Lev Tahor -

Create in me a clearn heart, O God
Psalm 51:10a

Create in me a clean heart, O God (Psalm 51:10a)

When King David cried out to the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," he did not use the Hebrew word yatsar, which means to "fashion" or "form" something from pre-existing material, but instead used the word bara, a verb exclusively used to refer to God's creation of the cosmos (Gen 1:1).

yatsar
David Melekh - by Irv Davis

David understood that no amount of reformation of his character would be enough, and instead appealed to that very power of God that alone could create "out of nothing." Such was the nature of the remedy required.

The heart (lev) is the inner person, the seat of the emotions, thought, and will. The Bible describes the heart of man as "desperately wicked" (Jer 17:9). The Lord Jesus declared that the heart is the source of all our uncleanness, moral defilement, and perversity (Matt 15:19-20).

The opposite of this defilement is a quality called tahor, a word normally used to denote ritual purification and the consecration of things set apart for God by means of atoning blood (Lev 17:11). Such rituals were intended to instill an abiding awareness of the sanctity of God and our sinful condition before Him.

By means of the precious blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for of our sins, God's wrath against our sin is satisfied, and He is able to create within us lev tahor, cleansed from our old nature's defilement and perversity. Because of the Lord Jesus, we can truly have a heart that is re-created and sanctified in the image of God.

Lev Tahor

Transliterated:

Transliterated

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