The Knowing Heart

Joshua 23:14
"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.

Joshua is saying good-bye. I have so loved my highlights tour of his life and times that I feel sad. Before this he had reviewed God's work on behalf of Israel and cautioned them to love and obey Yahweh and have nothing to do with the people and gods that remained in the land.
What a giant he was. As soon as he was gone, things began to go bad. Israel did everything he told them not to, and they failed at what they should have done. God fights for you, he said, so be very careful to love the LORD your God. I like that.
I must be careful where my love goes. Only God is worthy.
Maybe Joshua was addressing the well-documented Israeli tendency to complain when he said, "You know with all your heart and soul..." No matter what they might say, in their secret thoughts, the reality burned bright: all the victories, all the cities taken without a casualty, all those beautiful valleys watered by rain from heaven, just as God promised.
In my heart, I know the same. So many prayers answered. There was one recently, I can't really detail, having to do with Don, that I marvel at. It sneaked up on me, but God worked in His time and way.
I must be careful to love Him.

Hardened Hearts of Hazor

Joshua 11:20
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.

Another great chapter, showing once again what Joshua was made of, as he "left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses." This also echoes Egypt and the hardened hearts there.
Whose hearts are these? That's an epic in itself. Chapter 10 is a story of conquests, which, when Jabin of Hazor heard about them, inspired him to assemble a huge army, "as numerous as the sand on the seashore." Interesting that it compares the army to the same sand Israel was often compared to. That might suggest it was an army in every way equal to Israel.
To summarize, Joshua totally destroyed them all. They tried to retreat, but Israel chased them down and killed them. Every enemy was killed--all of them--and much plunder was taken. Only Hazor was burned. As the victory and destruction concludes, the reason is given. God hardened their hearts, the hearts of that army numerous as sand, those kings full of belligerence. Their ambitions to destroy Israel brought them out into the open, in direct opposition to the God of Israel, so that they might meet God's capital punishment.
This makes me think of present-day Israel as well. There are no shortage of hardened hearts these days, and in the fullness of time may God's justice prevail.

Melted Hearts, Part 2

Joshua 5:1
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 melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
Joshua 7:5
who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries [ Or as far as Shebarim ] and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

I guess this would be Melted Hearts, Part 2. I decided to put these together, as the use of hearts is similar. I got into the context last time. Perhaps I will do more with the whole idea of melted hearts this time.
The thing is, the context is so cool. I skimmed through chapters 4-7, and it's full of miracles and action. The Jordan was parted, a reprise of the parting of the Reed Sea. Joshua saw an angel. Jericho was conquered. Then Israel was compromised by the greed of one man, who had to be punished before they fought again.
The interesting thing about these two verses is that first enemy hearts melted, and then Israeli hearts. Seeing the phrase 3 times (and it comes up once more in 14:8) convinces me that I should consider it and not be distracted by the context.
Melted hearts. In fact, I believe I would choose a different part of the definition for this use: "also, courage, spirit, energy". It was those attributes that melted when confronted with seemingly impossible obstacles. The pagan people looked at the people of God and their courage, spirit, energy turned to liquid. The people of God witnessed an unexpected defeat and the same thing happened to them.
In both cases I would say the response was justified. It happened to Israel when they had disobedience in the community, followed by failure to consult God. When I'm right with God, He keeps my courage, spirit, and energy solid. Without Him, I have no reason to be brave, or spirited, or energetic.

Melted Hearts

Joshua 2:11
When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Where I previously had only one verse in Joshua, on 3/25, my newly expanded search found 10. Now I'm not sure exactly what I did. I found 3 verses from chapter 14. Possibly I found those just in reading. Then I went back to Genesis, resuming a systematic search. So I think I can go to this one, and through the new list, skipping chapter 14 and 22:5. Then they will be all new when I get to Judges.
This verse was said by Rahab as she explained to the Israelites why she chose to help them. A God-sent fear had already come over the whole nation when they heard of the parting of the Red Sea and the conquest of other kings.
More than that, she makes a statement of faith. She understands that the God of Israel is the one true God, and she wisely wants to join His side.
So she did. Her reward came in installments, one of the best parts being that her name is listed in the ancestry of Jesus, the Son of God, because she went from fear to fearing God.

