Wholehearted

Blessed are those who comply with His ^[b]testimonies, And seek Him with all their heart.  Psalm 119:2 NASB

With all – It’s the last bit that counts.  bechol-lev yidreshoohoo—“with all their heart.”  “All their heart” is interesting in itself because we would expect the plural “with all their hearts” but we get the singular bechol-lev.  It’s a common heart, that is, the consciousness of the group.  Individual action isn’t the basis of response to God.  It’s you and me, baby.  “Our Father” is the opening line—and the fundamental thought.  Of course, you as an individual are called.  You (singular) have responsibilities.  But God looks at more than you.  He looks at the whole community.  Achan’s story is a tragic reminder.  Everyone is connected and it’s the connections that matter the most.  As I’ve written many times, there is no Hebraic Robinson Crusoe.

This entails a distinctive relationship.  Want to be happy?  In Hebrew that can only happen when “those” are happy, when “they” seek Him with all “their” heart.  Perhaps we should reflect on the difference between happiness and wholeness.  In our Greco-Roman world, happiness is typically associated with pleasure.  I’m happy when life is good, when I have more than enough, when I’m healthy, wealthy, and wise (and satisfied, of course).  Happiness is a state of circumstantial enjoyment.  So winning the lottery is a happy event, but being caught in an earthquake isn’t.  Both are pretty much out of my control, but the difference in the circumstances determines which one we want and which one we want to avoid.  Greek happiness depends on what happens to me.  That’s why the Greeks could say, “A man with few possessions is happier.”  He has less to lose.

Hebrew happiness isn’t like this at all.  In fact, it’s more like Buddhism than the “name it and claim it” doctrine.  Happiness is an internal affair.  It’s a state of wholeness independent of external circumstances. “Happy is more than a passing feeling.  As used in the Bible, it is an enduring sense of wholeness of heart and mind.”[1] “For the joy set before him” is a reminder that even under excruciating situations, wholeness is possible.  Suffering endured voluntarily is a great virtue, and in the Hebrew world virtue leads to character and character to shalom.  Except . . . except that even shalom is communal.  “ . . . a joy is not really a joy until and unless we share it with others, at least not in Judaism.  Ours is not an I-Thou religion; it is a We-Thou religion.”[2]  In order to understand the intensity of this desire to seek God, we must lean on each other.  We must share the burden, enhanced by each personal facet within the community so that the end result is not my longing but our longing, amplified.  Could we go so far as to say that this wholeheartedness isn’t possible alone? Is there something in the search for connection with YHVH that requires communal involvement?  Just ask yourself, “How would my faith be affected if there were no one else to share it with?”  And then seek Him with all your (plural) heart.

Topical Index: bechol-lev, all your heart, joy, shalom, happy, community, Psalm 119:2

[1] Jack Riemer and Elie Spitz, Duets on Psalms: Drawing New Meaning From Ancient Works (Bey Yehuda Press, 2023), p 180.

[2] Ibid., p. 114.