The Holy Spirit in the Tanakh
Whosoever the man who fears the LORD, He will guide him in the way he should choose. Psalm 25:12 Robert Alter translation
Guide – “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to comeâ (John 16:13). If you didnât see the parallels, then you werenât listening.
So who guides us in the way we should go: YHWH or the Spirit? Ah, Trinitarians will say, âWell, they (?) are the same person.â Weâll ignore the fact that the expression is internally problematic. Maybe Millard Erickson is right. Maybe we believe the doctrine of the Trinity because it is irrational and absurd. But for now letâs just notice this: the Spirit is the expression of the action ascribed to YHWH in the Tanakh. What God does in the Tanakh is seen in the dynamic of the Spirit in the Brit Chadashah. Of course, the Spirit is also ubiquitously present in the Tanakh, but in the apostolic writings the Spirit is the term used to describe what would otherwise be reported as YHWHâs acts among men.
This Hebrew acrostic poem uses the verb yara (âto throw, cast, shootâ) as the basis for guidance. Alter translates yorennuâ as âwill guide him,â but other English versions suggest âinstruct himâ or âteach him.â You can think of an archer. To teach someone how to shoot an arrow is to teach them the process of hitting the bullâs eye. That is guidance or instruction. In Scripture the opposite of guidance is sin, that is, to miss the mark. Guidance = correct aim. Sin = incorrect aim. TWOT says that the root verb comes âwith a strong sense of control by the subject.â[1] The guidance of the Spirit brings order and control. Sin brings disorder and lack of control. But, of course, not any kind of control will do. It is still sinful to control by means other than Godâs order. I can make you do something by threat or violence, but that doesnât mean I am bringing Godâs order to life.Â
Perhaps most importantly is that yara is the root of torah. When the Spirit comes, He will bring torah. That might help us remove the stigma associated with the Torah commandments in the Tanakh. Torah is nothing more than learning to shoot straight. Thatâs why every man after Godâs own heart longs for instruction in righteousness. We want to shoot straight. We want to bring Godâs order to the chaotic world. We want to be a delight to Him and a blessing to others. We want to hit the target. And how will we do that if we donât know the mechanics of archery?  In this regard, the torah is the most valuable manual we will ever possess and the Spirit is the Teacher of Torah. The âtrue purpose of the lawâ is âto lead man into a fruitful, abundant life of fellowship with God.â[2]
Topical Index:Â yara, torah, shoot, aim, instruction, guidance, Spirit, Psalm 25:12
“We want to be a delight to Him and a blessing to others.” Amen.
“the Spirit is the expression of the action ascribed to YHWH” – I have been troubled about the fact that Yeshua said in John 16 that unless he went, the Spirit couldn’t come.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. (Joh 16:7 KJV)
If the Spirit is just an action and not a person, how does this make sense?
Good thing you mentioned this verse, Rein. I don’t understand it as well as I’d like to, either. But turn your question around and just as well ask, “If the Spirit is a Person, and not just action, how does this make sense?” For YHWH to teach, He needs only to share His Spirit, His mind, His thinking, His power, His love and laws. Read 1 Corinthians 2, beginning with verse 10 and through to the end of the chapter. My spirit is not another “person” inside of me. It’s my mind, my understanding, what makes me ME. I think Paul is showing it’s the same with God.
Perhaps the real question is this: If the Spirit is a PERSON, how does that make sense?
The best explanation I’ve heard revolved around their dependence on Yeshua as long as he was on earth. If he was trying to teach them dependence on the Father, he needed to go away.
Similar to a teenager who must leave the house to really learn maturity and responsibility are. Or, I’ve heard of churches who lost their pastor – but instead of dying, the lay people experienced a gigantic leap in spiritual vibrancy as they took the burdens of teaching, preaching, and outreach.
This may be a stretch, but the personification of wisdom in Proverbs seems to give some biblical precedent for using the language of personhood for something that isn’t a distinct person.
Great replies. I need to mull this over đ
Today’s post reminds me of Ezekiel 36:26-27:
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Someone, I think possibly Avi ben Mordechai, referred to this section of scripture and simply asked – “What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit?”
The Divine Family can, according to Paul, only be partially appreciated and then only when the enquirer(s) is “in the Spirit”.
What jumps out at me from “Today’s Word” and makes me somewhat cringe is the reference to the HS as “He”…
âBut when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to comeâ
Is our Holy Family then so up to date and in with today’s perversions to consist of a Father, and another “Father” and a Son.
As I understand it in the Tenakh, the presence of the Ruach is always referred to as feminine: Shaddai, Shekinah, etc.
Not in a sexual way but in personality. This extends into the activity of the Ruach: Multi-tasking, nourishing, protecting, teaching, etc.
In the NT, the “Bat Kol” that spoke to Yeshua from heaven (His immersion and at the transfiguration)is also feminine … His “Mother”
I would appreciate the congregation’s opinion on this.
Hi Pieter, great question.
Although I wouldn’t claim this response as an answer to your question, I will offer this as a consideration only. Keeping the question of what “changed” with the coming of Yeshua, in the back of your mind.
While the Ruach, Shekinah, and other “manifestations of God are indeed addressed as “feminine in scripture, they would all seem to be independent of human activity. Hence it would be termed as “fruitful” or feminine in nature. One of the distinctions in the “new testament” seems to be the Spirits express activity “in” a body or person, thus acting as an “initiator” (guide, speak, disclose) therefore taking on a male/father characteristic. I’m not saying that God had never acted in this capacity in times past, only that the text/context may support this line of thinking. As I said, it’s not necessarily an answer, only a consideration.
YHWH bless you and keep you………….
Pieter,
I am a common lay person, but I would want to ask a couple of questions to your question. First, I know I have a spirit that is in me that is me. The same was in my beginning with me. No, I am not divine, but I am made in the image of the Divine. Therefore, if I am to know more about my Pattern, my Source, I must look to what I can see through that image that I was made in.
The first thing I see is the Word. What does the Word testify of Itself? The Word says the Spirit of God is “He”.
Next, I look to see if that Spirit in me agrees with that Word. As I can detect no other woman in my force field (and us women are pretty good at that, I think), my conclusion is that I am detecting and experiencing a Love from a masculine Source. (Sorry, I am no expert, and have no other detection equipment other than my own spirit. And I only want to be helpful. If I am failing, then I don’t think anything will fall from the sky, so it is safe to ignore me!)
Then, after that, I look at myself. What do I see when I look at my own spirit (not divine)? I see that my spirit is the express image of me. Last time I checked, I was a woman. I am pretty sure my spirit is therefore feminine. I may err, though, as I am not divine (please leave me room!)
But what I do see in most pagan religions is a trinity. A counterfeit, as the deceiver is not in the least particle original, although he can twist and pervert and steal and destroy any and everything. And what is this trinity? Father, mother, child. If there were a hallmark of paganism, I think it would be the worship of the feminine. However, I see not a speck of it anywhere in the Word. This is where I always have to stop.
G-d bless us all until we come into a unity of the faith. Amen.
Dear Laurita, Gently, I will try to make some remarks. Gently, because I see and appreciate your devotion, but the issue is not how we feel or what we “sense” or what we believe is true in our “spirits.” The issue is the text, always the text and nothing but the text. So, let’s recognize immediately that the TEXT addresses YHWH in both masculine and feminine forms. For example, Isaiah includes passages where YHWH “Himself” indicates that “He” is a woman with child. Exodus contains similar imagery. The point is that even though most of the gender related words used to describe God are masculine, some are feminine, including words used for the Ruach. As a point of departure from any of the other ancient mythologies, the Hebrew concept of God is without gender. It is the LANGUAGE that usually provides a gender concept, but that’s because Hebrew is not like English. It is like Spanish or French in that even common nouns like table and chair have a gender. We conclude: the presence of gendered nouns has NO bearing on the actual sexual gender of the object described. So the use of “He” cannot be seen as representing a “male.”
The fact that you as a woman feel the presence of a loving male is only a relationship with your experience of love between and man and a woman. It is not an indication that God is a male. Furthermore, the use of “bride” and “bridegroom” imagery in the text does not carry sexual connotations either. It is simply metaphor. Now, there is no doubt that Yeshua arrived as a man, but once again we have a HUMAN representation of divinity, not an encounter with the Divine.
While pagan religions usually have some sort of sexual representation of the gods in both male and female form, and it may be that some have some sort of trinity as well, the issue we face in the text is not the distinction from paganism. It is the “absurdity” of three PERSONS (how are we to understand that?) in ONE being (Even Millard Erickson admits the idea is nonsense – therefore we must believe it). I find no present way to incorporate the Greek idea of “person” into the Hebrew idea of “identity,” so this is a problem since Christianity is defined by the central doctrine of the Trinity. More work to do.
Thank you Skip. Thank you for tiptoeing, but I hope I wouldn’t need that. As this is the only train station out of my town, I have to start where I find myself. But as I know I am not at my destination I am always most happy to get an opportunity to move. I like all you said, and I know that I have to start from, and end up at, the TEXT.
I especially appreciate you pointing out that our main handicap may well lie in our (Greek, wouldn’t it be?) ‘understanding’ of what a PERSON is. If I may be bold, then shouldn’t the crux of it start there?
Define ‘person’. And no, I don’t think it is gender-bounded, either. I think we get hung up in gender in the flesh because sex is the closest thing our flesh can find to unity, which is the very essence of the spiritual.
I am asking for a better definition of ‘person’.
Pretty please?
Thank you.
IF Christianity is defined by the the central doctrine of the Trinity and I am NOT a Trinitarian ; what pray tell does that make me ?
I have never been taught that there were 3 persons in Christ and I am in an assembly that is TRINITARIAN.. again, I ask “what does that make me ?”
Is it fair to just say that I am a TRUE FOLLOWER of the LORD JESUS CHRIST ?
In that– you are quite correct. As the Son is the embodiment of the Father, there is also the embodiment of the Feminine. And that is what God is waiting on, for us to see that.
Though God (Elohim,- plural) is One, the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9.14) was present “in the beginning.” He was also present during the baptism of The Messiah by John the Immerser. God the Father, God the Son and God the Ruach HaKodesh, – the Holy Spirit or Breath, – all “present and accounted for!” (Luke 3.22)
Ahh, how to account for or explain the plurality or “tri-unity” of Elohim? I (myself) am a father. I am also a son. I am also a friend, a brother and a husband! But I am “one.” ~ Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is One ~ just doesn’t seem to agree with the Christian(?) or Biblical concept of the “threeness” of God. But in the word of God, (our source for wisdom and instruction) God is revealed as Father, Creator, Source of everything good, seen by many, including His talmudim/disciples as the Son, (both Son of God AND son of man), but what do the scriptures say regarding the Spirit of Truth?
~ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ~ (John 16.13)
What does this one verse, (one of many) have to say to us concerning the Holy Spirit? The Spirit has been given. What is the further purpose of the Holy Spirit? ~nBut when the Comforter-the Counselor-the Advocate-the Helper is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me ~
Did Jesus ever pray any prayer (ever) that was not answered? No. Listen to this prayer: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” (John 14.16) Is this true? Then these are mighty comforting words!
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me;
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me
.
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, -move among us all;
make us one in heart and mind, – make us one in love:
humble, caring, selfless, sharing.
Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love.
Shalom Robert and thank you for your consideration, I will look more into your observations. Just a thought leading on from my introduction to âGuardian AngelââŠdoes the ânew testamentâ HS roles denote male/father characteristics?
Shalom Laurita, thank you for your questions I trust Skip has addressed your concerns. I too am a common lay student, only relatively recently exposed to some phenomenal revelations from the Ruagh HaKodesh by the cyberpen of Skip and others.
Firstly I want to confirm that I agree with the concept of âunholyâ trinities that has been part of HaSatanâs deceptions through the ages.
Secondly, a somewhat delicate question⊠Are you married? I understand such a âstateâ would determine your experience of the Ruach. The Ruach, Word and Abba is / are ECHAD (one). The word ECHAD (âoneâ or âa unityâ) in no way requires a singularity and is referred to as a composite unity.
Deut 6:4 SHâMA YISRAEL YHWH ELOHEYNU YHWH ECHAD.
âHear O Israel, [1] YHWH [first and then], [2] our Elohim, [and also] [3] YHWH [they are all One and thus He is called âOneâ] is one [ECHAD]â
The Love you experience is ECHAD, there is only one Love; Light; Source of Life, and that is the Father. Both the Son and Spirit only express, through Word and Action the Will of the Father. That is why you experience it as from âa masculine sourceâ
In regards to defining âPersonâ:
The modern âTrinityâ seems to be a Roman perversion. This is not an egalitarian family with democratic rights to the âpersonsâ. The Son is âlessâ than the Father (Jn.14:28) and the Holy Spirit is a product (effecter) of the Father (Jn. 14:26), so no âequalityâ. In a study I read it was explained that the change was slipped in when the Scriptures were translated from Greek to Latin (Jerome was a naughty monk). The Greek seems to have reflected the truth, at least in terminology. Apparently the Hebrew understanding of the COMPONENTS OF THE GODHEAD, although the mystery of how three can be one can only be known through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, is that there are three individualities in a unique unity (what the one does, the other does), yet each is a true-one (individual / manifestation / identity). The Shâma is said to state that YHWH, Elohim and YHWH are three GAâUNIN. Apparently (I have no real personal knowledge about this), the word GAâUN (sing.) /GAUNIN (plural) has the same meaning as the Aramaic word KâNUMA have in the Aramaic New Testament. GAUN comes from the word for âcolorâ and refer to an âaspect, element, substance, essenceâ (also: splendour). The original Aramaic terminology refers to three KâNUMEH and one PARSOPA or one KYANA (nature). The three aspects of the Godhead are therefore three KâNUMEH but there are only one YHWH.
I have constructed this comparator:
Aramaic Greek Latin Popular English
3 KâNUMA = 3 HYPOSTASIS (ousia) – 3 PERSONAS – 3 Persons
1 PARSOPA = 1 PROSOPON – 1 SUBSTANTIA – in 1 Essence
My Personal CURRENT meditation definition: The Godhead [Elhuta ] is ⊠an absolute unique unity [essence; nature], manifesting in three individualities [aspects; emanations]
Amen and Amen
Nice. I am very grateful. I have a lot to chew on now. Thank you all, and the rest for putting up with me. I can be noisy.
Here is another stumbling block to the “trinity” doctrine:
1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.
Question-Are we three-in-one?
Below are examples to that question:
Num 14:24
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
This “other” spirit that Caleb had is the right spirit of wholly following after YHWH’s heart, of having a different set of eyes looking at the Promised Land they were to possess.
Joshua and Caleb had not different spirits nor eyes!
Ps 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
King David sought for a right spirit, to be renewed after YHWH’s heart.
Both these instances reveal spirit and soul is one, are not two entities, but one and the same!
Nephesh in Hebrew means soul / spirit.
Adam became a living nephesh when YHWH breathed His Ruach into him.
Translation is the issue.
Is the Ruach Gender Specific ? Father , Son , Ruach – Echad = Miltha
I find this very interesting when looking at the word ” Miltha ”
In the first verse of the Gospel of John, the word translated as âWordâ comes from the Aramaic âMilthaâ.
In the Beginning was the Miltha.