Terrorized Hearts

Deuteronomy 28:67
In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.

This is rather like Leviticus 26:36, where the fearful hearts run from a windblown leaf. This verse caps off a chapter that begins with a list of blessings that will follow if they obey God. This happy part runs for 14 verses. Then the sad part begins.
First the blessings are simply turned around into curses. Then the shocking, terrifyingly graphic descriptions start and go on for 48 verses. Confusion, ruin, disease, drought, defeat, madness, blindness, futility, loss, robbery, oppression, idolatry, insects, conquest, siege, cannibalism, anxiety, dread, and homelessness are bare hints of the destruction that would come to Israel because of disobedience. The terror is so unending that hearts are full of it and desperately hope for relief with each rising and setting of the sun.
I've been reading about Germany and Europe, pre-WW II, and all the horrible things that happened. Was God still pursuing His disobedient nation into the 20th century, after the slightest of respites that had seen them settle all over a prosperous, civilized continent to become rich themselves and tightly sewn into the fabric of a secularizing society? Then their money and their assimilation suddenly turned to poison when neighbors let them be murdered, at best, or took eager part in it.
In the books, the nation of Israel has just begun, and is fighting for every breath. Two points of view are mentioned, one the Zionist, that sought good in simply living in Israel, and another that believed they could not have a nation until the coming of Messiah. I wonder myself. Though they still tenaciously hang on to Israel, the day has not yet come that they recognize the Holy One of Israel.

Tie Them On

Deuteronomy 11:18
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

This is the same chapter with the description of the land as mountains and valleys drinking rain from heaven, promising if the commands were obeyed, the rains would come. On the other hand, if they turned to other gods, the rain would fail, and the land would not support them.
"Be careful," Moses warns. The best way to do that is to fix God's words in my heart and mind. Another physical reminder, like the blue cord on the tassel: the Word tied on my hand and my forehead.
Anything I can do to remind myself of God's words is cool. Live with it. Think of it all the time.
Teach it.

Humbled Heart

Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

March 17, Pruned Heart, deals with this general idea of circumcision. There are interesting differences. In that scripture, Deut. 30:6, God did the circumcision, and the goal was that the people could better love with all their hearts. And live!
As we are back in Deuteronomy, Moses is telling it. The chapter begins with his chiseling the second set of tablets to replace the first, at God's command. When God had rewritten the commandments, the tablets were placed in a box--the ark.
Moses is preaching after a bit of history. Everything belongs to God, and the Jews were loved and chosen above all others. Then comes our verse. This time, the people are to circumcise their own hearts. Do the cutting yourself on the flesh of the heart. What follows is different as well: do not be stiff-necked any longer.
This reminds me of the 'humble yourself' verses, particularly 1 Peter 5:6:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
There is always something to be pruned, always some prideful thing standing between me and God. God, please help me to cut that off, to humble myself before you daily.

Commandments on the Hearts

Deuteronomy 6:6
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

This verse is right in the middle of the Hear O Israel passage. It comes not long after the last verse, where God expressed His wish that hearts would be inclined to fear and obey. It comes right after verse 5: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
I'm not sure how important it is, the distinction between heart and hearts, especially from one verse to the very next. Verse 5 may address general elements. Then, too, parts of the Bible just sound great, and this is one of those parts. Verse 5 wouldn't sound nearly so well if it said hearts and souls. It becomes very personal.
Verse 6 is a quick zoom out to the crowd, where every watching face has a heart, and every heart can be a small monument to the 10.
Actually, I quite like that idea. Rabid secularists may, like Saul before he was Paul, be raging from one courthouse to the next, sniffing out Ten Commandments on display, but they can never take them from our hearts.
And we teach them to our children, so they can't take them from them either!

