February 28th, 2021

This week, with the Second Sunday in Lent, the Old Testament reading is quite close to the reading of the previous week. Last week’s reading was from Genesis 22; this one is slightly before that, from Genesis 17[:1-7, 15-16]. Both texts are about Abraham.

When the verse immediately after this text is included [verse 17], there are some interesting similarities and contrasts. In both verse 3 and verse 17, the text says that he fell on his face. I would imagine that he also stood up somewhere in between—since he falls down twice—although the text does not point that out. One contrast between these two verses is that, in verse 3, the text says that Abram fell on his face. In verse 17, the text says that Abraham fell on his face. His name was changed in the verses in between [see verse 5]. Another contrast is that, in verse 3, God spoke to Abram. In verse 17, the text says that Abraham ‘said in his heart.’

Once again, the Greek translation of the text brought out something that I had passed over in the past. The Greek translation says that Abraham said in his ‘thought’.

This text is a good reminder of the wide range that this Hebrew word ‘heart’ really has. In Holladay’s ‘concise’ lexicon, the definition of this word that is usually translated as ‘heart’ could be called lengthy. Here are some of the main parts of the different sections to this definition:

heart

physical organ

seat of vitality

inner self, seat of feelings & impulses

mind, character, disposition, inclination, loyalty, concern

determination, courage, (high) morale

intention, purpose

mind, attention, consideration, understanding

mind & mood in its totality, the self

conscience

(metaphorically) interior, middle

organizing power of the life/person [William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971; pages 171-2.]

The word obviously covers a wide range of things related to the human body. Since we are in the first book of the Bible, it might be an even better idea to see how this word is used before this text.

It only appears four times before this. The first time the word ‘heart’ appears in the Old Testament is at the start of the Flood story. And it is interesting that the first time it appears, it points to the evil of man. The second time it appears, it points to the hurt of the LORD—because of the evil of man. Here are somewhat-literal translations of the Hebrew, and they are quite similar in the Greek.

Genesis 6:5      And Yahweh saw that great was the evil of the man on the earth, and all the shaping of the thoughts of his heart were only evil all the day.

Genesis 6:6      And Yahweh was sorry that he made man on the earth, and he was hurt to his heart.

The next time the word ‘heart’ appears, it is at the end of the Flood story. The word appears twice within this verse, Genesis 8:21, and it starts out by being very similar to Abraham’s saying something in his heart—although this is the LORD doing it this time.

And Yahweh smelled the smell of the pleasant, and Yahweh said in his heart, ‘I will not add to curse again the ground for the sake of the man, that, shaping of the heart of the man is evil from his youth, and I will not add again to destroy all living things as I did.

Here is a Greek translation of that verse, also somewhat literally. Notice that it also uses the word ‘thought’ instead of ‘heart’ both times.

And Lord the God smelled a smell of sweetness. And Lord the God said, having thought, I will not still continue to curse the earth, because of the works of the men; because the thought of the man is carefully bent upon the evil from his youth; therefore, I will not continue to strike all living flesh, as I did.

There is a big difference between the heart and the mind, as any doctor would point out. It is interesting that, after a focus on the evil of the man, the focus was on the hurt of the LORD. It is easy to continue to focus either on the heart or the mind, especially if one of those things has something wrong with it. The LORD would have us focus on something even more important.