Who Is the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament?

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

Abstract

This chapter of the present dissertation will concern itself with the specific roles of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament according to the Scriptures themselves as well as major in this important but neglected field . The Spirit serves to counterbalance the sterility of the Law

In this chapter , the often neglected elements of the Spirit 's presence in the Old Testament will be discussed . It is clear from the Scriptures as well as the literature cited here

, that the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament and acted as an autonomous element , or aspect ' of God the father . Hence , the later Christian development of the Trinity derives , not from Greek metaphysics as some hold , but from the presence of the Spirit in the Old Testament

Numerous times in the Old testament is the Spirit of God referred to as his breath ' as in Psalm 18 . The Hebrew ruach is the same word for wind ' a divine wind ' that gives life and manipulates the natural environment in the interests of God 's people , Israel . Edmund Jacobs , in is Theology of the Old Testament , holds that it is precisely this ruach the Spirit of God , that blew ' to part the Red Sea , both to give life to the Israelites and to destroy the malice of the Egyptians (Jacob 1958 , 120-121 . This spirit is shown to fall ' on people , to possess them , even to manifest the very...