In all of the following examples, the mistranslation of Lev as the figurative “heart” is replaced with Mind—the core of our mental reality. I saved the juicier, and more inspiring verses for next week (primarily concerning the connection between the biblical mind and revelation), in order to first cover some basic “idiomatic” ground. So here are the first ten things that the biblical Lev knows how to do:
1. TO KNOW: “And I will give them a mind to know Me” (Jeremiah 24:7); “And I set my mind to know wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 1:17); “Give Your servant a perceptive mind to judge Your people” (1-Kings 3:9); “fools die mindless” (Proverbs 10:21).
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2. TO REMEMBER: "I will put My law within them, and on their mind I will inscribe it” (Jeremiah 31:33); “inscribe them on the tablet of your mind” (Proverbs 3:3, 7:3); “The former things shall not be remembered, nor come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).
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3. TO THINK. If you look at Rodin's Thinker below you can practically see the conversation that is going on inside of his head. In the Bible, as in dictionary definitions, to “speak in one’s mind” is, indeed, what it means to think (a verb that does not otherwise exist in Ancient Hebrew!). The idiom describes what linguists call inner speech: “As for Hannah, she was speaking in her mind, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard” (1-Samuel 1:13); “And before I had done speaking in my mind, behold, Rebbecca came…” (Genesis 24:45); “And I will punish the men… Who say in their minds 'The LORD will neither help nor harm'” (Zephaniah 1:12). Ecclesiastes uses the same idiom for debating, internally, with philosophical ideas. Thus:
“Let the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of my mind, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD” (Psalms 19:14)
4. TO PLAN: This is what the artisans of the tabernacle had the wisdom and a great mind for. Likewise: “Many designs are in a man's mind, But the counsel of the LORD will prevail” (Proverbs 19:21); “The counsel of the LORD stands forever; what His mind designed for all generations” (Psalms 33:11).
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5. TO BEAR IN MIND: “And he that bore not in mind the word of the LORD…” (Exodus 9:21); “Bear in mind all the words which I testify among you this day” (Deuteronomy 32:46). Similarly, “we will not be on their minds” (1-Samuel 18:23).
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6. TO BE OF ONE MIND: “All these… came with a made-up mind to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to make David king” (1-Chronicles 12:39).
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7. TO BE OF TWO MINDS / TO BE CONNED: “They speak falsehood every one with his neighbor; with flattering lip, and with two minds, do they speak” (Psalms 12:3); “And Jacob tricked the mind of Laban...” (Genesis 31:20).
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8. TO BE CONTENT: The biblical idiom “to one’s mind’s content” refers, typically to satisfying hunger and thirst (it is the mind that is disturbed when hungry). After Boaz ate and drank, for example, it is NOT that “his heart was merry,” he was simply satisfied—“his mind was content” thus leading him to take a nap (Ruth 3:7) [When hungry or thirsty you can't think straight, and you become unreasonable and irascible; on a full stomach you can relax]. Rarely, an overly-contented state of the mind can involve intoxication.
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9. TO BE DENSE: There are three biblical images for man’s ignoble state of mind, whereby the mind is "fat," "uncircumcised," and "stone-like." All three depict a mind that is obtuse, and blocked from true perception: “Their eyes are coated, that they cannot see, and their minds, that they cannot learn” (Isaiah 44:18); “Their minds became dense like fat; but I delighted in your instruction” (Psalms 119:70);“Make the mind of this people thick, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and discerning with their mind, return, and be healed'” (Isaiah 6:10); "Sheer yourselves to the LORD And remove the circumscription of your minds" (Jeremiah 4:4); “Sheer the circumscription of your mind” (Deuteronomy 10:16). "The LORD your God will sheer your mind and the mind of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with mind-ful-ness and with all your life-force, so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
10. TO BECOME AS STONE: “When the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, his mind died (=blanked out) within him, and he became as a stone” ( 1-Samuel 25:37). Thus God promises the redeemed:
“I will remove the [dead] mind-of-stone from your body and give you a [living] mind-of-flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26)
A story about a “mind of stone” will carry us to next week:
Hogen, a Chinese Zen teacher, lived alone in a small temple in the country. One day four traveling monks appeared and asked if they might make a fire in his yard to warm themselves. While they were building the fire, Hogen heard them arguing about subjectivity and objectivity. He joined them and said: "There is a big stone. Do you consider it to be inside or outside your mind?" One of the monks replied: "From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an objectification of mind, so I would say that the stone is inside my mind." "Your head must feel very heavy," observed Hogen, "if you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind."
Ethan
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