The Heart is Encouraged and Discouraged--20

The Hebrew Bible uses the word "heart" [Hebrew lebh and lebhabh] in connection with encouragement and discourgament.

1. There is one texts in which the word "heart" is used concerning encouragement. This is 2 Kings 14:10. King Jehoash of North Israel sent a message to Amaziah king of Judah telling him not to fight against North Israel. He said to him:
    "You have indeed defeated Edom, and YOUR HEART HAS LIFTED YOU UP [Hebrew nasa']. Be content with your glory, and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?"
    Obviously Amaziah's defeated of Edom encouraged him.

2. FIVE Hebrew verbs convey the emotion of discouragement.
    a. no'--"to restrain, make reverse." This verb occurs two times with lebh.
        1. Numbers 32:7--Moses said to the Gadites and the Reubenites: "Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?"
        2. Numbers 32:9--Moses continued to tell the Gadites and the Reubenites that Moses sent their fathers from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. Then he said: "When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that he Lord had given them."
    b. masas--"to melt." This verb occurs six times with lebhabh.
        1. Deuteronomy 1:28--In the wilderness, the Israelites complained about the report of the twelve spies that Moses sent into Canaan: "Where are we headed? Our kindred have made our hearts melt by reporting, 'The people [of Canaan] are taller and stronger than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw the offspring of the Anakim!'"
       2-3. Deuteronomy 20:8 [2x]--"The officials shall continue to address the troops, saying, 'Is anyone afraid or disheartened? He should go back to his house, or he might cause the heart of his comrades to melt like his own.'"
       4. Joshua 2:11--Rahab said to the Israelites spies concerning the Canaanites at Jericho: "As soon as we heard of it [that is, the delivery of the Israelites from Egypt, and the victories of the Israelites over Sihon and Og], our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below."
       5. Joshua 5:1--"When all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the [Mediterranean] sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them, because of the Israelites."
      6. Joshua 7:5--When Joshua and about 3,000 of his men attacked Ai, "The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water."

   c. masah--"to melt, dissolve, be liquefied." This verb appears one time with lebh in Joshua 14:8. Caleb said to Joshua: "My companions [the ten spies whom Moses sent with Joshua and Caleb to Canaan] who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God."

   d. kalah--"to waste away, be exhausted." This verb appears one time with lebhabh in Psalm 73:26:
       "My flesh and my heart may fail,
             but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

  e. ya'ash--"to despair." This verb occurs one time with lebh in Ecclesiastes 2:20:
       "So I turned and gave my heart up to despair
         concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun."

These five verbs are usually connected with mental decay. As the mind or heart feels inferior, it becomes discouraged. Unhealthy meditation cannot be severed from the emotion of discouragement, because this emotion can thrive only in such an atmosphere. The "heart" is the seat of emotions, but only as one relies on the other for sustenance.

Evaluate your feelings, your emotions, your experiences, your ideas with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis