Lacking Heart

Proverbs 9:4

Heart Studies

in Exegetical Psychology

 

If you do not recall a day in your life when you received eternal life as a free gift from Jesus, then this article will not make sense to you. Please click the eternal life button now and learn more about finding peace with God and being born again today.

Eternal Life  

The Old Testament Book of Proverbs provides a wealth of divine information about many aspects of Exegetical Psychology. In this short study, we will investigate Proverbs 9:4 to understand the concept of lacking heart. Many English translations completely ignore the significance of various Hebrew terms such as heart, soul, spirit, and other important terms. Every word of Scripture God breathed out for our benefit. Therefore, we should be careful to study every word in a passage and be careful to translate the word properly. Today, many translators employ the concept of a very wide semantic range for a single word in the Old and New Testaments. In my studies, I do not follow that some theory of a wide semantic range. Most often a narrow semantic range, in keeping with the words of the original autographs, provides the best and most faithful translation of God’s revelation without an admixture of human commentary. Of course, all translators make many choices about how to convey the actual meaning of God into the receptor language. Therefore, we will pay particular attention to the words of Proverbs 9:4-5. ¹The  Hebrew text providesמִי־פֶ֭תִי יָסֻ֣ר הֵ֑נָּה חֲסַר־לֵ֝֗ב אָ֣מְרָה לּֽוֹ ׃
 לְ֭כוּ לַחֲמ֣וּ בְֽלַחֲמִ֑י וּ֝שְׁת֗וּ בְּיַ֣יִן מָסָֽכְתִּי׃ Proverbs 9:4-5

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks heart she says to him, “Walk, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake your simpleness and live, and advance in the way of understanding.”

Proverbs 9:4-5

God understands that we may lack heart. Wisdom speaks directly to the person lacking heart and provides a specific remedy for lack of heart. The person lacking heart must learn to eat of the bread of wisdom and drink the mixed wine of wisdom. The man lacking heart must also forsake simpleness and live and advance in the way of understanding. God explained in the Book of Proverbs many things associated with heart. ²God revealed that He puts wisdom into the hearts of some people. See for example Solomon (1 Kings 10:24; 2 Chronicles 9:23). Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding (Proverbs 14:33). The man who loves wisdom loves His soul (Proverbs 19:8). We see the close connection between the heart and wisdom (Proverbs 24:14).But here, God described how to solve the problem of lacking heart. We must listen to wisdom calling out to us, especially the person lacking heart, and then eat the bread of wisdom and drink her mixed wine. Therefore, as we forsake simpleness, we will live and advance in the way of understanding. In passing, please notice that wisdom guides people to enter and follow the way of understanding.

HALLELUJAH !