{"id":58056,"date":"2019-06-23T04:53:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T01:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58056"},"modified":"2023-01-16T23:08:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T21:08:48","slug":"god-looks-at-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-at-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"God Looks At The Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[834,447],"acf":{"old_id":"58056","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"248","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Seat of wisdom, understanding and the human soul","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our chapter, Samuel anoints David as the second king of Israel. This takes place after an extensive process of selection (16:1-13). After a number of likely looking candidates are considered, God tells Samuel: \u201cDo not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart\u201d (verse 7).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This verse serves as the conclusion to an extensive discussion of the word \u201cheart\u201d (<em>lev<\/em>) in a late midrashic work, \u201cThe Alphabet of Rabbi Akivah\u201d: The 12<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> letter of the Hebrew alphabet &#8212; Lamed is composed of three letters L-M-D, which can be read as an abbreviation of the Hebrew phase: <em>Lev Meyvin Da\u2019at<\/em> \u201cThe Heart Understands Knowledge\u201d. This teaches that the human Heart is \u201cequivalent to\u201d all other parts of the human body. For example, Scripture suggests that the heart may be said to \u201csee\u201d: Kohelet says \u201cmy heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge\u201d, after having just said \u201cI spoke with my own heart\u201d (<em>dibarti \u2018ani \u2018im libi<\/em>) (Ecclesiastes 1:16). Thus, the heart can be said to have the ability to \u201chear\u201d, as when Solomon prays for a \u201chearing heart\u201d (<em>lev shomea<\/em>\u2019) (I King 3:9). The heart can be wise or foolish (Ecclesiastes 10:2). The heart can be \u201cbroken and contrite\u201d (Psalms 51:19 \u2013 <em>lev nishbar ve-nidkeh<\/em>); but it can also \u201cheal&#8221; (Proverbs 14:30 \u2013 <em>lev marpe\u2019<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Brown, Driver and Briggs, Biblical Lexicon, s.v. <em>levav<\/em> defines <em>lev<\/em> as \u201cthe inner man, mind, will, heart\u201d or \u201csoul\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In modern times, we often think of the brain as the seat of the mind, i.e \u201cthought\u201d, and heart as the seat of the emotions, i.e. \u201cfeeling\u201d. As the French writer Andr\u00e9 Malraux (<em>La Condition Humaine,<\/em> 1933) succinctly states: \u201cWhat the mind sees the heart feels\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, medical research in the developing field of neurocardiology has suggested that &#8220;the heart is a state of intelligent consciousness&#8221;, apparently containing some 40,000 neurons &#8212; greater in amplitude and intensity than the brain. The theory of \u201cheart-brain connection\u201d suggests that the heart is a highly complex system with its own functional \u201cbrain\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is perhaps the reason that God is said to \u201clook at the heart\u201d (<em>yire\u2019h la-levav<\/em>) in selecting David to be the second king of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by: Damian Niolet from Pixabay<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":58057,"id":58057,"title":"isam16-heart-brain","filename":"isam16-heart-brain.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-at-the-heart\/isam16-heart-brain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam16-heart-brain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58056,"date":"2019-06-23 01:53:45","modified":"2021-05-03 14:27:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"God Looks At The Heart","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Seat of wisdom, understanding and the human soul","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":58057,"id":58057,"title":"isam16-heart-brain","filename":"isam16-heart-brain.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-looks-at-the-heart\/isam16-heart-brain\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam16-heart-brain","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":58056,"date":"2019-06-23 01:53:45","modified":"2021-05-03 14:27:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam16-heart-brain-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58056"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111690,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58056\/revisions\/111690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}