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לֵב (Lev): The Heart · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking, where we seek to understand
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  biblical truth and its applications for our lives.
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  Today we have a special deep dive prepared for you, our
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  listener, into a single, incredibly significant Hebrew
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  word. A word that appears hundreds of
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  times in the Old Testament, holding within it so many shades
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  of meaning that it, well, it really captures the very core of
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  what it means to be human and what it means to relate to God.
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  That's right, this deep dive goes far beyond just anatomy.
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  It's about the innermost essence of a person.
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  What we aim to uncover is how the single term shapes our view
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  of human nature, our emotions, our will, our intellect, even
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  God's own character as described in Scripture.
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  So our mission today is to unpack the wide range of
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  meanings and theological weight of the Hebrew word lab that's
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  eat. Now.
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  It's often translated as heart in English, but as we'll see, go
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  so much further than what that single word might suggest to us
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  today. We've compiled a collection of
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  sources to guide us, and we're eager to see what insights they
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  reveal about this really central concept.
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  Let's jump right in because, well, what we find about love is
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  pretty captivating from the start.
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  Love and its close relative, Love, Bob.
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  That's central terms throughout the biblical text.
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  Oh, absolutely. They appear with striking
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  regularity. You've got love showing up
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  around 600 times, give or take, and love Bob maybe about 250
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  times. Their origins are rooted in a
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  common Semitic root Lib. You find related words in
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  Akkadian, libu, Arabic love, ugaritic #, even Egyptian Ibe.
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  So this tells us that the concept of the heart as a sort
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  of central entity was broadly understood across the ancient
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  Near East. It wasn't unique just to Israel.
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  Exactly. It connects the Hebrews to a
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  wider cultural vocabulary, you know, even as they gave it their
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  own specific theological flavor. That's a crucial point.
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  It's part of a shared understanding, but then it takes
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  on these specific nuances with in the biblical narrative.
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  And you mentioned Lib and Loba. While both are used, our sources
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  suggest maybe certain books or traditions lean one way.
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  Yeah, there seems to be some preference.
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  For instance, the Yahwist source, you know, in the
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  Pentateuch often seems to favor Lib, whereas Deuteronomy and the
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  writers influenced by it, they often prefer Lobab.
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  It's subtle, maybe more stylistic, but it shows the
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  richness there, even if the core meaning is very close.
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  OK. So let's start with the basics.
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  Does love ever just mean the physical heart?
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  The organ pumping blood. It does, yes.
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  While its application really expands, it's important to see
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  that foundation. It can refer to the actual
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  physical organ. We see this in, you know,
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  literal descriptions of injury or bodily function.
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  Think about Absalom and Sister Samuel 18.1 free.
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  He's pierced in the heart by Joe AB's javelins.
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  That's a clear reference to a fatal wound to the organ itself.
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  Right, very physical. Or Nabel in First Samuel 25.37.
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  When he hears about David's earlier threat, the text says
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  his heart died within him. Now that probably points to a
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  physical collapse, maybe even a literal heart attack, a loss of
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  life or vital function. And then there's Jehu piercing
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  Joram's heart with an arrow in 2 Kings 9.24.
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  Very direct, very physical. These ground the word in reality
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  and. It's not just humans, is it?
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  I think I saw a reference to animals too.
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  You did Job 41.16 mentions the heart of the crocodile.
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  Now here it's probably used more figuratively, talking about the
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  animal's inner strength or essence, but it shows the
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  concept could apply to the core of any living creature.
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  OK, so it starts physical. What about the area around the
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  heart? That's an interesting linguistic
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  point. Hebrew sometimes lacks a
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  specific word for, say, the chest or breast region, so Leah
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  can sometimes cover that area. In Exodus 28, Aaron carries the
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  names of Israel's sons over his breast.
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  Al Libo on his priestly garments.
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  That likely means over the chest area where the heart is located,
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  not on the organ itself. I see.
