Proud Heart

Deuteronomy 8:14
then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

After detailing the wonders of the land God was giving, Moses cautioned that they might well forget as they became more in love with the abundance than with God.
A proud heart is a terrible thing. The most secret thoughts are of myself, and how fine I am, of my things and how I can get more. Love of God is crowded out.
Instead of pride, praise (verse 10). Instead of forgetfulness, follow the commands.

Know

Deuteronomy 8:5
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

This comes only a few verses after the last one, at the end of the same paragraph.
Israel, and we, are commanded to know in our hearts, deep in our secret thoughts. With "then" it is linked to the previous verses, which after verse 2 go on to name manna, the word of God, lasting clothes, and feet that don't swell as supernatural provisions of God for Israel.
God's care in the homeliest of needs suggests that anything he does beyond that has to be good. What God does to us is discipline, and He does it because we are dear as His children. He has plans for us in the future, and to fulfill those plans, we cannot be undisciplined, wild children.
Thank you, God!

Testing

Deuteronomy 8:2
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

This is one more great verse, not least because I feel rather like I have been led into the desert, if only for a few weeks. It cheers me to think God does whatever He does to humble me and test me in order to know what is in my heart. He wants to know whether or not I will keep his commands.
Verse 3 gets specific on the humbling process:
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
I certainly have a hunger...for recognition, for certainty, for stimulation. I must accept that I can't live on those even if I have them, but on every word that comes from God.
Every word! That's why, even with the recent difficulties, I'm beginning to feel nourished in a small, secret way. I read my chapters in the morning, and I try to pick some verse to mull over during the day. Then later I encounter a heart verse. I love the Bible, and I have read and studied it for years, but I feel lately as if I am truly feeding on it more, making it part of me.

Love the One God

Deuteronomy 6:5
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Here it is, the landmark verse, the one Jesus said is the first and greatest commandment.
Moses begins the chapter by explaining that the commands and laws have been given so that they can enjoy long life, things will go well, and they can be prosperous. Prosperous? What else would "increase greatly" mean?
Just before verse 5 comes this: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
See what I mean about a landmark. Hear, O Israel. Listen. Pay attention to this. So many great words in the Bible, yet a few are highlighted, like these. Yahweh is one. Love Yahweh with all one's secret thoughts, innermost soul, conscience; one's personality as a vital or active force; the vital, inner or chief part of oneself; the center; core.
This expands so beautifully from yesterday's verse. Acknowledge the one God, take that knowledge to heart, then focus all your love on Him.

Recognize the Power

Deuteronomy 4:39
Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

The middle of this chapter takes on idols. Pointing out that they saw only fire, no form, when He spoke at Mount Horeb, He cautions the Israelites to not even think of making a representation of Him.
Yet He knows they will, and then they will be scattered all over the world. Verse 29 from the last post promises that they will never be abandoned by God, but He can be found if the heart is engaged in the search.
After that, Moses speaks on the uniqueness of God, and the uniqueness of His relationship with Israel, from designer and creator of the nation to teacher and leader. Then comes the application:
"Acknowledge and take to heart this day..."
Acknowledge: To recognize as being valid or having force or power.
Recognize the power of the fact that Yahweh alone is God. Take that knowledge into your deepest self, into your most secret thoughts.

All the Secret Thoughts

Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

I never realized Deuteronomy has so much to say about the heart. This is the fourth reference, and looking ahead, I see many more. Consider the first three books of the Bible. Genesis has six references in a variety of situations. Exodus has 24 references, but over half of them have to do with Pharoah's hard heart. Leviticus has only one.
Besides the number of mentions, Deuteronomy seems mostly to use heart to mean:
one's secret thoughts, innermost soul, conscience; one's personality as a vital or active force; as to love with one's whole heart; the vital, inner or chief part of anything; the center; core.
Again, spiritual reality is found not only in actions, in ritual and religion, but deep inside, in the secret thoughts.
Are my secret thoughts all of God? I have so far to go to reach that, but I can try.