Inclined Hearts

Deuteronomy 5:29
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

This chapter begins with the Ten Commandments. Moses says God proclaimed the commandments in a loud voice (how loud is God's loud?), adding nothing more. An interesting note, that. Then He wrote the laws on two stone tablets and gave them to Moses.
After that, the people asked to be spared the voice of God in the future. It is not an experience mortal humans can enjoy, apparently. They agreed to obey anything God told Moses.
God approved of their requests, and their promise. That in itself is pretty unique. Israel so rarely won God's approval. Then comes verse 29.
It is a sweet verse in a way, really revealing God's true desire for us. If we could only fear him and obey him always! Then it will go well--forever!
Incline my heart, dear Father. Bend it over toward you, like the sunflowers to the sun, so that it will go well with me and my children--forever.

Caleb

Deuteronomy 1:36
except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly."

This is actually the part where Moses tells about God talking to Moses about Caleb. In fact, God was angry at the time, and He swore that not a man from the present generation would see the land. Except Caleb, because he was wholehearted.
I find it interesting that Joshua is not usually linked with Caleb in these verses. Joshua got to go in. That comes in verse 38. Joshua is given the leadership of Israel after Moses is gone.
In the original account of the event in Numbers 13 and 14, the other explorers all come before Moses with their mixed report: an abundant land, but occupied by powerful people. At this point, Caleb takes charge; masterfully silencing the others--perhaps they were all talking at once, blurting out their impressions, interrupting each other to list another intimidating observation--he says simply, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
The objections redouble, more exaggerated than the first time around--we looked like grasshoppers!--and the people began to panic. The rebellion breaks out.
This time Caleb and Joshua are together, facing the fearful, mutinous nation.
It didn't work, but they had their reward later. And now, as I continue to contemplate Caleb's wholeheartedness, and the place it won him in His Story.

The Price Paid

Numbers 32:11,12
'Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.'

I decided to use both of these verses today, as they go together so closely. It is a contrast--the men of Israel v. Caleb and Joshua. The men who came up from Egypt did not follow wholeheartedly, and they lost the chance to live in the land. Caleb and Joshua were wholehearted for the Lord, and they had their reward.
I have looked extensively at Caleb's reward for his wholeheartedness. The first of these verses reminds that it isn't merely missing a fabulous reward if I am not wholehearted. There is a serious price to be paid. For Israel, it was a 40-year wilderness camping trip, a generation that had to hope for mere survival rather than the blessings of an abundant land, watered by the rain.

Blue Cord

Numbers 15:39
You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD , that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

I had a vague idea of these tassels looking something like the ones for sale in the fabric store to decorate pillows and curtains. So I decided to check into it.
The full description is a tassel on the corners, with a blue cord. The commentary I found, in bibletopics.com, says that hems were fringed. At the corners, those fringe threads were gathered into tassels with the blue cord.
The blue cord was important because the blue dye--a violet-blue--was bought from traders, and not easily produced as it came from snails. Blue stands for heaven. The rest of the garment was undyed linen. The single wool cord, heavenly blue, was a visual aid, a continual, silent call to worship.
Here the heart is very human, very fallen, the source of lusts. Yet we can master our wayward hearts. With our minds we learn to remind ourselves of God's commands, so essential to our lives and happiness, when we look on something we've taught ourselves to use as a reminder: a simple bit of heaven-blue yarn.

