Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Spirit

Very different is the idea which Scripture gives of the Spirit from that which is to be understood by the word soul. With the exception of Job 26:4, and Proverbs 20:27, where neshamah (נשׁמה ), 'a breathing being,' is used, the word spirit always represents the Hebrew Ruach (רוח ). [There are two verbs cognate with this word: one signifies the being refreshed (1 Samuel 16:23; Job 32:20; see also Jeremiah 22:11, where large signfies airy or ventilated); the other signifies to smell, hence to be keel, or ' of quick understanding' (Isaiah 11:3).] Compare the Assyrian Rukhu.

The word Ruach, like its Greek equivalents, πνευ̂μα and ἄνεμος, the Latin spiritus, the English ghost, and similar words in other languages, originally signifies wind or breath. It is the only word rendered wind in the O.T. It is rendered whirlwind, in Ezekiel 1:4; tempest, in Psalms 11:6; cool (wind), in Genesis 3:8; air, in Job 41:16; blast, in Exodus 15:8, 2 Kings 19:7, Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 37:7. Thus, as blood represents the animal life, so does wind the spiritual element in life.

Ruach is frequently rendered breath, e.g. Genesis 6:17, 'the breath of life.' as long as this breaThis sustained in a man, he lives (Job 27:3); when it goes forth, he returns to his earth (Psalms 146:4). The most remarkable passage in which the action of breath and wind is identified with the source of life is the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-28 in this, as in some other passages, it is not easy to distinguish between the physical and the super-physical breath, both of which are gifts from God.

In Joshua 2:11, where we read 'there remained no more courage in any man,' the word might be rendered breath in Judges 8:3, the deep breathing is a sign of anger, and accordingly the word is so rendered in 1 Samuel 1:15, it is a sign of earnest prayer, or perhaps of the agitation of the heart in Genesis 26:35, it is a sign of grief; it is here rendered mind instead of spirit, unfortunately, and this has also been the case in Proverbs 29:11; Ezekiel 11:5; Ezekiel 20:32; and Habakkuk 1:11.

It is clear that the wind is regarded in Scripture as a fitting emblem of the mighty penetrating power of the Invisible God; and that the breaThis supposed to symbolise, not only the deep feelings which are generated with in man, suc has sorrow and anger, but also kindred feelings in the Divine nature. God is not set forth in Scripture as a soul 33 - i.e. the centre of physical appetite and the animating principle of a body - but as a spirit, that is, an unseen living being, capable of deep emotions. Moreover, it is revealed that God, and He alone, has the faculty of communicating his Spirit or life to his creatures, who are thus enabled to feel, think, speak, and act in accordance with the Divine will.