15:19: From the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thieving, false testimonies, slanders.
Jerusalem Talmud Berakot 1.3C.18: “You shall not commit adultery. Lest
you wander after your heart and your eyes, with which you fornicate” (Num
15:39). R. Levi (ca. 300) said, “The heart and the eye are the two means of
sin. It says, ‘Give, my son, your heart to me and let my ways please your eyes’
(Prov 23:26). God says, ‘If you give me your heart and your eye, I know that
you belong to me.’ ”—In TanḥB שלח
§ 31 (37B), Num. Rab. 17 (182D) it is said anonymously: The heart and the eyes
are the means for the body, for they mislead the body to fornication מְזַנִין; Tanḥ. שלח
(216A) reads מונים instead of מזנים,
probably due to a mistake; the saying is also anonymous in Num. Rab. 10 (157D).
‖ Midrash Ecclesiastes 1:16 (11B): “I said with (עם)
my heart” (Eccl 1:16). The heart sees (Eccl 1:16); hears (1 Kgs 3:9); speaks
(Eccl 1:16); walks (2 Kgs 5:26); falls (1 Sam 17:32); stands (Ezek 22:14);
rejoices (Ps 16:9); cries out (Lam 2:16); is comforted (Isa 40:2); is saddened
(מצטער, Deut 15:10); is hardened (Exod 9:12);
becomes soft (Deut 20:3); is saddened (מתעצב,
Gen 6:6); quakes (Deut 28:67); is broken (Ps 51:19); rises up proudly (Deut
8:14); is recalcitrant (Jer 5:23); devises (1 Kgs 12:33); has evil thoughts (מהרהר, Deut 29:18); wells up (Ps 45:2); thinks
(Prov 19:21); desires (Ps 21:3); strays (Prov 7:25); fornicates (Num 15:39); is
strengthened (Gen 18:5); is stolen (Gen 31:20); is bent (Lev 26:41); is
persuaded (Gen 34:3); reels (Isa 21:4); is anxious (1 Sam 4:13); watches (Song
5:2); loves (Deut 6:5); hates (Lev 19:17); is jealous (Prov 23:17); is tested
(Jer 17:10); is torn (Joel 2:13); contemplates (Ps 49:4); is like fire (Jer
20:9); is like a stone (Ezek 36:26); turns in repentance (Jer 24:7); burns
(Deut 19:6); dies (1 Sam 25:37); melts (Josh 7:5); accepts words (Deut 6:6);
accepts fear (Jer 32:40); boasts (Ps 111:1); craves (Prov 6:25); is hardened
(Prov 28:14); feasts (Judg 16:25); prepares deception (Prov 12:20); speaks
internally (1 Sam 1:13); loves gifts (Jer 22:17); writes words down (Prov 3:3);
prepares calamity (Prov 6:14); accepts commandments (Prov 10:8); exercises
arrogance (Jer 49:16); makes arrangements (plans) (Prov 16:1); vaunts (2 Kgs
14:10). ‖ Dèrek Ereṣ Zuṭa 6 (missing in in Amsterdam edition): The beginning of
sin is the evil thoughts of the heart הרהור הלב, the second thing after this is mockery, the third pride, the
fourth hardness (mercilessness), the fifth idleness, the sixth baseless hatred,
and the seventh the envious eye. This is what Solomon meant: “If he (the one
who hates) makes his voice charming, do not believe him; for seven abominations
are in his heart” (Prov 26:25). ‖ Genesis Rabbah 67 (43A): “Esau said in his
heart” (Gen 27:41). The godless are in the power of their heart: “The fool says
in בְּ his heart” (Ps 14:1); “Esau said in his
heart” (Gen 27:41); “Jeroboam said in his heart” (1 Kgs 12:26) and “Haman said
in his heart” (Esth 6:6). Yet the righteous have their heart in their power:
“Hannah spoke to על
her heart” (1 Sam 1:13); “David spoke to אל
his heart” (1 Sam 27:1); “Daniel took it upon על
his heart” (Dan 1:8). They are thus like their creator, of whom it says,
“Yahweh said to אל
his heart” (Gen 8:21). (The על
or אל makes the person appear as the one who
gives commands with respect to the heart, whereas the ב of the first line of citations expresses the fealty, the
bondage in which a person exists with respect to his heart.) ‖ Jerusalem Talmud
Yoma 8.45B.51: The burnt offering makes atonement for the evil thought of the
heart על
הִרְהוּר הלב.
‖ Babylonian Talmud Yoma 29A: The thoughts of sin הִרְהוּרֵי עֲבֵירָה (= unchaste fantasies) are worse than the sin itself. ‖ Midrash
Ecclesiastes 7:2 (32B): Why does one (in the case of mourning) strike himself
on the heart? To say (thereby) that everything comes from there (sin, which
causes death).—See also § Mark 7:21f. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul
Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino;
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:820-21)
