Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. Hebrews 3:12
We think of the heart as the seat of the emotions, but the Hebrews thought of it as the core of a person—emotions, intellect, and will. The heart is the wellspring of motivation. When the author speaks of the heart believing something, he is talking about deep convictions held in the core of one’s being, the beliefs that really determine what one does.
Likewise, to harden one’s heart is to make one’s will, intellect, and emotions all insensitive to God’s presence and truth.
And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 1 Samuel 2:1 Horn is exalted. “The figure is that of an animal carrying its head high and proudly conscious of its strength” (Driver). [Donna note: Think of Bambi's father on the ridge-in a kingly posture]
Mouth is enlarged. A gesture of exultation and triumph.
Mine enemies. According to Rashi and Kimchi, Peninnah is meant.
(Hertz, Dr. J.H., The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, 2nd Ed., Soncino Press, London, 1992, pg 954)
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: John 20:21-22
We should perhaps bear in mind that in Greek the word we translate “Spirit” also means “breath” or “wind.” It was thus very appropriate that Jesus should use breath as an outward sign of the gift of the Spirit that he was giving the disciples.
Sometimes Christians have taken this kind of thing very literally. R.E. Brown tells of a time when the Coptic Patriarch in Alexandria used to breath into a skin bag, which was then firmly tied and taken up river to Ethiopia. There it was released on the man chosen to be head of the Ethiopian church!
We cannot think that Jesus meant anything like this to happen, but the custom shows how suitable it was in the ancient world to use breath to convey teaching about the Spirit.
(Morris, Leon. 2000. Reflections on the Gospel of John. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers., pg 710)
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
A person should not profane the valuable power of speech with which man alone was endowed. It is this ability to speak which manifestly symbolizes the uniqueness of the human being. The supremacy of speech and the power it gives humanity does not stem from the mechanics of articulation. The movements of tongue and lips are only facilitators of speech. It is rather the intelligence capable of creating the spoken communication that marks the distinction between man and animal and endows him with his crown of humanity.
The attribute of speech with which man alone was endowed is like an intelligence unto itself, coming to him directly from the Creator, and has not evolved or been synthesized from other factors. This is revealed clearly in the verse, “And He blew into his nostrils the spirit of life, and Man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Onkolos translates this, “And He blew into his nostrils the spirit of life, and it was transformed within man to the spirit of speech.” And the Ramban explains that he who blows into the nostrils of another instills in him his own soul, and that is as it says, “And the soul of God shall make them understand.”
For it was the intelligent soul which God instilled, so to speak, in his nostrils, that became the speaking soul with which he could be clever and speak, etc.
(Kaplan, Aryeh, ed. 1991. The Torah Anthology, Book Fourteen. Brooklyn, New York: Moznaim Publishing Corporation., pg xv)
And the Lord spake unto Noah, and he blessed him. And Noah smelled a sweet savor, and he said in his heart; I will call on the name of the Lord, that he will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; and he will not again smite any more every thing living, as he hath done, while the earth remaineth; JST Gen. 9:4-6
The fragrance of Christ must fill our being and overpower the stench of evil. G. Campbell Morgan related that he often went into the home of a man who entertained him, and in one room he always detected a strong fragrance of roses. He said to his host one day, “I wish you would tell me why, whenever I come into this room, I smell the fragrance of roses.”
The gentleman smiled and replied, “Ten years ago I was in the Holy Land, and while there I bought a small tube of attar of roses. It was wrapped in cotton wool, and as I was standing here unpacking it, suddenly I broke the bottle. I put the broken container, cotton wool and all, into the vase on the mantel.”
He then walked to the beautiful vase and lifted the lid, and the fragrance of roses filled the room. The fragrance had permeated the clay of the vase, and it was impossible for someone to enter the room without being conscious of it.
The goal of every Christian should be for the Rose of Sharon to so fill the clay vessel of the human house that His fragrance would linger on and on and ever influence the surroundings.
(Haney, Joy., May I Wash Your Feet?, Word Aflame Press, Hazelwood, MO, 1991, pg 22)
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. Genesis 21:19
And God opened her eyes. i.e. she now perceived the well of water which was quite near her, but which in her anguish of mind she had overlooked.
“The Hebrew phrase to open the eyes is exclusively employed in the figurative sense of receiving new sources of knowledge, not in that of regaining the sense of sight” (Maimonides).
(Hertz, Dr. J.H., The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, 2nd Ed., Soncino Press, London, 1992, pg 72)
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Daniel 10:3
Oiling the body was considered a necessity and not a luxury, and this was done by a majority of the population.
One of the gestures of hospitality in the NT home was to anoint your visitor with oil, along with washing his feet, giving him a cold cup of water, and/or burning incense in your home to freshen the air.
The wealthy used unguents and creams composed on a base of vegetable oils, such as olive oil, almond oil, sesame oil, or of the fat of geese, sheep, goats, or cattle. Added to these were minerals, salts, milk, and/or honey. Fragrant resins or aromatic flowers were added to give them a sweet scent. The common man used oils of inferior quality, like castor oil.
So customary was anointing oneself with oil, that it was a sign of mourning to refrain from it, “...be a mourner and put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil” (2 Sam. 14:2). Anointing with oil was also used in religious practice, including the anointing of kings by a prophet or priest, “And Zadok the priest to the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon” (I Kgs. 1:39). (http://www.bridgesforpeace.com/publications/dispatch/everydaylife/Article-5.html)
