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The Heart of the Matter
A Hebraic Understanding

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”                                                                                                                           Luqa [Luke] 6:45

What is in a person’s heart at some point will be made manifest for all to see.  While it is possible for the true heart to be hidden for a season, at some point the pressures of life will bring forth that which has been hidden inside of it.  No one is exempt from this.  Old and young, male and female, all will at some point reveal what is truly in their hearts. 

If what is in a person’s heart is evil, then evil will come forth.  If good is in a person’s heart, then good will come forth.  But we must understand what these words “good” and “evil” mean according to Scripture; for the standards of the world of what constitutes good and evil is actually contrary to what Scripture teaches us what good is and what evil is.

Good according to Scripture is as follows:

Mishle [Proverbs] 16:20 
He that gives heed to the word shall find good;
And who trusts in YHWH, happy is he.

Good is simply listening to and obeying His commandments, whether those commandments are found in His written Torah or in His Voice.  Good leads one to life.  There is, of course, much more that we could say about what constitutes good, but this will suffice for now in our present study.  Good is simply doing what is right in YHWH’s eyes.

Evil, then, is the pursuit of one’s own way; that is, to disregard and to disobey His commandments, whether those commandments are in His Torah or in His Voice.  Evil leads to death.

Mishle [Proverbs] 3:7 
Be not wise in your own eyes;
Fear YHWH, and depart from evil.

If a person rebels against YHWH and goes his own way, then he is walking in evil.  Evil is simply doing what is right in one’s own eyes.

One cannot walk in both evil and good at the same time, for he can only serve one master.  And the master whom he will serve is what will fill his heart.  And what fills one’s heart at some point will be manifested for all to see. 

This matter of the heart is what we want to examine in this study.  In my studies recently I discovered something that was quite interesting and certainly worth our time to prayerfully consider.  In Hebrew, the word for heart is לֵב – “lev.”  Typically, all Hebrew words are related to, and come from, a three letter root word.  So this two letter word begs the question: what is the three letter root?  And it is the answer to that question that brings us to this study today.

There are six root words in which לב are the first two letters.  Each one will give us an important insight into the heart.  Let us examine each one of these words in aleph-betical order.

לבא – La-va

לבא – “lava” (pronounced as la-VAH) means arouse.  The א (aleph) is the first letter of the aleph-bet and it represents “He who is the First!”  It is also silent, because of who it represents, as He is the silent One, and speaks to us only through His Word, whether that is His Spoken Word (His Voice) or His written Word.  He also speaks to us through His Spirit, via the Still Small Voice.

B’midbar [Numbers] 23:24 
“Behold, the people will rise up as an aroused lion,
And as a lion he lifts himself up;
He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”

The underlined words above are from a form of the word לבא .  The most common form of this word in the Tanak is translated as an aroused lion. 

When YHWH via His Spirit enters one’s heart, then that person is aroused and belongs to the Lion of Yehudah, the Mashiach of Israel.

לבב – La-vav

לבב – “lavav” (pronounced as la-VAV) means conjoin in central core.  The ב (bet) is the second letter of the aleph-bet and it represents a house; in this case, the house of the spirit, or the heart.  The ב (bet) is the beginning of Torah and as such is representative of the House or Temple of YHWH.  When our heart belongs to YHWH, then our heart dwells in His house.  When a person belongs to Him, then He also dwells in his house, his heart, via His Spirit.

Yeshayah [Isaiah] 6:10 
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.

Yeshua quotes this passage from Yeshayah in Matithyah 13:15.  There is a play on words present in this passage that is not readily seen in the English rendition of this verse.  In English, the word “heart” appears twice.  However, in Hebrew, they are two different but related words.  The first occurrence is the word לב – “lev” or “heart.”  The second occurrence is the word לבב – “lavav” or “heart.”  The difference in this passage is whether or not the heart of the people has been joined with YHWH and His will.  If it has not, then there will be no true understanding in the people.  However, if their hearts have been properly joined with YHWH, then they will see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and have true understanding. 

לבה – La-vah

לבה – “lavah” (pronounced as la-VAH) means enthuse.  The ה (hey) is the fifth letter of the aleph-bet and it represents the Ruach Qodesh.  When our house (lev-heart) is filled with His Spirit, then we have the proper enthusiasm to do His work and build His kingdom.  A form of this word is often translated as “flame.”

