Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Deborah Millier <deborahmillier AT yahoo.com>]

J. Sprinkle wrote:

> for he does not possess 
> a NEPHESH, but he is a 
> NEPHESH....  NEPHESH in 
> OT does not often (I'm 
> tempted to say never) 
> mean "soul" as opposed 
> to body.

This may be true in Gen. 2:7.  But I think we're
approaching the idea in Gen. 35:18:

VAY'HI B'TZET NAFSHAH...

"So it was as her life departed..."

This account seems to objectify Rachel's NEPHESH from
some other essential part of her being, ...perhaps her
body.  But then her body is still her.  And her
NEPHESH something else.  See what I mean?  I'm not
saying that the doctrine of the *immortal soul* is
taught here in Genesis, but that NEPHESH is an
immaterial part of the human creature, ...I think
we're at least given a hint in this passage.

B'RAKHOT,
-- Michael Millier

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com