concordance to see what it should have been.  That should have been a simple thing, but just getting around to pulling out that massive tome was a thing, lol.  But I have corrected my error and am moving forward, lol.

And I decided to split our time in Joshua into two posts, because, out of the eight verses that reference heart/ hearts, half of them reference fear.

Did you know fear is a solvent that melts hearts?   All references today from the NIV 84.

(Rahab speaking) "We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our  hearts  [Strong's H3824] melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below."    Josh. 2:10 - 11

Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts [Strong's H3824] melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.  - Josh. 5:1 

When they returned, they said to Joshua, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai.  Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." So about three thousand men went up, but they were routed by the men of Ai, who  killed about thirty-six of them.  They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes.  At this, the hearts [Strong's H3824] of the people melted and became like water. -- Josh. 7: 3 -5

(Caleb speaking) "I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land.  And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts [Strong's H3820]  of the people melt with fear.  I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly." -- Josh. 14: 7-8

Can I just be honest?  I was really surprised to see that the last reference uses a different Hebrew word, Leb, instead of Lebab, which is what we have been seeing over and over and is what is used in the first three references.

Which immediately set me on a rabbit trail to figure out why....what's the difference?  I found  that Leb is actually a form of Lebab (the 'b's are pronounced as 'v's, for what it's worth); both connotate the center, or innermost part, and they are used for identical meanings...almost interchangeably. But Strong's definitions seem to put a little more emphasis on emotions with Leb and possibly a little more emphasis on the actual heart (the organ) and the intellect and courage with Lebab.  But it's a very slight difference.  Someone who is a true Hebrew scholar could probably discern the difference based on the spelling but I'm not anywhere near that level.  For what we are looking at here, it's probably not enough of a difference to affect things.

I can categorize these verses several ways...two deal with fear in Israel; two deal with fear in their enemies.  Three deal with reputation...word of mouth...hearsay; one deals with an actual battle.  Of the two that deal with Israel's fear, one involves fear that comes as a result of  presumption and the other is fear that comes from a lack of faith. Both involve not consulting/ listening to God; doing things based on human reasoning instead of what God spoke.

But it's interesting that a heart that has melted from fear becomes incapable of doing anything.  For those who were opposing God's people, their fear was a protection for the Israelites while they re-circumcised the men...a very vulnerable few days for them.  But fear kept everyone away.  But for God's people...the fear came as a result of not asking God (presumption) or not listening to God (refusing to believe).  In both cases, it was disastrous.

So, how does this apply to fear today?  In an increasingly violent world...how do we deal with fear?

Rahab found herself in the camp of the enemies of Israel...and she abandoned her people to join with the Hebrews, and so saved herself and her family.  She took action in the face of fear...moving toward God.  For the Israelites themselves, dealing with the fear was a long lesson in obedience; one they didn't always remember, as there was 40 years in between the two referenced incidents.  But...after the debacle at Ai, they DID seek God and they DID follow his instructions and then...they got a do-over and won the second time, defeating two entities instead of just one.

It is a fallen world, and faith is not an absolute guarantee there won't be horrible things to endure.  It's not for nothing that we see the phrase 'the one who endures to the end' over and over in Revelation.  But an assurance of following God will go a long way to taking the solvent power out of fear.

Where's Lisa Been???

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I told ya it was going to be a crazy fall.  

We're almost through it.

First...this happened...

Photo courtesy of The Princess.  I didn't pull my phone out to take pictures...

The Artist and his Dancer married on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee River, on a lovely day with eagles hanging around.  Couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting.  And, yes, I did finish the dress on time...barely.  (If you haven't read that post yet, click through...I'm not going to retype the shenanigans The Artist pulled on his family in the ceremony, lol).  To top off the weekend, I had to be at church early the next morning to get folks registered for the quarterly baptism service.  So, yeah. Crazy.

I thought I would get stuff done the next weekend.  My Sweet Babboo was on a Royal Ranger campout, so I had the weekend to work on a project for a friend, catch up the laundry that didn't get done over the wedding weekend, clean up the sewing room, write the next Heart blog post...

But, well, a few weeks ago I listened to a Makers and Mystics podcast on which Stephen interviewed Sam Smith, who'd written an epic series about anthropomorphized rabbits.  Think Redwall, not 
Watership Down.  After listening to the podcast, I bopped over to Sam's website and ordered the books.

And then forgot about them.

Well, Thursday night, on the brink of my 'I'm going to catch up' weekend...those books came in the mail.

So guess what I did on my 'catch up' weekend....

Had a very late night, but I can report that the good guys win, albeit not without cost. and I might even have shed a tear or two in the final boss fight...er, last battle.  I found the books easier to get 'in to' than the Wingfeather series, if a bit long in descriptions in places.  Overall...good books.  

I'm calling it a mental health break, lol.

I did get the dress  hemmed for my friend (it was a rather crisis thing and she had no one else to do it.  I made her promise not to tell who did it, lol), so it wasn't a complete washout, but I did NOT get the laundry done.

Then this past weekend we went to the state Assembly of God conference center for the annual Ranger Commander/ wives conference.

We had a cold front come through, and I managed to catch the resulting mist dancing on the small lake yesterday morning.  It's such a pretty, restful place.  

We had a fair amount of free time, so I dug into another book...

this one was 'suggested' to the church staff.  It's...interesting.  I'm about 2/3 of the way through it.

The wifi/ cell signal is not terrific up on the mountain where the conference center is, but the news about the attack on Israel filtered up to us in pieces.  We had a little over 50 folks from church on a tour of Israel last week; they were headed to the airport to start the trip home when the attacks began.  They did manage to get out, after a bit of time in a bomb shelter at the airport.  They were on what turned out to be the last commercial flight to leave on Saturday, but they are all home safe.  I am gobsmacked by the details coming out about that attack; remembering a quote from the Lord of the Rings movies...'What can men do against such unreasoning hate?'  

The photo is from my trip to Israel in 2019.   When they first announced this year's trip, I told my hubby..."this is our trip.  We need to go."  But then both sons decided to get married this fall, so a trip to Israel just wasn't going to happen for us. Who knows now when or if we'll get to make the trip together. This could get very bad...but we can pray.

I don't know if I will manage to get the next Heart post up before the end of the month or not.  We still have some crazy left to get through; but at least the rest of the crazy should be somewhat fun...

All that to say, yeah, I'm still here and I'll post the next few instalments in the series when I can...around the laundry, I'm sure. ;-)

Falling into the Hodgepodge...just for fun

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I haven't done the Hodgepodge in a hot minute...but now that the Weddings are both in the rear view mirror, and Fall is officially...well, at least sort of...here, I thought I'd just jump in and have some fun.  So here are my thoughts for this week's edition...

1. It's officially fall y'all. In the northern hemisphere anyway. Any signs of it where you are? What's your favorite thing about this time of year? 

Well, in these parts we really don't see what I'd call Fall until around the first weekend of November...peak fall color can be as late as Thanksgiving. We're still in mid-to-upper 80's for the 10 day forecast, so I'm not hurrying to pull out the sweaters and the boots.  But it is nice that it's not absolutely ROASTING outside.  My favorite thing about fall is probably the cozy settling in...the fire in the fire place, s'mores, and knowing that the holidays are coming and we'll see everyone before too long.

2. Have you visited any 'falls' in person? Tell us about one of your favorites? Of the following top ten famous falls (according to this site ) which would you most like to see in person-

Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe/Zambia), Igazu Falls (Argentina/Brazil), Niagara Falls (US/Canada), Angel Falls (Venezuela), Yosemite Falls (California), Dettifoss (Iceland) Kaieteur Falls (Guyana), Plitvice Waterfalls (Croatia), Gullfoss-Golden Falls (Iceland), or Sutherland Falls (New Zealand)

I've been to Niagara and Yosemite, although the trip to Yosemite was in August and there was barely a trickle over the falls.  Niagara was amazing; there's a spot on the Canadian side where the walkway railing is just a few feet from the edge; you can see through the water as it goes over and really, it's not that deep.  But it's moving fast.  I kind of subconsciously felt like it should be turned off at night, which I know is completely absurd.  I think my puny little brain just couldn't fathom that much water pouring down without stopping.

3. What's something you'll miss about summer? 

Daylight.  We're on the eastern edge of the time zone, so by the winter solstice the sun sets at like, 4:30 in the afternoon.  Depressing.

4. A favorite fall recipe?

Russian Tea!

2 cups Tang

1 cup instant tea (no sugar, no lemon)

2 packages unsweetened lemon Kool-aid

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves.

Put all in a tupperware container, seal it up and shake it really well.  2 teaspoons of mix in a cup of hot water...sweeten with sugar or honey to taste.

Beats Pumpkin Spice Anything hands down....

5. Something you enjoy but lately have allowed it to 'fall by the wayside'? 

Oy.  I have been hankering to pull out my clarinet and play a bit, but I've lost my binder of music.  I put it in a new one a couple of years back because the old black one was falling apart and...now I can't find it.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I have much Fall Cleaning to do.  Much too much.  But I have managed...so far...to keep my Commitment Level for Things in the Fall down considerably from the past few years, so maybe I can actually get that Round Tuit thing...

Blogging Bible Study: The Heart of the Matter - Deuteronomy, Discourse Five

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

And so we come to the final discourse and conclusion of Deuteronomy, chapters 31 - 34.  There is only one verse that mentions heart...and that is Deut. 32:46, following the passage known as the 'Song of Moses', verses 1-43 of chapter 32.  I'm going to include the whole sentence, lol.

When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law."

The Hebrew word for heart is,  as almost all have been, Strong's H3824, Lebab.  

As I typed that verse out, the word command stood out.  Command your children.  

And it hit me...IF the words are taken to heart, THEN the result is that the next generation will be diligently taught...commanded...to carefully obey all of those words.  Which will include taking the words to heart and doing the same with the generation following them.

Take a selah moment right there.

I am reminded of a situation I had back years ago, teaching young people in our denominational church.  One family stood out to me; with a single child, they stated that they were 'going to let [the child] decide what to believe and not push their beliefs onto [said child].'

That wasn't an isolated opinion, although it was more rare in that particular denomination than in more...progressive...churches.

Now, I totally get that forcing kids to toe a religious line just purely from a legalistic stance often produces rebellion and pushes the kids away from faith altogether.  I have seen it happen.

Which is why the phrase take to heart is so key.  We are not talking about an externally enforced list of  requirements.  This is about living out of personal, heart- felt convictions.  Part of teaching the kids to carefully obey the word of God includes teaching them to take those teachings to heart.

And the word 'command' makes it clear that such teaching is not optional, is not left up to the kids to decide what they want to believe.  No, from a very young age, the kids are to be taught to take to heart  the words of God, so then carefully obeying those words will be part of who they are.

So...I have to ask...how are we teaching our children to take God's word to heart?  

Because, has we have found in earlier lessons, obedience is a heart issue.