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The “heart” stands for the inner being of man, the man himself. As such, it is the
fountain of all he does (Prov. 4:4). All his thoughts, desires, words, and actions flow from
deep within him. Yet a man cannot understand his own “heart” (Jer. 17:9). As a man goes
on in his own way, his “heart” becomes harder and harder. But God will circumcise (cut
away the uncleanness of) the “heart” of His people, so that they will love and obey Him
with their whole being (Deut. 30:6).
B. Adverb.
( , 3820), “tenderly; friendly; comfortably.”
6
is used as an adverb in Gen.
34:3: “And his soul clave unto Dinah … and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto
the damsel.” In Ruth 4:13, the word means “friendly”: “… thou hast spoken friendly unto
thine handmaid.…” The word means “comfortably” in 2 Chron. 30:22 and in Isa. 40:2.
HEAVENS
(
, 8064), “heavens; heaven; sky.” This general Semitic word
appears in languages such as Ugaritic, Akkadian, Aramaic, and Arabic. It occurs 420
times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
First,
is the usual Hebrew word for the “sky” and the “realm of the sky.”
This realm is where birds fly. God forbids Israel to make any “likeness of any winged
fowl that flieth in the air” (Deut. 4:17). When Absalom’s hair caught in the branches of a
tree, he hung suspended between the “heaven” and the earth (2 Sam. 18:9). This area,
high above the ground but below the stars and heavenly bodies, is often the locus of
visions: “And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the
earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem” (1
Chron. 21:16).
Second, this word represents an area farther removed from the earth’s surface. From
this area come such things as frost (Job 38:29), snow (Isa. 55:10), fire (Gen. 19:24), dust
(Deut. 28:24), hail (Josh. 10:11), and rain: “The fountains also of the deep and the
windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained” (Gen. 8:2).
This realm is God’s storehouse; God is the dispenser of the stores and Lord of the realm
(Deut. 28:12). This meaning of
occurs in Gen. 1:7-8: “And God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven.”
Third,
also represents the realm in which the sun, moon, and stars are
located: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the
day from the night …” (Gen. 1:14). This imagery is often repeated in the Creation
account and in poetical passages. Thus the “heavens” can be stretched out like a curtain
(Ps. 104:2) or rolled up as a scroll (Isa. 34:4).
Fourth, the phrase “heaven and earth” may denote the entire creation. This use of the
word appears in Gen. 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Fifth, “heaven” is the dwelling place of God: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Ps. 2:4; cf. Deut. 4:39). Again, note Deut.
26:15: “Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people
Israel.…” Another expression representing the dwelling place of God is “the highest
heaven [literally, the heaven of heavens].” This does not indicate height, but an
absolute—i.e., God’s abode is a unique realm not to be identified with the physical