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Gods Espirtit Un Creation
Gods Espirtit Un Creation
Speakers in the audio file: Jon Collins, Tim Mackie, Carissa Quinn
(00:00)
Jon: Hey, this is Jon at BibleProject. Before today's episode, I want to make sure that you know
about something really exciting. And that is our brand new BibleProject app. On our app, you're
going to find all of our videos and podcasts. But the app will also guide you on a reading journey
We're going to read the Bible together in movements. These are larger sections of Scripture. And
we're going to be tracing themes, developing skills for reading the Bible as a unified story that leads
to Jesus. You can find out more about the app and the link to the download
at Bibleproject.com/announce.
Tim: The basic image of ruakh is "breath." It's an invisible energy that I breathe in and breathe out.
That's ruakh. And then I look out in the world and I see the ruakh blowing in the trees and the grass.
And that's an animating energy. (00:01:00) And it's the very thing that I take in when I inhale.
Calling God's invisible, energizing presence ruakh is a metaphor. Whatever beautiful mind is
behind all of this, the first uncaused cause, so to speak, that generates and animates all of this and
Jon: Hey, this is Jon at BibleProject. And today we begin a new journey. We're going to read
through the Bible slowly, movement by movement, tracing biblical themes. This is our attempt to
These conversations are a companion to the reading journey that you can do in our app. So if
you haven't downloaded the BibleProject app, I recommend you do so. A movement of Scripture is
a large section of chapters and stories that all together (00:02:00) make a coherent, beautiful whole.
Every scroll in the Hebrew Bible generally has three or four movements.
And while we read through a movement of Scripture, we're going to trace one biblical theme.
We're going to find where it appears, and its keywords and synonyms. And we're going to use those
This is the beginning of our journey. So we're going to begin in the first movement of the Bible,
which is roughly Genesis chapter 1 through 11. And in these pages, we're going to trace the theme
of God's ruakh. And it won't take long for us to find him. God's ruakh shows up in the third line. "The
earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep abyss, but the ruakh of
Tim: When darkness is over the face of the chaotic ocean, it's called “tehom,” which was the
Hebrew word for the abysmal, chaotic ocean waters. (00:03:00) But the moment
that Elohim's ruakh, his life-giving presence and breath, is there, you don't refer to that deep abyss
as tehom anymore. You refer to it with a more neutral term, the waters.
The waters can also give life in the form of wells and streams and rivers. So it's as if already
there's a transformation, the chaos into order by the presence of the ruakh of Elohim.
Jon: The life-giving, energizing Spirit of God in the first movement of Scripture. Thanks for joining
Carissa: Yeah.
Carissa: Morning.
Tim: Good morning. This new thing that we're doing is we're walking through the Bible movement
by movement tracing one theme in that movement. And this (00:04:00) conversation is going to be
on the movement Genesis 1 through 11, which is the first movement or the first scroll of the Bible.
And we're going to be tracing the theme of Holy Spirit or God's ruakh.
Carissa: And obviously, there are lots of themes through this movement. But this is one we are
Jon: Yes, that's great. We are practicing. This idea is let's go through the Bible movement by
movement, begin to kind of onboard the idea that the Bible is presented in movements, and try to
Tim: Yes. But an even bigger picture, it's a collection of scrolls that are themselves organized into
Jon: Right.
Tim: But then when you zoom in to like the Torah, there's five scrolls. And then each of those
scrolls is not broken up into chapters. And that was our last conversation. Chapters are not the
original literary organization given to the scrolls. (00:05:00) Rather, the biblical authors gave a
design to this and what we're calling movements. And those movements are signaled to the reader
by all these layers of repetition and moments of beginning and closure, and so on.
And then within each movement, there's parts. And then within each part, there are sections. And
it's all arranged in beautiful patterns of repetition and symmetry to help your mind trace the themes
So it's kind of like the movements are the way it's organized into parts. And then when we’re
tracing a theme, we're really just tracing or tracking a repeated word or image through a particular
movement. And that's a muscle you got to develop in reading biblical literature. And once you
Carissa: And reading the movements, for me at least, can be helpful because you can see the
structure of a whole section that's united and coherent. And that contributes to how we understand
the meaning (00:06:00) of a section of text. And also, because the main themes are going to
change from movement to movement. So we're focusing on Holy Spirit in Genesis 1 through 11.
Tim: In fact, the Genesis scroll has four large literary movements. God's Spirit only is mentioned in
the first movement, Genesis 1 to 11. And then in the last movement, in the Joseph's story.
Carissa: Yeah. And even there, it's both God's Spirit ... I think that occurs once in that movement,
Carissa: Yeah.
Tim: Yeah, that's right. Joseph is marked by the presence of God's Spirit, which gives him wisdom
to be a ruler. Come on. In fact, it's a meaningful kind of envelope frame around the whole book
of Genesis.