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  And there's a term segur lub in Hosea 13.8.
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  It might describe the pericardium, the SAC around the
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  heart, or maybe just the rib cage generally.
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  Again, it shows LUB covering a physical space, which kind of
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  sets the stage for its wider, deeper meanings.
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  Right. So building on that physical
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  idea, Lub then steps into the realm of like life force
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  animation. Yes, the connection to life
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  itself is very direct freezes like my heart lives in Psalm
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  22.27. That directly links the LUB to
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  being alive, to continued existence.
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  It's not just a sign of being alive, it's almost like the
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  engine. The LUB can also be affected by
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  illness. Isaiah 1.5 mentions a sick
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  heart, which points to a general state of ill health for the
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  whole person, the whole nation in that context.
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  And there's the idiom halid lub. It means to stay the heart or
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  support the heart. Like refreshing yourself.
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  Exactly. It refers to refreshing oneself
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  by eating or drinking. Think of Abraham offering food
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  to his visitors in Genesis 18.5. Nourishment literally supports
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  the heart, linking it to sustaining life and strength.
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  And Jeremiah 4.18 has Nagahad libak, meaning it reaches your
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  life, really underscoring its connection to life itself, to
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  your very existence. And this idea of being central,
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  it extends beyond the body too, doesn't it?
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  To places. That's right, metaphorically,
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  labe is used to describe the interior, middle, or center of
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  something else entirely. Like in the midst of the sea,
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  the labiom in Exodus 15.8, or reaching to the very heavens at
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  Lebushamiam in Deuteronomy 4.11. Meaning the highest, most
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  central point. This idea of centrality is key.
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  Whether it's the center of the sea or the sky, or, as we'll
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  see, the center of a person, the labe is always at the core.
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  OK, so moving past the purely physical, this is where Labe
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  really starts to broaden out, isn't it?
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  Representing the core of who a person is.
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  Indeed, it often refers to 1's inner self, and this encompasses
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  things we might separate today, like the mind, the affections,
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  the will, all bundled together. Sometimes it can even stand in
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  for the soul or the life principle.
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  Then FA. You see this in Psalm 73.21
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  where the psalmist says his heart was grieved, or Psalm 84.3
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  My heart and my flesh cry out for God.
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  Here, Lilou represents the deepest aspect of the living
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  person. With the flesh the outer part.
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  Right, highlighting its internal nature.
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  And sometimes when the text just says the Lube, it can mean the
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  whole person in their inner being.
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  Like in Ecclesiastes 1.16 where Solomon says I communed with my
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  own watch or literally with my Lube.
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  In Libby, that means to myself capturing the whole thinking,
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  feeling individual in private reflection.
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  This emotional aspect, it feels like the most familiar
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  connection for us in English. Heart feelings.
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  But you're saying the Hebrew Lube is even broader?
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  It truly is. The lobe is the primary place
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  for a huge range of human feelings and emotions.
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  It's where our deepest sentiments live.
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  Think about sorrow and pain. It's central.
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  Genesis 6.6 has God Himself taking it to heart, being
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  grieved in His heart over humanity's wickedness.
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  That's deep internal divine anguish.
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  Or a broken heart in Psalm 34.1 and Isaiah 61.1 that speaks of
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  suffering so profound it just shatters your core.
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  Often that brokenness, this is actually what leads to
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  repentance and turning to God. It reflects this visceral
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  internal experience of pain starting in the lobe.
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  But it's not all negative, right?
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  Joy too. Oh, absolutely.
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  Joy and gladness are also seated in the lobe.
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  Exodus 4.12 describes Aaron's heart rejoicing when he hears
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  Moses is coming back. Judges 16.25 talks about being
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  in a pleasant mood in the heart, leading to Merry Man, although
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  maybe unwisely in Samson's case, it shows the lobe as the source
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  of happiness and contentment. OK, joy, Sorrow.
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  What else? Fear.
