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 ESUME. This
word and nephish are the only terms in the Old Testament rendered
soul. Taylor, in his Hebrew Concordance, says, that nesme signifies
the chameleon, a kind of lizard, which has its mouth always open
gaping for the air, upon which it is said to live. -It is rendered
breath and breatheth in the following texts and expresses natural
life whether in men or beasts. De 20:16 Jos 11:11,14 1Ki 15:29
17:17 comp. verse 21, where the breath of the child is called, “his
soul.”
Nephish. Parkhurst says-“as a noun nephish hath been supposed to
signify the spiritual part of man, or what we commonly call his
soul: I must for myself confess that I can find no passage, where it
hath undoubtedly this meaning. Ge 35:18 1Ki 17:21,22
Ps 16:10, seem fairest for this signification. But may not nephish
in the three former passages be most properly rendered breath, and
in the last a breathing or animal frame?”Taylor says-nephish,
signifies “the animal life, or that principle by which every animal,
according to its kind, lives, Ge 1:20, every moving creature
that hath the soul of life. And verse 24, let the earth bring forth
&c. wherein there is life, the soul of life, Le 11:46. Which
animal life, so far as we know anything of the manner of its
existence, or so far as the scripture leads our thoughts, consists
in the breath. Job 41:21; and Job 31:39. And in the
blood, Le 17:11,14.”
“As lebeb, the heart, so nephish the life, soul, is applied to the
faculties, the actions and affections of the mind; as to the
understanding, memory, will, counsel, desire, love, hatred, &c., see
Ex 23:9 1Sa 1:10; 30:6. -“Such is Taylor’s account of the word
nephish. He does not even insinuate that it ever signifies an
immortal soul which survives the death of the body.”
Ruah. Taylor says it “hath four significations.
1st., properly, the wind, air, breath, Job 32:10; 41:16
Ec 3:19 -
2nd, from the subtlety and invisibility of the air; as in Greek and
Latin, so in the Hebrew, the air, or spirit is used to signify that
invisible substance in men, which is the seat of understanding, and
of the passions and affections, Job 32:8. Any temper,
disposition, quality of the mind, good or bad; Nu 14:24 Jud
9:23 1Sa 16:14,15, &c. In particular, the spirit is put for vigor,
liveliness or courage of mind, Ge 45:27 Jos 5:1
1Ki 10:5 Job 6:4; 32:18
3d. The spirit or principle of affections and passions in brutes,
Ec 3:21
4th. The spirit of God which must signify some secret influences or
impressions on the mind or body, &c. Ps 139:7 2Ki 2:16;
40:7,13
5th, any spirit or ghost Job 4:15.”
Psyche. Parkhurst says, “it means breath; animal life; a living
animal that lives by breathing; the human body though dead; the
human soul or spirit as distinguished from the body; the human
animal soul; the mind, disposition, particularly as denoting the
affections; a human person; and the souls of those who were slain
for the word of God.”
When applied to man it is rendered, 1st, Life, and expresses what we
call natural life, Lu 9:56 Ac 15:26 1Jo 3:16 Mt 6:25 Lu
12:22,23 Ac 20:10 Php 2:30 Mt 2:20, &c.
Psyche is rendered soul in the following texts, Ac 2:41 27:37
1Pe 3:20 Ac 2:43 3:23 Ro 13:1 Lu 2:35 Ro 2:9 Mt 12:18 Lu 1:46
2Co 1:23 1Th 2:8 Mt 11:29 Lu 21:19 Ac 14:22
15:24 1Pe 1:22 2Pe 2:14 Joh 12:27 2Pe 2:8
Heb 6:19 1Pe 2:11,
3d. Joh 2 Re 18:14 1Co 15:45. To substitute the word person
instead of soul in some of these texts renders the sense more
definite. In the following texts psyche is rendered mind. Heb
12:3 Ac 14:2 Php 1:27. And in Eph 6:6 Col 3:23; it is
rendered heart and heartily. Though psyche is rendered soul in
Ac 4:32 Mt 22:37 Mr 12:30,33 Lu 10:27: yet the context and scope of
the passage show that some part of the mind is meant. Psychikos
occurs- Jas 3:15 Jude 19; 1Co 15:44,46 1Co
2:14, and is rendered sensual and natural.
The following texts demand a more particular consideration. -For
what is man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul!
Mt 16:26; see the parallel texts, Mr 8:36,37 Lu 9:24,25; and
compare Lu 12:19,20, to all of which texts our remarks shall
apply. It is assumed from these texts that soul in them, means an
immortal soul which survives death, and its being lost means its
being punished in a future state. But this assumed sense is contrary
to the universal usage of nephish, soul, in the Old Testament. It is
unsupported by the usage of psyche, soul, in the New. -Besides,
psyche is rendered life in the contexts of these very passages, and
in many other places, as we have seen above. It is so rendered in
these texts in most modern versions, and the scope of the writers
requires it. For example, did our Lord mean, that a man must lose
his soul or go to hell for his sake, if he would save it from hell?
And did he mean that an immortal soul could eat, drink, and be
merry? Had the word psyche been only rendered life uniformly in
these passages, as in their contexts, no man would ever have thought
of founding such opinions upon them. To illustrate the words-“What
shall a man give in exchange for his soul”or life? consult Ge
47:13,17 and Job 2:4. But what ought to settle the question
about these texts is, the phrase rendered to lose the soul, is in
other places rendered to lose the life, where all will allow natural
life is only intended; yea, is rendered to lose the life, in the
contexts of these very passages. See Ac 27:22 Joh 12:25 Lu
17:33 Mr 8:35 Mt 10:39. To lose life is a common and natural
expression, but to lose an immortal soul, is a unprecedented
expression not found in the Bible. I may add that Luke chap. 9:24,
25, explains these texts thus, the persons cast themselves away or
kill themselves. Of what use is all the world to a man who loses his
life?
Pneuma is rendered both spirit and life, and applied to men in the
following texts. It is rendered life; in the margin, breath;
Jas 2:26 Re 13:15. Spirit, and refers to the mind of man, its
powers, tempers and dispositions, Mt 5:3 26:41 Mr 14:38 Lu
1:17 9:55 10:21 Joh 4:23 13:21 Ac 6:10 16:18; &c. &c. In the
following places we have the phrases, my spirit, thy spirit, his
spirit, Mr 2:8 8:12 Lu 1:47,80 2:40 Joh 11:33 Ro 1:9 1Co 5:4
16:18 2Co 7:13 Ga 6:18. These expressions are used for the sake of
the greater emphasis, to express the person’s self. In the following
places we have these, among other peculiar phrases; “the spirit of
life, spirit of adoption, &c. See Ro 8:2,15 11:8 1Co 2:12;”&c.
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