Hebrew Word Study: A Hebrew Teacher Explores the Heart of God

Thou hast ravished my heart"-in the Hebrew, this is one of the most beautiful and at the same time heartbreaking words that I have ever run across in my forty years of studying biblical Hebrew. You see, it is only one word in Hebrew: livabethini. This comes from the root word levav, which means heart. The first thing to note is that this is one of the rare cases where the double Beth is used. The Beth represents the heart. A double Beth represents God's heart and our hearts joined together in a love relationship. It is a picture of two hearts opening up to each other and becoming equally vulnerable. Do you want to understand God's heart? Look at your own; it was created in His image. Is not your heart wounded when someone you care about just ignores you? Do you not grieve when someone you look forward to being with calls five minutes before your time together and says, "Oh, sorry, I am too busy for you right now"? What do we do to God's heart when we ignore Him or are too busy to spend a moment in prayer? Chaim Bentorah moves from his search for God's heart to now exploring the heart of God by drilling down to the very core and soul of Hebrew words. Chaim asks the question: "What good is there to applying linguistics and science to one's translation of the Bible without an emotional context" He presents a Hebrew word study unlike any others, for he first considers a Hebrew word in the context of God's heart"