Tenacious Heart

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
This is an incredible chapter. Moses must have had the crowd on their feet here.
It begins with "Hear, O Israel." He explains that the keeping of the commandments will give Israel a good reputation among nations, a rep for being wise and understanding. He mentions two of the essential, unique qualities of Israel in the context of the world:
No other gods stay as close to their nations as Yahweh does to Israel.
No other nation has the advantage of the laws given to Israel.
But these blessings will mean nothing if Israel neglects to do its part, which is to remember what God has done and hold those things in their heart. Further, they must teach those things to their children.
Nor can I let the things God has taught me slip from my heart. There's the matter of the mind first, making sure I don't forget. Our inclination is to forget, and be overwhelmed by what is present. Second, don't let the truths slip. They slip if we don't consciously hold on.

An Obstinate Heart

Deuteronomy 2:30
But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
Moses goes on...
This chapter recounts the Israelites' interactions with other tribal nations as they hiked around the countryside. God wasn't giving them all of it by any means. He had made commitments as well to the descendants of Esau and Lot. Sihon was another story, however. Though Moses approached him in the same conciliatory fashion as he had the others, Sihon had an obstinate heart, and his destiny was to be conquered by Israel.
When I have an obstinate heart, am I setting myself up for destruction?

Weak Hearts

Deuteronomy 1:28
Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "

Moving quickly to Deuteronomy--the second telling. Moses recounts some of their adventures before reminding them of the Laws. This is one of the saddest things that happened in the Old Testament. God told them to go into the land, but they let themselves be scared away, psyched out, led astray. Verse 26 pulls no punches:
But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
Ah, that's bad. God said go and they didn't go. Rebellion. Verse 28 makes their excuses. Somebody said something that scared me. It's hopeless. No sensible person would take on giants and their giant cities. We have weak hearts!
God, help me not to lose heart. Help me to focus on what you say, not the hearsay coming from the world.

Heart Hygiene

Leviticus 19:17
17 " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
With this we enter the law. The Law, I should say. Laws from God. The double quotation marks are because God said this, and he gave Moses the exact words to say.
This chapter includes some of the Ten, such as 'Do not steal' and keeping the Sabbath, and other laws that seem a bit odd, like mixing two kinds of seed in one field and making clothes of two different fibers. I've never heard those last explained, but I suspect they are object lessons in purity of heart. I believe there is more likely to be a deep truth in those commands than that they are all archaic.
Take verse 17. It is very New Testament. It anticipates Jesus saying if we hate, we have murdered.
Because good things and bad alike begin in the heart. It is better to put the dispute in plain words, to the offender's face, than to nurture hate in the seedbed of the heart.

Always on His Heart

Exodus 28:29
"Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the LORD .
Exodus 28:30
Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD . Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD .

More symbolism for the Tabernacle. The twelve tribes of Israel, and the means for making decisions about them, were to be always near the heart of the priest as he came before God. Jesus, the eternal Priest, continues to go before God for us. We are near His heart, as well. Every name is on his hand and his heart, and all of his decisions for us are made in love and complete knowledge of the past, present, and future.

Generous Hearts

Exodus 25:2
"Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.
Exodus 35:21
and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.


Moses was about to make the tabernacle. It was a beautiful, big tent, with curtains of purple and blue, fittings of silver and bronze, and furnishings of wood and gold. Everything in it had meaning beyond the material--it was an earthly version of something in Heaven, or it was specially designed to teach about God as the people worshipped there. It was a tent because the people were on the move, and different Levite families had responsibility for carrying and putting up different parts of it. The twelve tribes were arranged in a certain way on the four sides of the tabernacle, so that it was central to their camp.
But before that, all the materials for it were given by the Israelites. All those goodies they'd carried from Egypt were brought out and offered. In the end, they had too much. Moses had to tell the people to quit bringing things. Their hearts were open to the call.
God, let my heart be listening, first of all, when the request is made. And then make my heart to be generous, selfless, open.
The opposite of hard.

The Sea has a Heart

Exodus 15:8
By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

I'm going to let Pharoah go, though I continue to ponder the lesson of the hardened heart.
This verse comes after all that, after Pharoah's army has drowned, and Moses sings a song of victory. In this verse we learn that the sea has a heart. Also it describes what it looked like when the waters parted: they stood firm, they were congealed even down deep. It sounds a lot like the cartoon version in Prince of Egypt. That was probably the best Red Sea parting I have seen.
So here heart means the deepest part, the essence.