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  Definitely fear and anxiety. Deuteronomy 28.65 talks about a
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  fearing heart full of dread, often linked to judgment, for
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  Samuel 4.13 has Eli with a trembling heart, signifying
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  extreme anxiety about the battle in the ark.
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  When someone's heart fails, like Jacob's sons in Genesis 42.28,
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  it means they lose courage, a kind of debilitating fear.
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  And a heart that melts like in Ezekiel 21.12 expresses terror
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  so great it feels like it dissolves your inner strength.
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  It's a whole spectrum. A whole spectrum and sources
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  also connects the Lube to love. Think of Delilah saying to
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  Samson, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with
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  me? In Judges 16 .13, lack of
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  genuine affection. It can also hold bitterness like
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  in Psalm 73.21 again, or contempt as in Proverbs 5.1.
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  It covers the map of human emotion.
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  It's really striking how appeals are often directed to the heart,
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  like that phrase to speak kindly to someone dabar all of in
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  Genesis 34.3. It suggests you're trying to
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  reach their inner disposition to comfort or persuade them at
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  their core. Exactly.
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  You're aiming for the Lube, and it's even described sometimes
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  with a sense of mystery, maybe the seat of the mystery of life,
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  like in that judge's passage with Sam again, because it holds
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  those deep hidden emotions and intentions.
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  It's pictured as waking even when the body sleeps in Song of
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  Solomon 5.2, suggesting this act of inner consciousness and maybe
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  even capable of a kind of second sight or intuition, like
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  Alicia's heart. Going with Gehazi and Two Kings
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  5.26, it points to something hidden yet active beyond just
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  the physical. OK, so if the Lube holds our
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  emotions, it sounds like it also shapes who we are at a much
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  deeper level. Our character, our basic
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  leanings. This isn't just about fleeting
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  feelings, is it? No.
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  Not at all. That's a really perceptive
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  point. The Lube absolutely represents a
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  person's inclination, their core disposition, their settled
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  character, and where their loyalty truly lies.
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  This includes the thoughts of his heart.
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  Mishibot Labo in Genesis 6.5 that describes humanity's
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  intentions right before the flood, showing the source of
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  moral corruption was internal. Right, the inclination was only
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  evil continually. Exactly.
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  And then Genesis 8.21 speaks of the inclination of the heart,
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  your love being evil from youth. This speaks to a person's
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  fundamental moral direction, their inner tendencies.
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  That concept that you're becomes really central later in
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  understanding human sinfulness. These are the deep seated
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  motivations that define us. And we see clear descriptions of
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  moral quality tied to the Lube, don't we?
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  Oh definitely. You have positive examples like
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  a perfect heart, or maybe better a whole or complete heart in
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  Isaiah 38.3, signifying sincerity and full devotion to
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  God. An upright heart in Psalm 7.11
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  suggests righteousness and integrity.
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  A sincere heart in First Kings 3.6 speaks of authenticity in
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  relationship with God. And the negative side too.
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  Yes, contrasted with things like a perverse heart in Proverbs
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  11.20 indicating moral crookedness or deviation or
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  being godless in heart in Job 36.32 suggesting a spiritual
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  emptiness, No reverence for God or having an evil mind or evil
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  heart like in Jeremiah 7.24, pointing to stubborn
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  disobedience and a disposition set against God.
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  It makes it really clear the labe is directly connected to
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  our moral standing in our true spiritual condition before God.
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  And loyalty. You mentioned loyalty.
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  Yes, loyalty and devotion are also located squarely in the
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  lab. Think of to Samuel 15.13 when
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  Absalom swayed the people of Israel.
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  The report comes the hearts of the men of Israel have gone
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  after Absalom. That signifies a shift in
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  internal allegiance away from David.
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  And that incredibly common phrase with all one's heart,
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  bushlobe. You see it everywhere, like in
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  Solomon's prayer in First Kings 8.23.
