What do ancient pictographs reveal about HEART/LEV

[sami]

 

lev (heart)

Because in their heart, they do not want to obey - it often becomes a measure of one's heart condition - to place obedience before personal want, need, or desire, especially when the two choices are in direct conflict with each other, is often a test of where one's true priorities indeed are.

The Hebrew paleo underlying the word lev [or leb, if you choose that transliteration schema] evidences the concrete meaning of the word most often translated as "heart" - it pictures the "authority within".

In the biblical texts, Jehovah informs the nation of Judah that "The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate" [Jeremiah 17:9] - what constituted a serious warning that those "seeking to please God" must give attention not merely to what other humans see but to the kind of person they really are - the inner man, the lev, the authority within.

 

So the biblical texts indeed counsel, "More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart [the whole inner man], for out of it are the sources of life" [Proverbs 4:23]. It appears, that it is not merely outward appearances as to what counts with Jehovah, but what a person really is inside - he is, after all, called the "examiner of hearts" [Proverbs 17:3; also 24:12; and Ps 17:3, as a few examples].

What evidences the condition of one's lev, and the personal motivation behind it, is not necessarily the instance of failure [Genesis 8:21; James 1:14-15; Psalm 51:5; and so forth], but how one recognizes the failure, and how they move forward [Psalms 32:5; Psalms 51:4; 1 John 1:8; 2 Co 7:8-11; Matthew 5:23-24] - in short, the biblical text advise that a person must acknowledge the khate, [sin] recognize that it is an offense against God, confess it unqualifiedly, have a deep heartfelt sorrow for the wrong doing, and have an actual and real determination to turn away completely from such course or practice - and he or she must do what they can to right the wrong or damage done. One must also then ask or request God's forgiveness on the basis of Christ's ransom sacrifice as stated in part in Eph 1:7.

Then begins repentance. The other option available is, of course, development, and application of, rationalizations and extended apologetics, as a way of providing self-justification for one's acts. Which way one takes serves as a witness to the condition of one's heart.