HEBREW WORD STUDY – EZRA PREPARED HIS HEART – ‘EZRA HAKIN LEVEVU עזרא הכינ לבבו
Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
You read about Ezra and find a man who loved God with all his heart, soul, and might. He devoted himself to the Word of God, learning everything he could about the heart of the God he loved. Jewish tradition teaches that Ezra’s knowledge of the Torah was equal to that of Moses. Not only that he was determined to make sure he obeyed every letter of the law for he knew it would bring pleasure to the God he loved and that is what he lived to do to bring pleasure to God. He also made sure others followed the law as well as he could not stand to have the heart of His God broken. He was responsible for restoring the Jewish identity problem that developed during the captivity when Hebrew men married non-Hebrew women. He ordered the men to divorce these wives.
This simple scribe insisted on leading 5,000 Israelites back to their homeland with gifts and treasures of the King without a military to protect them. He insisted that their only protection should come from God.
It was this simple scribe and his incredible love for God that ushered in one of the greatest revivals in Jewish history. What made this scribe so great is found in Ezra 7:10, he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and teach it. Now think on that a moment. He prepared his heart to seek the law.” This is where it all started, seeking the Word of God. For if you love someone you will seek to learn all you can about that person.
People of Ezra’s day were seeking out the latest fads in how God works. There was only a superficial knowledge of the Word of God. Teachers were teaching what other teachers were teaching. Very few teachers really did any independent study of the Word of God. Yet, there was a raging hunger to really know the Word of God and when one little Scribe arose and said he would prepare his heart to seek the Word of God, a mighty revival broke out.
Would you like Chaim Bentorah as your personal Hebrew teacher?
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I have no desire to lead a revival or to be another Ezra, but I do desire to do what Ezra did, i.e., prepare my heart to seek the Word of God. My desire is to know the heart of God and the secrets to His heart are found in the Word of God. So I need to examine this idea of preparing my heart. How do I prepare my heart? Is that really the correct English word to use here. The word in Hebrew that is used for prepare is kun which is found in a Hiphal (causative) form. So Ezra was caused to prepare his heart. His love and longing to know the heart of God caused him to prepare. There are many, many usages for the word kun. It could be steadfast, firm, fixed, fashioned, and many others. Only the context will tell you which word to use for kun. Oddly, they all fit the context. There is no one English word that fits Ezra 7:10 for the word prepare. First, you must really want to know God’s heart to prepare your heart. Look at old Jonah who ran from the presence of God because he did not want to hear God’s heart. He refused to go to Nineveh because he did not want God’s heart desire for Nineveh that they repent. Finally, God took matters into His own hands to prepare Jonah to listen to His heart by sticking him in a fish’s belly. Suddenly Jonah became very interested in what God’s heart had to say.
Ezra was caused to prepared to seek the Word of God because he first was in love with God and when you love someone you will want to know their heart. Then he was actually able to enter this preparing process by confirming, being steadfast in his determination and hunger to know God’s heart. Once Ezra learned God’s heart through the study of His Word, he presented it to the people of Israel and they longed to know God’s heart and when they did a great revival broke out.
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Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!
I’m blessed
God bless you sir
Thanks Chaim for all that you teach. You are a true treasure to me .
This is one of the stories in the Bible that troubles me the most What happened to the wifes and children of these men ? Ezra deprived these children of a father
Now if Ezra truly loved God why didn’t he asked God about what to do in this situation . Remember Moses himself was married to a foreign woman and God punished Mariam for disrespecting Moses because of his foreign wife . Perhaps God would have said that if the husbands, wifes and children agreed to throw away their idols and false gods and worship only Him they would be allowed to stay ,but if they then returned to their idols that then the husbands, wifes and children should be cut off from the people .
Instead Ezra seem to me to want power and control .
Perhaps God wants to remind us not to become so over zealous to obey the written word that we forget that He is very much alive and wants to be included in everything we do.
I think this story bothers me because I grew up without a father . My father was killed when I was only 8 months old and my mother was left with 5 teenagers and me to raise. It was more than she could bear . Growing up without a father is extremely hard believe me .
Awesome word 👏👏👏
May we all truly cherish Gods word like this also!
Boy, That is what I need not to mention this whole world.