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  It denotes complete, undivided devotion, singleness of purpose,
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  especially towards God. The labe is the center of
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  faithfulness. It speaks of a sincerity that
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  has to be internal. OK, so emotions, character
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  loyalty. What about will decision making?
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  Resolve. It's absolutely the seat of
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  determination, courage, will, and purpose as well.
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  When it comes to courage, you see phrases like let no man's
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  heart fail or lose courage in First Samuel 17.32.
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  That's David telling Saul not to fear Goliath.
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  It's about inner resolve. Conversely, having the heart of
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  a lion in Second Samuel 17.10 Sohan symbolizes great strength
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  and fearlessness. To be discouraged like Jeremiah
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  4.9 predicts for the leaders means having your inner strength
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  just drain away and to become bold enough to or for the heart
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  to be fully set to do evil as an Ecclesiastes 8.11 also comes
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  from the live. It's where resolve forms.
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  And making choices. Yes, for will or intention
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  phrases like to put in his mind to or put in his heart to.
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  Not on Bulibo like an Exodus 35.34.
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  God put skill into the hearts of Bizzle El and a holy AB.
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  It indicates A chosen direction and internal prompting #16.28
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  has Moses saying he didn't act according to my will or from my
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  own heart millibi. He's claiming divine direction,
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  not personal whim. Lamentations 3.33 says God
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  doesn't afflict willingly or from his heart, connecting the
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  lobe to desire and intention. Even false prophets speaking out
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  of their own imagination or from their own heart in Ezekiel 13.2
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  ties back to the Lube. Self initiated will.
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  They're making it up themselves. This next aspect really
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  highlights the inner workings, the labels conscience like an
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  internal moral compass. That's a great way to put it.
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  It's compelling how love also refers to the conscience, that
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  inner sense of right and wrong, the place of moral self
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  judgement. David's heart smote him that
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  phrase in First Samuel 24.6 after cutting Saul's robe, and
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  again in Second Samuel 24.10 after numbering Israel.
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  That's a classic example. Wasn't someone else condemning
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  him initially? It was his own love reacting
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  with guilt and self reproach and internal alarm.
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  Yeah, powerful moments. And the idea of pangs of
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  conscience or a stumbling block of heart.
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  Michelob in First Samuel 25.31 Abigail uses this idea when
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  appealing to David, warning him against needless bloodshed that
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  would trouble his conscience later.
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  It clearly shows dysfunction. And the contrast you see
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  sometimes like a double heart. Right.
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  Psalm 12.3 talks about speaking with a double heart.
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  Belieb wallab. That means falsehood,
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  insincerity, saying one thing but meaning another.
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  Internally. It's contrasted with having an
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  undivided heart or singleness of purpose.
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  The Lulu, like the warriors who came to David in First
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  Chronicles 12.34, that speaks volumes about sincerity versus
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  hypocrisy. It shows how much our inner
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  disposition, our love, shapes our integrity before God and
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  others. He sees past the surface.
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  OK, this is maybe one of the biggest shifts for modern
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  western thinkers. We tend to separate heart
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  feelings from mind thinking, but in Hebrew thought the love seems
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  to cover both. That's a huge distinction, and
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  yes, it's a really significant insight from these sources.
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  Love is consistently portrayed as a locus of attention,
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  consideration, reason, intellect, and wisdom.
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  It's where you think, process, understand.
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  It unifies what we tend to split.
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  So give us some examples of this intellectual side.
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  Sure, for understanding an insight you get phrases like
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  Deuteronomy 29.3 mentioning God not giving Israel a mind, love
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  to understand. Up to that point it's about
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  capacity for discernment. Then you have Solomon's famous
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  request in First Kings 3.9. He asks for an understanding
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  mind or literally a hearing, heart, love Shmia.
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  God gives it to him specifically for wise governance, and First
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  Kings 5.9 describes Solomon having a largeness of heart,
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  Ruchalib referring to his expansive intellect and wisdom.
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  So the lack of understanding is also tied to the love.