” Miltha ” does mean âwordâ, however …., its full depth cannot be adequately translated. As such, miltha is the first of what will be many Aramaic theological terms that can only be discussed through explanation and metaphor, as opposed to being given a strict dictionary definition. For now though, âWordâ will do fine as a launching point while we sift through the poetic and grammatical challenges of the Sholiach/Apsotle Yochananâs first statement. Put simply, every word in Hebrew, or Aramaic must be either masculine, or feminine, and this particular phrase reflects something very unusual that will become clear momentarily.
AYT HWT TAMIN ANTATHA DAYAT HWT LEH ROKHA DKORHHANA
There was a woman who was there who had a ruach of infirmity.
Luke 13:11
This is proper Aramaic grammar, with the female noun of woman (antatha) being joined with a female verb for was (hwt). So when it comes to nouns being linked to verbs, the gender for both parts of the sentence must match. Of course, this same principle works for the masculine gender as well:
HWA YOCHANAN BMADBARA MAIMAD WMKRAZ
Was Yochanan in the wilderness baptizing and preaching.
Mark 1:4 Again, the nouns and verbs match up, with the male noun (Yochanan) linked to the male verb form of was (hwa).
However, if we look again at the verse we are studying, an amazing pattern emerges as AYTOHI HWA MILTHA, or two masculine verbs linked to a feminine noun!
Therefore, Yochanan is breaking the rules of Aramaic grammar on purpose to make an extremely important poetic and spiritual point. Since there is no neuter like Greek (it, one) in either Hebrew, or Aramaic, there was no âofficialâ way that Yochanan could express the totality of the gender of spirits from YHWH that rest on the Moshiach (Isaiah 11:1-3). Furthermore, the same is true of the fact that all aspects of Elohim were supposed to dwell bodily within him, as this verse from the apostle Paul shows.
Col 1:15 who is the image of the invisible Elohim, the First-born of all creation.
Col 1:16 For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and all things have subsisted in Him.
Col 1:18 And He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the Beginning, the First-born out of the dead, that He be preeminent in all things;
Col 1:19 because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,
Subsequently, if Yochanan follows proper Aramaic grammar to depict either an all-male, or all-female construct, he will then leave out half of the powers and attributes that are supposed to dwell in Moshiach. As a result, Yochananâs ultimate solution to this dilemma had to involve an âillegalâ device that, while awkward, nonetheless represents the only way to communicate this full unity by mating a female noun with two male verbs.
Another key reason why Yochanan chose miltha has to do with its unique root, which is amply demonstrated when Yeshua says:
Mat 13:35 so that was fulfilled that spoken through the prophet, saying: âI will open My mouth in parables; I will speak out things hidden from the foundation of the world.â Psa. 78:2
The near direct quotation of Psalm 78:2 in the above verse closely mirrors what is in the Masoretic Text, which uses the word mashal, for âparableâ. However, a very good Aramaic equivalent of mashal is mithleh, and this is the word Yâshua uses in the Peshitta version of Matthew. So, as should be apparent by now, miltha and mithleh are nearly identical words derived from the same root, and where Matthew says secrets from before the creation of the world will be revealed by the Moshiach, Yochanan is making the exact same point here.
A last consideration in the mind of Yochanan must have been the depth of meaning in the word itself. Put simply, miltha is a term that has no direct equivalent in any other language, including Hebrew. Like the Tanakh usage of davar in Psalm 33:6 and the frequent targumic allusion to memra to avoid the anthropomorphizing of Deity, miltha has great power as a particle of divine speech. However, miltha has meanings not even hinted at in these other terms, and certainly not in the Greek logos. Over the centuries, miltha has been rendered as âforceâ, âmanifestationâ, âemanationâ, âsubstanceâ as well as âwordâ, and even all these put together still donât come close to approaching its totality, which is why its there in the first verse of this esoteric book!
Surely though it was also this very diversity that Yochanan wanted, since only a nearly infinite-meaning word can attempt to do justice to that which is infinite in the first place.âï»ż