The Sound of Strength

Proverbs 4:20–22, Shevat 4, and the Sound of Strength

Shevat is a month when what has been hidden beneath the surface begins to stir. Sap rises in the trees; the first signs of life press toward visibility even while the air is still cold.

On Shevat 4, Proverbs 4:20–22 offers a picture of how that same awakening happens inside the heart, as Yahweh’s words move from mere information to living strength and authority.

“My son, give attention to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

Do not let them depart from your eyes;

keep them in the midst of your heart;

for they are life to those who find them,

and health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:20–22)

Shevat 4 becomes an invitation: let what Yahweh has spoken rise like sap within you, so that blessing, gevurah (strength and authority), and truthful testimony begin to flow.

Shevat 4 and the Fifth Day: Blessing in Motion

Day 5 of Creation is the day of movement. Fish fill the seas, birds fill the skies, and for the first time Yahweh blesses living creatures with a direct word: “Be fruitful and multiply.” That blessing is not a mere label; it is a command that releases ongoing life.

Proverbs 4:20–22 echoes that dynamic. The father’s instruction—“give attention,” “incline your ear,” “keep them in the midst of your heart”—positions the listener to receive a blessing that keeps working. Yahweh’s words are described as “life” and “health,” like a constant inner command to flourish. When the heart welcomes those words, something like Day 5 happens inside:

• Areas once empty begin to teem with life.

• Dormant capacities start moving in obedience to Yahweh’s blessing.

• The soul no longer drifts but swims and flies with direction and purpose.

On Shevat 4, the question becomes: where has Yahweh already spoken blessing that still sits unopened in your memory or notes? Proverbs calls you to pull those words into the center of your attention, so they can move from dormant text to active life.

The 5th Menorah Lamp of the Righteous: Gevurah in the Heart

The menorah lamp is Strength and Authority—Gevurah. In the Hebrew imagination, gevurah is not brute force but disciplined, righteous power: the ability to stand, to resist what is evil, to carry responsibility without collapsing.

Proverbs 4:20–22 shows how gevurah is formed. It does not begin with willpower but with attention:

• The ear bends toward Yahweh’s sayings.

• The eyes stay fixed; the words are not allowed to drift out of sight.

• The heart becomes a treasury where those words are guarded.

  
  

As this happens, the words themselves become “life” and “health” throughout the body. Strength is not merely emotional resolve; it is the byproduct of a heart saturated with what Yahweh has said. Authority, likewise, comes from alignment—when a person’s inner world is ordered by Yahweh’s speech, their outer actions carry weight.

Shevat 4, then, is a day to tend the lamp of gevurah: trimming the wick by removing distractions, refilling the oil by meditating on Yahweh’s promises and commands, and letting that inner flame fuel courageous obedience.

The 5th Menorah Lamp of the Wicked: A False Witness Who Breathes Out Lies

Against this lamp stands its dark counterpart: the false witness who “breathes out lies.” Scripture pictures this person as someone for whom deception is as natural as breathing. Instead of Yahweh’s words filling the heart, false narratives, self-protective distortions, and half-truths occupy the center.

Notice the contrast with Proverbs 4:

• The righteous keep Yahweh’s words “in the midst of the heart”; the wicked keep lies there.

• The righteous receive “life” and “health”; the wicked exhale words that wound and confuse.

• The righteous embody gevurah—strength that protects; the wicked exercise a twisted authority that damages others.

In Shevat imagery, the false witness is like a tree that takes the rising sap of potential and channels it into poisonous fruit. On Shevat 4 you are invited to examine not just what you believe, but what you breathe: do your spontaneous words bear witness to truth or to fear and self-preservation? The lamp of the wicked is fueled by unexamined speech; the lamp of the righteous is fueled by words tested in the light of Yahweh’s voice.

Feast of Trumpets: Hearing and Becoming a Sound

The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is a festival of sound—shofar blasts that awaken sleepers, announce the King, signal repentance, and mark a shift in Yahweh’s calendar. The command is essentially: hear the sound and respond.

Proverbs 4:20–22 is a personal Yom Teruah. The father’s exhortation—“give attention,” “incline your ear”—is the shofar blast to the heart. It says:

• Wake up to what Yahweh has already spoken.

• Stop letting His words drift to the edges of your vision.

• Pull them into the center and let them define reality.

As those words become life and health within you, something beautiful happens: you do not only hear the trumpet; you begin to become a trumpet. Your strengthened, truthful life becomes a clear sound in a world full of static. You carry gevurah not as dominance but as steady, courageous witness. You refuse to participate in false testimony, choosing instead speech that reflects the King whose arrival the trumpets announce.

Shevat 4: Let the Word Rise

Holding all of this together—Day 5 blessing, gevurah, the false witness, Yom Teruah, and the stirring of Shevat—Proverbs 4:20–22 offers a simple but searching call for Shevat 4:

• Let the sap of Yahweh’s Word rise in you by fixing your ears, eyes, and heart on what He has spoken.

• Allow that Word to become “life” and “health,” strengthening you to live and speak with holy authority.

• Renounce the easy exhale of lies and half-truths, and ask the Spirit to make your breath match Yahweh’s breath.

• Hear the inner shofar of this passage and respond—not just with emotion, but with a reordering of what you attend to each day.

Shevat 4 is a day to choose which lamp will burn in you. If Yahweh’s words are kept at the center, the menorah lamp of Strength and Authority shines, and your life becomes a living trumpet blast—announcing blessing, embodying truth, and carrying the Creator’s Day‑5 vigor into every sphere you touch.