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  Exactly. Being senseless or without
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  understanding is described as N love, no heart in Jeremiah 5.21.
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  They have eyes but don't see ears, but don't hear because
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  their love isn't engaged. Proverbs 6.32 calls the
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  adulterer destitute of mind or lacking heart.
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  Tester lab. It indicates a deficiency in
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  cognitive capacity leading to foolish, destructive actions.
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  And just basic thinking reflection.
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  Yep. Thoughts of his mind back in
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  Genesis 6.5. That's Michibo Libo again.
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  It's about reasoning and intentions and the common phrase
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  to say in the heart. Like Abraham in Genesis 17.17,
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  when he hears the problems of Isaac, he laughs and says in his
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  Hut, meaning he thinks to himself.
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  He internally considers it. That's self deliberation.
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  Wow, OK what about memory? Memory 2 The lead functions as
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  the place for memory. Phrases like to call to mind or
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  bring back to heart in Isaiah 44.99 refer to recalling
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  something and that powerful image in Proverbs 3.3.
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  Write them on the tablet of your heart, lulibo.
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  It suggests truth should be inscribed deep within your inner
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  being for permanent memory constant access.
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  Like engraving it internally? Precisely, and attention is also
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  a function of the libo to give heed or set one's heart on
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  something sheilibo in First Samuel 420 or to pay attention
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  to in Second Samuel 18.3. It shows the heart is actively
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  observing and processing, not just passively feeling.
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  And wisdom, even skill. Yes, wisdom and skill originate
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  in the it's considered the organ of Okma wisdom.
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  In places like Proverbs 2.0 or 16.23, wisdom enters your heart
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  and being skilled of heart or wise of heart.
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  Okum Lob and Exodus 31.6 actually describes artistic and
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  crafting abilities like those needed for the Tabernacle.
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  So even practical skill and creativity are seen as flowing
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  from this inner core where intellect and intention meet.
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  That broad intellectual aspect of LOB is genuinely surprising,
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  isn't it? It really connects it to wisdom
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  traditions, not just in Israel, but as you mentioned, parallels
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  in places like ancient Egypt too.
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  The LOB was the hub. It really was the hub of
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  cognitive, emotional, volitional life, all integrated.
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  Now, what's truly remarkable and and maybe a bit challenging is
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  that it's not just humans who have a lob.
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  In the Bible, God himself is depicted with one.
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  Yes, and this is a profound point of connection.
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  Using language, we can grasp anthropomorphism.
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  It's a way for Scripture to convey God's that's actions and
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  character in terms relatable to us.
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  Attributing a lob to God signifies his divine emotions,
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  His intentions, his recognition, his memory.
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  So God has emotions in his heart.
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  Scripture speaks that way. God experiences grief or
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  concern. That Genesis 6.6 passage again.
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  He was grieved in his heart over human wickedness.
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  It's a powerful expression of his deep emotional response to
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  sin. His compassion, too, is seated
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  there. Hosea 11.8 has God saying his
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  heart recoils within him. His compassion grows warm and
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  tender as he wrestles with judging Israel.
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  So it shows his mercy comes from his core being.
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  Exactly, and his recognition and memory are associated with his
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  heart. In First Kings 9.3 God says his
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  eyes and his heart will be on the temple perpetually.
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  Jeremiah 44.21 says God remembered the idolatry of the
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  people that came into his mind or came upon his heart.
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  His will and forethought are also in his heart.
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  Genesis 8.21 after the flood, God says in his heart he won't
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  curse the ground again. Jeremiah 7.31 says the horrific
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  act of child sacrifice never entered his heart, meaning it's
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  utterly contrary to His will and character.
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  Isaiah 63.4 speaks of the day of vengeance being in his heart,
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  His firm intention. Jeremiah especially often speaks
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  of Yahweh's love, trying to to convey God's inner being to the
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  people. And this means God has well,
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  complete awareness of our inner lives or love.
