The Heart and Innards in Israelite Emotional Expressions: Notes from Anthropology and Psychobiology‪.‬

To express emotions Israelite texts sometimes use internal body parts such as the heart and liver/innards. While biblical study and comparative philology attest to the range of emotions signaled by body parts, neither approach has explained this usage. The purpose of this essay is to provide information drawn from cross-cultural, psychological, and physiological research about the use of internal organs in communicating emotions. This research will provide a supposition that suits the presently known data about heart and liver/innards in Israelite texts. Evidence for [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] as "innards" outside of technical usage (e.g., sacrifices, divination) will also be presented, based on philological grounds and physiological information. Finally, some observations are offered regarding the role of emotions in external communication. The discussion may begin with an overview of body parts in expressing emotions. One internal organ that figures in emotional communication is Biblical Hebrew [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] literally "liver." Lam 2:11 uses this word in describing the personal distress caused by the Neo-Babylonian destruction of Jernsalem: