Bible Geek Word Nerd - the Spirit

Beginnings - Spirit

May 27, 2022

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the SPIRIT OF GOD was hovering over the waters.”

 

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־ פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־ פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃

Genesis 1:2

 

The Bible is such a strange set of Texts, full of mystery and wonder and shocking imagery and poetic beauty. Like a diamond held up to light, the Bible throws off a mesmerizing display of stories and meanings that seemingly change with each reading. Well-trodden and familiar words can suddenly take on new power or majesty or significance unexpectedly simply by seeing those words from a slightly new perspective.

 

 That’s been our experience over the past few posts as we have explored the Hebrew text lying behind the familiar words of Genesis 1:1-2. And the terms we’re going to look at today can exemplify our point.

 

What is the “spirit of G-d”? And what did those words mean to the original audience for the Text? The Hebrew phrase in question is RUACH ELOHIM (ר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים). The word translated as “spirit” is RUACH (רוּחַ). It occurs 377 times in the Hebrew Bible, and most of the time it means wind or breath.

 

“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the BREATH (RUACH) of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” Genesis 6:17

 

“So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the LORD made an east WIND (RUACH) blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the WIND (RUACH) had brought the locusts…” Exodus 10:13

 

“When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the WIND (RUACH). For I will pursue them with drawn sword.” Ezekiel 5:2

 

Most English translations of Genesis 1:2 use “spirit of G-d”, but not all of them do. For instance, the Jewish Publication Society’s translation of the Bible says that “a wind from G-d” hovered over the water (we shall address “hover” in another post).

 

It would be a grave error to imagine that the ancient author of the Genesis Text means “spirit” in the same way a modern reader might mean it. We moderns, biased by Platonist ideas and other philosophical concepts, bring to the Text much baggage that the authors of the Hebrew Bible never intended to include. To state the obvious, the ancients were attempting to describe an ineffable idea with concrete terms. Wind is only sensible in its effects: how it feels on our skin or how we see debris flying through the air. The wind is a great mystery.

 

Let us look to a great Jewish rabbi who discoursed on this very topic.

 

“Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are

born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’” John 3:5-8 (NIV)

 

Jesus, undoubtedly speaking Hebrew to Nicodemus the Pharisee, doubtless used RUACH for Spirit and for wind as a clever wordplay (in a rare coincidence, this very Hebraic wordplay works in Greek, as well, where PNEUMA does double duty for wind and Spirit).

 

So where does this leave us? Here’s a thought experiment. Every time you feel a breeze or a strong wind, every time you see leaves tossing in the air, imagine that the wind has agency. G-d Himself moves the wind. An ancient book written from an ancient perspective contains many mysteries. If we walk too quickly past the words, we occasionally miss treasures hiding from us in plain sight.