Shemot [Exodus] 3:2 
And the Messenger of YHWH appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

In this passage we see that the flame of this fire was described as לבה or enthusiastic in nature.  It was not a calm fire, but a fire that was brilliant, lively, and quite animated!  YHWH desires for us to be on fire for Him as well and to be an enthusiastic fire at that!

לבט – La-vat

לבט – “lavat” (pronounced as la-VAHT) means to stumble or blunder.  The ט (tet) is the ninth letter of the aleph-bet and it represents the snake.  Nine is the number of Satan.  It can easily be seen that, when the snake (Satan) is allowed into one’s heart, then what quickly follows is stumbling. 

Mishle [Proverbs] 10:8 
The wise in heart will take commandments;
But a babbling fool shall fall.

We see in this passage, that it is those who refuse to take commandments, particularly His commandments, who will be foolish and who will fall or stumble. 

לבן – La-van

לבן – “lavan” (pronounced as la-VAHN) means to whiten or to purify.  The נ (nun) is the fourteenth letter of the aleph-bet and it represents an increase or to propagate.  Fourteen is the equivalent of two sevens or double perfections, thus representing a double portion of His Spirit.  When one repents and is saved that is the first portion.  And then when one is filled with His Spirit, this is the second portion of His Spirit which comes in His purifying presence and fills a person and makes him לבן .

Tehillim [Psalm] 51:7 
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Only YHWH can cleanse and purify us to the extent and depth that we need to be purified.  But in order for Him to do this, we need to willingly submit to His gentle and righteous discipline that we might be known as His sons.

לבש – La-vash

לבש – “lavash” (pronounced as la-VAHSH) means to clothe.  The ש (“shin” pronounced as “sheen”) is the twenty-first letter of the aleph-bet or three sevens.  The shin is often used to represent El Shaddai.  When we put on the new man and are clothed in His Spirit, then we are wearing His clothes of righteousness rather than our own filthy rags.

B’reshit [Genesis] 3:21 
And YHWH Elohim made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.

YHWH had originally clothed Adam and Chavah (Eve) with His light אוֹר – “or”;  but when they sinned against the commandment of His Voice they lost that light and He replaced it with skins עוֹר – “or” of animals.  Both of these words are pronounced in exactly the same way – or.  The difference is that one is spelled with an א (aleph) and the other one is spelled with an ע (ayin).  The ע represents the eye, thereby indicating that the subsequent (עוֹר --or) with which He clothed them was something that was quite visible to the eye, whereas the previous (אוֹר --or) was of a completely different quality.  In addition to this, there is a time coming in which YHWH will once again clothe us with His light (אר – or).

Gilyana [Revelation] 3:5 
“He that overcomes shall thus be arrayed in garments of light; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His messengers.”

Many translations in English render this as “white garments.”  However, it literally means “garments of light.”  Many translations, misunderstanding this phrase and not understanding from where it was that mankind fell, could not conceive of a garment made of light.  Thus, a mistranslation came to pass.

There are six root words altogether here and six is the number of man.  When we look at the order in which these words occur, they are an indication of the life cycle of man.

1. First man is awakened or aroused by YHWH out of his sin – לבא
2. Then, if man repents after being awakened by YHWH, YHWH comes to dwell with him and is joined with him in his heart – לבב
3. When a person begins walking with YHWH he is enthused or set on fire and desires to tell all he meets of His encounter with His Creator – לבה
4. Everything is going just fine, except that the enemy of our lives, Satan, then comes and tries to gain entrance into our lives; and if a person allows this to happen, then stumbling comes – לבט
5. However, Yeshua taught us that we are to wait till we are imbued with power from on high before we go out; we need to be purified in our hearts first – לבן
6. Then finally, we are to be clothed in His power and in His might rather than in our own – לבש

Then finally, we need to consider this passage.

Ivrim [Hebrews] 4:12 
For the word of Elohim is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It is the word of YHWH that is able to know what is in a person’s heart.  Furthermore, His word can divide that which in our hearts.  He will divide that which is not pleasing to Him and remove it far from us.  That is, if we are willing to submit to Him and allow Him to take us through this process.

That is the heart of the matter.

How is your heart today?  What is in your heart right now? 

ABBA YHWH, please come and remove from us those things in our hearts that are not pleasing to You and fill us with Your Spirit!  In the name of Yeshua our Mashiach we ask.  

Amein and Amein!

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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