The Heart Desires and Lusts--XVII

Several texts in the Hebrew Bible declare that the "heart" desires and lusts. Some of these texts are positive, and others are negative.

1. The speaker of Qoheleth [Ecclesiastes] says in Ecclesiastes 2:10:
     "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them;
       I kept MY HEART FROM NO PLEASURE,
       for MY HEART FOUND PLEASURE IN ALL MY TOIL,
       and this was my reward for all my toil."
In this context, the biblical composer declares that he thoroughly ENJOYS [has pleasure in] all his hard work, his toil. Many people greatly enjoy their diligent, hard work. This is a function of the heart.

2. Ecclesiastes 7:26 describes a HARLOT or PROSTITUTE as "snares and nets." This text says:
     "I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap,
       WHOSE HEART IS SNARES AND NETS,
        whose hands are fetters;
        one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her."
Obviously, this is a graphic description of a man's lust for a prostitute or harlot or loose woman. This is a heart issue.

3. Describing a prostitute or harlot or adulteress or loose woman, Proverbs 7:10 begins the description in this way:
     "Then a woman comes toward him,
            decked out like a prostitute, WILY OF HEART."
Proverbs 7:1-23 provides a full description of seduction and adultery.

4. The composer of Proverbs 6 warns his hearers to avoid another man's wife or an adulterer. He says in Proverbs 6:25-26:
    "DO NOT DESIRE HER BEAUTY IN YOUR HEART,
            and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
      for a prostitute's fee is only a loaf of bread;
            but the wife of another stalks a man's very life."

5. Job 31 contains similar warnings. Job 31:1 says:
     "I have made a covenant with my eyes;
            how then could I look upon a virgin?"
     Job 31:9-10 says:
     "IF MY HEART HAS BEEN ENTICED BY A WOMAN,
            and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;
      then let my wife grind for another,
            and let other men kneel over her."

6. Job 31:26-28 warns people again worshipping the sun or the moon:
    "If I have looked at the sun when it shone,
            or the moon moving in splendor,
      AND MY HEART HAS BEEN SECRETLY ENTICED,
            and my mouth has kissed my hand;
      this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
            for I should have been false to God above."

The heart constantly entertains all kinds of pleasure and enjoyment. Some are  good and some are evil. It is a huge mistake to assume or think that the Old Testament is not concerned with the HEART. In Matthew 5:27-30 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not introducing the problem of lust of the heart, but is reiterating a long-established truth expressed often in the Hebrew Bible.

Share YOUR problems and questions and suggestions and desires and aspirations with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis