By Ronald R. Day, Sr.
Job 33:4 is sometimes quoted as proof that the Holy Spirit is the third person of a triune God as Creator.
While we don't think that this refers to God's Holy Spirit, if it does, we need to remember that God’s holy spirit is likened to God’s finger (as the power of God). (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20) As the instrument of the revealing of truth, the holy spirit is likened to God’s “mouth”. (Deuteronomy 8:3; 1 Kings 8:24; 2 Chronicles 6:4; 36:12,21; Ezra 1:1; Isaiah 1:20; 40:5; 45:23; 48:3; 58:14; 62:2; Jeremiah 9:12,20; Ezekiel 33:7; Micah 4:4; Matthew 4:4; Mark 12:36; Acts 1:17; 28:25; Hebrews 3:7; 9:8; 10:15,16; 2 Peter 1:21) Similarly, whatever is done by your finger or said by your mouth is done or said by you. That does not make you finger all of who or what you are are, nor does that make your mouth all of who or what you are. Likewise, with God's spirit, whatever God's spirit does is what God Himself has done, said, etc.
In Job 33:4, Elihu uses two different words to describe spirit: one is the word often transliterated as ruach (Strongs #7307) and the other is often transliterated as "neshamah" (Strong's #5397).
https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/hebrew/hwview.cgi?n=7307
https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/hebrew/hwview.cgi?n=5397
Albert Barnes states:
There is an evident allusion in this verse to the mode in which man was created, when God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living being; Genesis 2:7. But it is not quite clear why Elihu adverts here to the fact that God had made him, or what is the bearing of this fact on what he proposed to say. The most probable supposition is, that he means to state that he is, like Job, a man; that both were formed in the same way - from the same breathing of the Almighty, and from the same clay Job 33:6; and that although he had undertaken to speak to Job in God's stead Job 33:6, yet Job had no occasion to fear that he would be overawed and confounded by the Divine Majesty.
Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes [1834]
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/job/33.htm
We should note that the word "spirit" does not always necessarily means God's Holy Spirit. It is unclear as to whether the words "ruach" and "neshamah" in Job 33:4 are meant to refer to what often spoken of as God's Holy Spirit. It appears to be an allusion to Genesis 2:7, where we read that Jehovah blew into the nostrils of the man the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. It is referring to the power from God that gives us life, making such living souls.
The Hebrew word neshamah is used in the sense of force or power, especially as the force from God, can be seen from its usage in the following scriptures: 2 Samuel 22:14-16; Job 4:9; 37:10; Isaiah 30:33. This word (neshamah – Strong’s #5397) is often used in connection with and interchangeably with the Hebrew word ruach (spirit – Strong’s 7307): Genesis 6:3,17; 7:15;22; Job 27:3-5; 34:14,15; Isaiah 42:5. Nehamah is the word rendered as "breath" in Genesis 2:7, depicting the life force from God as giving life to the first man Adam. It is this life force from God that keeps all of us alive. The removal of this life force results in a dead soul; a soul that is no longer sentient. It is this life-force, represented in the Hebrew words neshamah and ruach, that returns to God who gave it, when the nephesh no longer lives, both for animals and humans. — Genesis 7:22; Deuteronomy 20:16; Joshua 10:40; 11:11,14; 1 Kings 15:29; 17:17; Job 34:14,15; Psalm 104:29; 146:3,4; Ecclesiastes 3:18-22; 12:7.
Elihu, by his words recorded in Job 33:4, is likewise using ruach and neshamah as synonyms. There is no indication that he is saying that the neshamah of God **is** the Almighty, but he is referring to the Neshamah as that belonging to the Almighty, who corresponds with Jehovah, the God of Jesus. -- Genesis 17:1; Micah 5:4.
Nevertheless, being that of God, the neshamah of God could be considered an extension of God, even as my finger or mouth are extensions of me.
Nothing in Job 33:4, however, describes "God" as being more than one person, or that His Holy Spirit is one of three persons, all of whom are supposed to be the Supreme Being.
No comments:
Post a Comment