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  He sees everything. Absolutely, God has unique and
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  total access to our innermost being where our true intentions
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  and moral character reside. Nothing is hidden from Him.
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  He tries or tests the heart. Proverbs 17.3 says the Lord
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  tests the heart like silver is tested in a furnace.
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  Psalm 710, Jeremiah 112012.320.12 all speak of God
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  testing hearts and minds or kidneys.
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  Reigns. He sees the heart and reigns, as
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  Jeremiah 20.12 puts it, he searches the heart and tries the
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  reins. Jeremiah 17.10 the reins.
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  Kaleot Kidneys often parallel the love as symbols of the
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  deepest, most hidden parts, your desires, your inner life.
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  The love is seen as the most private, hidden being of a
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  person, accessible only to God. That underscores His sovereignty
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  and His perfect knowledge of us. So because God knows our love
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  completely, His desire must be for it to be fully His right
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  turned towards it. Precisely this leads right into
• 19:13
  a central aspect of the covenant relationship, God's claim on the
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  human libe, that great command, the Shama.
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  Essentially, in Deuteronomy 6.5, you should love the Lord your
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  God with all your heart, love up here and with all your soul and
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  with all your might. That call echoes throughout
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  Deuteronomy 4.2910 point 1211.13.
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  It demands complete, undivided devotion of the entire self.
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  Faculties, emotions, intentions. It's not partial.
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  The whole self. The whole self individuals are
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  told to keep God's deeds and words in their heart,
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  Deuteronomy 4.9, Thirty 96.68.5, making them central and active.
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  Prophets like Jeremiah specifically demand the lab from
• 19:51
  their audience, Jeremiah 3.10, Four point 420, and .13 calling
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  for genuine inward repentance and obedience.
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  It's not just external religious motions.
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  The lob is where true moral activity happens, representing a
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  person's sincerity before God. First Chronicles 29.1 sifs Psalm
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  51.12. True worship flows from a heart
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  genuinely set on Him. OK, this leads us to a really
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  tough concept hardening the heart.
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  It's stark, and it makes us grapple with human
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  responsibility versus God's sovereignty.
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  It is a challenging motif, and it's prominent especially in
• 20:20
  Exodus and the Prophets. It reveals different layers of
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  agency at play. Let's take Pharaoh's heart in
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  Exodus. God is depicted as hardening
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  Pharaoh's heart multiple times. Exodus 4.217.39.12 and etcetera.
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  What's interesting, as we touched on, is that some sources
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  like the Yaoist seem to show both God hardening it and
• 20:41
  Pharaoh hardening his own heart. It suggests a complex
• 20:44
  interaction. So Pharaoh's resistant, and God
• 20:47
  confirms him in that resistance. That's one way to look at it.
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  The priestly source though, consistently portrays Yahweh as
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  the primary agent, really emphasizing his control over
• 20:56
  events to display his power over Egypt's gods and Pharaoh's
• 20:59
  pride. The purpose seems to be to
• 21:01
  prevent Pharaoh from truly understanding the plagues divine
• 21:04
  source, thus demonstrating always absolute authority in
• 21:07
  history. OK, but it's not just Pharaoh,
• 21:08
  is it Israel too? Sadly, yes.
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  The hardening of the heart is applied to Israel in prophetic
• 21:13
  contexts. Think Isaiah 6.9 to 10 make the
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  heart of his people dull. Or Deuteronomy 29.4 where Moses
• 21:21
  says God hadn't given them a heart to understand yet.
• 21:24
  In these cases, Israel's non comprehension and resistance to
• 21:27
  God's word are seen as part of Yahweh's judgement.
• 21:30
  Their guilt in refusing to hear leads to further hardening
• 21:32
  against His truth. It's a tragic cycle.
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  But there's human responsibility, too.
