The Heart is Tranquil and Anxious--19

As one continues to study the "heart" in the Hebrew Bible, one encounters passages describing the heart as tranquil or as anxious.

1. There is one Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible used with "heart" (Hebrew lebh) meaning "tranquility." This is the noun marpe', which means "health, cure, healing." This occurs with "heart" in Proverbs 14:30:
       A tranquil mind [literally heart] gives life to the flesh,
          but passion makes the bones rot. (NRSV)
A "heart of health" (a tranquil heart or mind] is a "mind of peace." The emotion of tranquility cannot be separated from the mental assurance due to proper evaluation of life, God,and human beings.

2. The primary concept of anxiety as used with the Hebrew nouns lebh and lebhabh is "restlessness." There are seven Hebrew words connected with lebh which convey some type of restlessness and apply it to the "heart.
    a. nathar--"to spring or start up." This appears in Job 37:1, where Elihu says:
            At this also my heart trembles,
                 and leaps out of its place.
    b. nehamah--"excitement, shrieking, roaring." This appears in Psalm 38:8 [Hebrew 38:9]:
            I am utterly spent and crushed;
                 I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
    c. sachad--"to go around, to travel as a merchant." This appears in Psalm 38:10 [Hebrew 38:11]:
            My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
                as for the light of my eyes--it also has gone from me.
    d. de'aghah--"anxiety, anxious care." This appears in Proverbs 12:25:
           Anxiety weighs down the human heart,
                but a good word cheers it up.
    e. shakhabh--"to have rest." This appears in Ecclesiastes 2:23:
           For all their [mortals'] days are full of pain,
           and their work is a vexation;
           even at night their minds [literally hearts] do not rest.
           This also is vanity. [NRSV]
    f. `ur--"to be stirred up." This appears in Song of Solomon [Canticles] 5:2:
           I slept, but my heart was awake.
           Listen! My beloved is knocking,
               "Open to me, my sister, my love,
                  my dove, my perfect one;
                 for my head is wet with dew,
                  my locks with the drops of the night."
   g. mahar--"to hasten." This verb occurs three times with "heart" connected with anxiety.
       Ecclesiastes 5:2:  Never be rash with your mouth,
                                    nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God,
                                    for God is in heaven, and you upon earth;
                                    therefore let your words be few.
      Isaiah 32:4: The minds [literally hearts] of the rash will have judgment,
                               and the tongue of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
      Isaiah 35:4: Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
                               "Be strong, do not fear!"
                          Here is your God.
                               He will come with vengeance,
                          with terrible recompense.
                               He will come and save you.

In addition to this, there are phrases or similes which communicate the idea of anxiety using the word "heart."
1.When Samuel met Saul when Saul was seeking for the donkeys of his father Kish, Samuel said in
1 Samuel 9:20:
     As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago,
     give no further thought [literally do not set the heart on] of them [that is, do not worry],
     for they have been found.
     And on whom is all Israel's desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?

2. Jeremiah 48:41 and 49:22 says respectively:
    The hearts of the warriors of Moab [Edom] on that day
           shall be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Anxiety or restlessness is caused by facts this disturb the thinking of an individual, and even though there is a difference between cause and effect, either could not exist without the other. This indicates the  interdependence of mental and emotional functions of the heart in one's personality.

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