Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ron Rhoades <rrhoades AT jps.net>]

Dan Ebert wrote:
> 
> What was the OT Hebrew concept of the body and soul. Did the Hebrew >word 
> for death 'muwth' carry with it the idea of a separation? Or did >they view 
> the body and soul as a unit and what happened with one happened >with the 
> other?
> 

Greetings,

>Dan Ebert wrote: What was the OT Hebrew concept of the body and soul? 

The idea of an immortal soul that separates from death is old and almost
universal. However  my view is that the Hebrew Bible is unique in it's
teaching that the soul is not immortal and that it does not have a
separate existence outside of a living creature (animal or human).

The idea of an immortal soul was only adopted by Jewish teachers long
after the biblical period according to the Encyclopedia Judaica. 


My view is also that the Hebrew bible is a harmonious whole and thus
should not be made to contradict itself unnecessarily. So by using
standard principles of interpretation I find the Bible writers agree on
their belief about the soul and death.

I think it is significant that Gen 2:7 says "Adam *became* a living
soul." He was not *given* one. This "soul" was named Adam. Many
scriptures state that animals also are "souls" (Gen 1:20, 24; Num.
31:28). I feel this identification of the soul as actually *being* the
living creature is never compromised in the Hebrew Bible. Notice the
following examples.

"In case a soul sins" (Lev 5:1), "any soul that will do any sort of
work" (Leviticus 23:30), "in case a man is found kidnapping a soul"
(Deut. 24:7), "his soul got to be impatient" (Judges 16:16), "how long
will you men keep irritating my soul?" (Job 19:2), and "my soul has been
sleepless from grief."-Ps. 119:28.

The word NePheSh "usually refers to the entire living being, to the
whole individual." --The Dictionary of Bible and Religion.

PsUKhE is used similarly in the Greek NT. For example: "My soul is
troubled." (Jn 12:27) "Fear began to fall upon every soul." (Acts 2:43)
"Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities."
(Rom.13:1) "Speak consolingly to the depressed souls." (1 Thes. 5:14) "A
few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the
water."-1 Pet. 3:20.
There is no indication in these passages that the soul is some shadowy
entity that lives on after death.

In fact just the opposite is explicitly stated: "The soul that is
sinning-it itself will die." (Ezek. 18:4). Lev. 21:1 speaks of "a
deceased soul" (a "corpse," Jerusalem Bible). And they were not to come
near "any dead soul" ("a dead body," Lamsa).-Num. 6:6. (1 Kings 19:4,
Jonah 4:8, Mark 3:4) The soul is the creature, and it dies.

Some confusion arises because NePheSh and PsUXH also can refer to the
life that a creature possesses. And so in this sense it can be said to
*leave* or *come back* to the individual. (Ex 4:19, Josh 9:24, 2 Ki.
7:7, Pro. 12:10, Mat. 20:28, Phil. 2:30; Gen.35:18, 1 Ki.17:22)

This does not alter the definition. There is no need to interpret this
as if we believe the *soul* is something independent of the creature. A
person may say that someone "possesses life." We could isolate this
statement and state he believes *life* is a conscience thing that
separates at death, but there is no need to. 

So, I believe there is no reason to adopt an interpretation that forces
the different Bible writers to contradict each other.

As Rolf said in an archived post: "So there is no need to postulate a
belief in something surviving the body in any of the 36 books of the OT,
but anybody is free to demonstrate such a thought. The medium at Endor
evidently believed in life after death, and Saul either believed it or
did not rule it out in his despair, but this view is not found in the
religion centered around the worship of YHWH with its basis in the law
of Moses."


>Dan Ebert wrote: Did the Hebrew word for death 'muwth' carry with it the 
>>idea of a separation? 

IMO, that the view of death in the Hebrew Bible is similarly simple and
consistent. God told Adam: "Dust you are and to dust you will return."
(Gen. 3:19) Adam was unconscious "dust" before he was brought to life,
and he was "dust" after the "life force" left him. His punishment was
death/non-existence, not a transfer to another realm.

Eccl. 9:5, 10 agrees: "The dead know nothing...There is no pursuit, no
plan, no knowledge or intelligence, within the SHEOL." Death, therefore,
is a state of nonexistence. Also the psalmist: "he goes back to his
ground; in that day his thoughts do perish." -Ps 146:4.

As opposed to George, I understand SHEOL and the Grave (dust) as one and
the same place in the Hebrew bible. In fact, right or wrong, most
translators interchange "hell" and "grave" for SHEOL.

As for the "spirit" (RUACH/PNEUMA) in humans, I feel the Scriptures are
clear that it does not refer to some consciousness that separates at
death.

The Bible says that when a person dies, "his spirit goes out, he goes
back to his ground, in that day his thoughts do perish" ("all his
thinking ends," NEB). (Psalm 146:4) 

The indication is that this "spirit" is the "force of life" that is
given by God to animate animals and humans. This is supported by Eccl
3:19-20: "The fate of  man and the fate of beasts is the same; as one
dies so dies the other. They all have the *same* RUACH, and man has no
advantage over the beasts...All are from the dust, and all turn to dust
again." (Cf. Gen. 7:22)

The "spirit" goes back to God only in the sense that the spirit is the
life-force. Once that life-force is gone, only God has the ability to
restore it. According to Ps. 146 there is no consciousness associated
with it.

Yours,

Ron Rhoades
Nevada City, CA