• 21:36
  We can harden our own hearts. Definitely, Scripture also
• 21:39
  recognizes the obstinacy of the heart share root love as
• 21:42
  resulting from human free will. Jeremiah uses this phrase
• 21:45
  repeatedly 3.177.24, etcetera. Psalm 95.8 warns do not harden
• 21:51
  your hearts. This is distinct from divine
• 21:53
  judicial hardening. Here, people stubbornly choose
• 21:56
  their own disobedient path, resisting God's call entirely on
• 21:59
  their own accord. And that image of a heart of
• 22:01
  stone love habem from Ezekiel 11/19.
• 22:04
  It vividly symbolizes that stubbornness, that unyielding,
• 22:07
  unfeeling core unresponsive to God.
• 22:09
  But thankfully, that's not the end of the story.
• 22:10
  God also works to soften and renew the heart.
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  This is where the hope comes in, right?
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  Absolutely. This is crucial.
• 22:17
  God is a source of a responsive and renewed heart.
• 22:20
  It shows His redemptive purpose and grace.
• 22:22
  He gives a heart we saw solemn asking for, and God giving him
• 22:26
  an understanding heart for king. 3.9 God gave Saul another heart
• 22:30
  for Samuel 10.9 when he was anointed king, transforming him
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  for service. These are divine gifts.
• 22:36
  And the prophets look forward to something even greater.
• 22:38
  Yes, the prophetic hope anticipates a future where God
• 22:41
  himself will intervene dramatically.
• 22:43
  He promises to replace the heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
• 22:46
  Love. Bashir Ezekiel 111936.26.
• 22:49
  That's a powerful image of spiritual regeneration, a living
• 22:53
  heart, one that can feel, will respond and obey God's Spirit.
• 22:56
  Which connects to the new covenant idea.
• 22:57
  Directly under the New Covenant, God promises to write His law on
• 23:01
  the heart to put it within them. Jeremiah 31.3134.
• 23:04
  See also Ezekiel 36.27. This means God's ways will be
• 23:08
  internalized, lived out from a transformed inner being,
• 23:12
  motivated by love and enabled by His Spirit, not just followed
• 23:15
  His external rules. He can create a pure heart lovey
• 23:18
  whore. That's David's plea in Psalm
• 23:20
  51.10 after his sin, or grant a new heart love Hua, which
• 23:24
  Ezekiel speaks of, 18 point 3136.26.
• 23:28
  This is God's work of restoration and he desires that
• 23:31
  broken of heart, Nisa Berloeb and contrite spirit, Psalm 34
• 23:34
  point 851.17. That posture of humility and
• 23:37
  repentance is what he responds to.
• 23:39
  And that idea of circumcision getting spiritualized?
• 23:42
  Right, the Deuteronomic period and later the prophets like
• 23:45
  Jeremiah introduced spiritual circumcision, applying it to the
• 23:48
  heart. Deuteronomy 10 point 1630.6,
• 23:51
  Jeremiah 4.4. It signifies cutting away the
• 23:53
  stubbornness, the resistance. It points to a deeper need for
• 23:56
  internal transformation and inward reality of faith, not
• 23:58
  just an outward sign. The condition of the love is
• 24:01
  paramount. So this whole complex
• 24:03
  understanding of love didn't just stop with the Old Testament
• 24:06
  writings, it kept developing in later Jewish thought.
• 24:09
  Yes, the concept remained absolutely central.
• 24:12
  If you look at texts from Qumran near the Dead Sea, the idea of
• 24:15
  hardening of the heart, Sherry with love is used to describe
• 24:19
  those outside their community, those they saw as remaining in
• 24:22
  sin. They also developed ideas about
• 24:25
  ungodly powers sort of invading the heart.
• 24:27
  Mentions of idols of the heart one QS 2.11.
• 24:30
  Suggests internal spiritual battles.
• 24:32
  The love becomes a battleground between spirits of wisdom and
• 24:35
  darkness. One QS 4.23 and Belial, a figure
• 24:39
  representing evil needs to be expelled from the heart.
• 24:41
  One QS 10.21. There's a real focus on inner
• 24:44
  purity and conflict, and like the prophets hoped, they
• 24:47
  understood the laws residing within the love.
• 24:49
  One QH 4.10 for the faithful. That idea of the heart is a
• 24:53
  battleground. It definitely anticipates later
• 24:55
  rabbinical thinking, doesn't it? With the URA, the good impulse,
• 24:58
  and the URA the evil impulse struggling within the love.
• 25:01
  Precisely, it shows the love remained the arena for moral and
• 25:04
  spiritual choice throughout Jewish tradition.
• 25:06
  And how does love relate to other words describing the inner
• 25:09
  person in Hebrew, like nephesh or Roux?
• 25:14
  Good question. Love often appears alongside
• 25:16
  them, complementing the picture. It's frequently associated with
• 25:19
  Nasha, often translated soul, but really meaning the whole
• 25:22
  person, the life, the self, appetites, and also with Ruth's
• 25:25
  spirit, wind, breath, the animating force, sometimes God's
• 25:29
  spirit. You can maybe think of Neffe as
• 25:31
  the totality of the living being, rue as the dynamic life
• 25:35
  principle or energy, and love as the Control Center where the
• 25:38
  thinking, feeling, willing and moral direction of that nephere
• 25:41
  animated by rue takes place. They overlap, but love is often
• 25:45
  the focal point of inner life. And you mentioned the rains or
• 25:48
  kidneys earlier, Kelliot, how do they fit?
• 25:51
  Right Cayleode are frequently paired with Labe, especially
• 25:54
  when talking about God searching the inner person like Jeremiah
• 25:57
  11.20 or Psalm 7.9. Together, heart and kidneys seem
• 26:02
  to represent the absolute deepest, most hidden, most
• 26:05
  intimate aspects of a person's thoughts, emotions, and
• 26:08
  motivations, The very core accessible only to God.
• 26:13
  It really underscores His complete knowledge of us, down
• 26:15
  to the thoughts and intentions we might not even fully
• 26:18
  recognize ourselves. He sees it all.
• 26:20
  Hashtag hashtag U heart outro. So as we bring this deep dive
• 26:24
  into Labe to a close, wow, it's really clear that this single
• 26:28
  Hebrew word paints a picture of the human condition that's far
• 26:31
  richer, far more integrated than any single English translation
• 26:35
  like Heart can capture on its own.
• 26:36
  It really does. We've traced Labe from, you
• 26:38
  know, a literal organ all the way to the wellspring of life,
• 26:42
  the seat of every emotion imaginable, the origin point of
• 26:44
  our will and moral character, and even the center of our
• 26:47
  intellect and wisdom. It covers pretty much everything
• 26:49
  that makes us We are at our core, doesn't it?
• 26:51
  From our deepest thoughts to how we feel and act.
• 26:53
  Yeah, and maybe what stands out most powerfully, especially from
• 26:56
  our Reformed perspective, is how this all points to God's view of
• 26:59
  us. He sees beyond just our actions,
• 27:01
  doesn't he? He sees the true inclinations,
• 27:03
  the state of our Lieb, and his desire is for our complete
• 27:07
  sincere devotion coming from that transformed inner core.
• 27:11
  It really reframes what it means to give him our whole heart, not
• 27:13
  just an outward show, but a genuine offering of our entire
• 27:17
  inner self. And that naturally leads to a
• 27:19
  question for you, our listener, to reflect on.
• 27:22
  Given that God searches and knows the heart so intimately,
• 27:25
  and given His promise to replace that heart of stone with a heart
• 27:28
  of flesh, what is your heart's current posture toward Him?
• 27:33
  How was your leave inclined today?
• 27:34
  Something to consider. Thank you for joining us on this
• 27:37
  deep dive into the biblical understanding of the heart.
• 27:40
  Until next time, keep seeking to understand with Reformed
• 27:42
  thinking.