Different Spirit

Numbers 14:24
But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

We're bouncing around in time, but it's fun. Originally I had nothing in Numbers, but adding wholehearted brings up several.
This is the promise Caleb referred to in later years. The chapter tells the devastating story of the Israelites' refusal to go into the land. They were at the point of mutiny, and even discussing stoning the brave Joshua and Caleb. This rebellion was interrupted by the glorious appearance of Yahweh, who proceeded to have a conversation with Moses, who pleaded with the Almighty to spare Israel.
A merciful God agreed, but there was a cost: a delay as long as the generation lived.
Caleb, however, had a different spirit, and along with Joshua would see and live in the land.
Not even Moses was given that privilege.
God, please give me a different spirit, and bring me into the land you want to give me!

Hearts Are Humbled

Leviticus 26:41
which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies-then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,

This comes a few verses after yesterday's, which described eloquently the fearful hearts after God scattered the people. There is good news on the far horizon, though it doesn't exactly come out in this one verse. The previous verse begins, "if they will confess their sins..." Always a good beginning. Confess the treachery and hostility toward God that caused the trouble.
Then the wild, unpruned hearts turn humble, and restitution is made. Finally, God remembers the land. He never meant to destroy them completely. This is the good news, a shadow of the gospel to come. It's for all of us. He doesn't want to destroy us. The hard times are to tame our wild sinfulness and bring us to our knees, where He restores us.

Fearful Hearts

Leviticus 26:36
" 'As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.

Only one heart verse was found in Leviticus before. The expanded search adds 2 more, both in chapter 26. This is similar to Deuteronomy. Actually, it would be the first telling if Deuteronomy is the second.
Moses mentions a couple of commandments--do not make idols and observe the Sabbath. He tells how it will be if Israel obeys--and if they do not. That's where this verse comes in. As the discipline escalates in response to continued disobedience, finally the land itself is laid waste, and the people are scattered from it. The few who survive will not enjoy life either. Traumatized by war and destruction, they will find no peace, but only fear. This is such a graphic image. The scrape of a leaf blown along the ground sends them running, and the sheer terror will kill them.
It's sad and scary. It's what happens when people think they know better than God.

Hardened Hearts

Exodus 9:34
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.
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 14:17
I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

These fit with the 18 verses of 2/3/05, and 10:1 actually appears there, bringing to 20 the verses dealing with Pharoah's hard heart. I kept all three of these for today, because they are a near-perfect triad. In chapter 9, Pharoah and the officials hardened their hearts. In chapter 10, God takes credit for hardening the hearts so that He can complete the set of signs He has planned. By chapter 14, God is ready to tell Moses the best part, that the Israelites are about to walk through the Red Sea. Just to top it off, the Egyptians will have hearts so numb and dull that they won't even perceive the doom awaiting them; they will walk right into it.
This, to me, puts a new aspect on the hard heart. A hard heart is not only cold of emotion, it has no perception of God and God's work. A hard heart stupidly chases down its own desires and plans in its own fleshly way, heedless of the miracles all around.

Sinking Hearts

Genesis 42:28
"My silver has been returned," he said to his brothers. "Here it is in my sack." Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

This verse, unmistakably part of the story of Joseph and his brothers, comes between Dinah's unfortunate affair and Moses' calling.
The ten brothers have just been to Egypt for the first time to buy grain. It had all been bad enough already, with the strange Egyptian making crazy accusations, demanding to meet their youngest brother, and holding Simeon prisoner. Their guilty consciences immediately concluded it was bad karma from the long-ago episode with Joseph.
Now this! The money they just paid for the grain was in their sacks. Hearts sinking, they know who did it to them: God Himself.
I like that. At least Jacob had taught them that much.

Caleb's Prize

Joshua 14:14
So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD , the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

Following Caleb's declaration of his strength and vigor at 85, he boldly demands the hill country promised him by God. He states that the land is full of Anakites in large, fortified cities, but with the help of God, he will vanquish them. Inspiring! At 85, he wasn't looking for a retirement community, but a new battle.
God forgive me, I seem to be looking for a retirement situation even now. I ought to be looking for new land to conquer, God helping me.
Following his claim, Joshua blessed him and gave him Hebron. Then follows verse 14.
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Ps. 37:4