Frogs

I can't leave the Pharoah yet. In an interesting twist of fate, I read most of the Exodus chapters this morning where the plagues came, some comical, like the frogs, some dreadful, like all the Egyptian animals dying.
Isn't it interesting how many animals are in the Bible? Sure, it was written in agricultural ages, but still. Often the animals are enumerated, as when they made sacrifices. Animal breeding is discussed. Some animals are clean and some not.
Well, that was an aside. When Egyptian magicians equaled the first demonstrations, Pharoah scorned Moses' God-given power. That's part of hard-heartedness, is it not? Scorn for things that may seem common--the people we take for granted--things that are actually gifts straight from the hand of God. We sneer inwardly that such things can be found on any street corner, never thinking that the very street corner, the very air, the very eyes to see with are given deliberately by God, with love. When I disdain, I'm bypassing the opportunity to love.
Speaking of frogs, that whole sequence is pretty fascinating. First, they are overrun with God's frogs. Frogs everywhere, in the bedrooms and the kitchens. But then the Egyptian magicians made frogs too. That doesn't seem a very useful thing to do. And where did all the extra frogs go, since everything was already covered with frogs? So then, and I hadn't noticed this before, Moses gives Pharoah the "honor" of saying when the frogs will be gone. But when they go, they don't hop away, or disappear--no, they die. They die, and their nasty little bodies pile up everywhere. That must have been worse than the plague of the live frogs.

Pharoah's Heart

Exodus 4:21
The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
Exodus 7:3
But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt,
Exodus 7:13
Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
Exodus 7:14
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
Exodus 7:22
But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
Exodus 7:23
Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.
Exodus 8:15
But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
Exodus 8:19
The magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.
Exodus 8:32
But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
Exodus 9:7
Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.
Exodus 9:12
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.
Exodus 9:35
So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.
Exodus 10:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them
Exodus 10:20
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
Exodus 10:27
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go.
Exodus 11:10
Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.
Exodus 14:4
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD ." So the Israelites did this.
Exodus 14:8
The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

No fewer than 18 references to the hard condition of Pharoah's heart. I have heard it pointed out that first Pharoah hardened his own heart, then God finished the job. What would have happened if he had not? But I don't suppose the Pharoah who had already ordered Hebrew babies killed and decreed hopeless work conditions could ever have done it. He started down the road years before when he became fearful of the strength of the Hebrews, once just a big family following their favorite son to the flower of civilization, now a nation within a nation, called to the next phase of their destiny by the God who had a very big plan for them.
Yes, of course I would like to see this all as a historical matter. Bad Pharoah, bad, bad Pharoah! But what about Ruth? Haven't I been considering this very problem?
So why the hard heart? Fear, like Pharoah's? No doubt.

The Brother's Heart

Exodus 4:14
Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.

The words here don't really convey God's anger. Try to imagine an angry tone of voice...thing is, God probably doesn't sound like me when I am angry. I'm sure there's no sarcasm, no cutting tone, no sneer. He was angry because he had already given Moses every reason to say okay, and thank you, but he still kept protesting. Rather like me protesting that I have the hardest heart in the world, and no talent for love, so how could I pray for anybody? I might just consider what he's already done for me, and near me, and trust.
God must have known all along that Aaron would be the front man. I wonder why he added that Aaron's heart would be glad when he saw Moses. To cheer up Moses?

Bloody Hearts

Genesis 34:3His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.
Genesis 34:8But Hamor said to them, "My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

These verses, prologue to a bloody episode, feature the heart as the seat of the affections, passions, and emotions. There are different ways to look at the events. In BSF, the emphasis was on Dinah's lack of wisdom and discipline in gadding about the pagan town. Trouble was sure to follow, and did it! In 'The Red Tent', she was going about her business as a midwife's assistant when this charming young man fell in love with her, and she with him. What the Bible suggests was rape or seduction is spun as a honeymoon previous to the marriage. And then the slaughter...
Emotions can be dangerous. Hearts are wild.