Tim: Joseph becomes the first narrative image of a supercharged human who's ruling by the Spirit
and wisdom of God. Which is what Genesis 1 set you up to hope for. Anyway, we're getting ahead
of ourselves. (00:07:00) But the point is, is that this is why we're reading in movements, not
chapters. And this is why we're tracing words through. And we're going to just go through the Torah,
Jon: Yeah, we'll get through the Torah in 2022 is the idea. And then we'll just keep going from
there. And so if you've been listening along, and you're like, "Man, we spent a lot of time
Jon: But we'll get beyond that with this new plan. Also, we have an app that is coming out in
January 2022. And lots of cool things in the app. But one of them is going to be this habit, this
muscle of reading movements and tracing a theme in an interactive way so that you could actually
read, find the themes, unlock the themes. So this podcast conversation is going to accompany that
journey.
Tim: Correct.
Jon: Which will be a really cool thing to do, a great way to read through the Bible. (00:08:00)
Tim: So right now, the mission before us, we could trace many themes, as you said, Carissa,
through Genesis 1 through 11, which is the first literary movement. Actually, it is Genesis
1:1 through 11:26. There's three parts to it. It goes into kind of three steps. Each introduces a key
One is the first part is Adam and Eve. That's chapters 1 through 5. Then you have the story of
Noah and his sons, chapters 6 through 10. And then Abraham comes onto the scene.
Tim: Yeah, that's right. But it's a story of a mother and a father, whose children make up three
sons. Three sets of parents and three sons. And each one of these is a little variation. Similar, but
yet different from each other, ending in different ways. And God's Spirit is right in the thick of it
Jon: So that's movement one. (00:09:00) And then, just so you know where this is heading
Tim: Isaac and Jacob. A father and son get their stories merged together ...
Jon: And that leads to movement four, which would be then the Jacob stories.
brothers.
Jon: Yeah, Joseph and his 11 brothers. That's the scroll of Genesis, four movements as just a
quick summary. If you hadn't listened to the movement conversation, we're borrowing movements
from language that comes from symphonies. And it's a great way to think about how the scrolls are
designed that you get this melody, these themes, these ideas, (00:10:00) and then they're repeated
in these large blocks. So we're not thinking in chapters, we're thinking in movements.
Carissa: So the movements are connected. Like the book of Genesis has four movements. And
those movements are even connected to each other by these repeating patterns.
Tim: Correct. Yeah, repeated imagery, vocabulary, repeated stories. Yeah, stuff like that.
Jon: All right. So Genesis 1 through 11 and God’s Spirit. Let's jump in.
Tim: All right. So we are going to start in once again, the first sentences of the Genesis scroll. In
the last episode, we already camped out on these opening two ... it was actually three lines, or a
few lines here. But we'll just revisit again. We're going to get a total of I think it's eight.
If you're looking for the theme of God's Spirit in the first literary movement, you're going to come
Carissa: Yeah, I think all of these eight passages use the word "spirit" or ruakh, except for the one
Tim: Yeah, exactly. It's already a good example of how you can't just get out a concordance and
look for the same word. That's one thing you need to do. But you also need to pay attention to the
way a synonym or a similar image can get repeated. So it'll be a good teaching example when we
get to Genesis 2.
But just to bring us back, these are the opening lines of the first creation narrative in
(00:12:00) Genesis 1 and 2. The opening words are ... Carissa, I'll let you have the honors.
Carissa: Okay. "In the beginning Elohim created the skies and the land. Now the land was wild
and waste, and darkness was over the face of the deep, but the Spirit wind, the ruakh of Elohim,
Tim: We've probably talked about these two verses more than any other two verses in the Bible
over the seven years in this project. So to summarize past discussions, these opening lines are set
out in three parts. The opening and closing parts mention Elohim's involvement in creation. And
then the center two lines refer to the pre-creation state. I'm trying to imagine the blank canvas of
Jon: And "Elohim" is just the general word for "a divine being."
Tim: There you go. Yes. (00:13:00) It gets translated into English as "God." I've just gotten into the
habit of transliterating the Hebrew word. In other words, spelling the Hebrew word with English
letters—
Jon: Elohim.
Tim: Yeah, it just kind of gets you to think about it. So Elohim it's a generic title in Hebrew and in
English for deity. So we begin with a summary statement. Elohim created everything up there,
Carissa: Dark deep waters. A state of chaos, darkness, de creation state or pre-creation—
Tim: Pre, yeah. So the last line in the mention of the ruakh is the Hebrew word that gets translated
Jon: Because in Hebrew "ruakh" is translated "spirit." It's also translated "wind." It's also translated
"breath." Those three ideas that have three separate (00:14:00) words in English, have one word in
Hebrew, which is ruakh. So in Hebrew, you don't really think of those things as separate ideas. You
don't think of it as a person's breath. But in the biblical imagination, you think of it as God's breath.
Tim: It is.
Carissa: Yes. It's the invisible life energy of a person or of God. But spirit, wind, and breath are all
Tim: Yeah, that's right. So the interesting image is that in the middle of disorder and darkness,
before there was order, Elohim proceeded that. And the way that Elohim is present within darkness
And also, important, we've talked about this in the past that when darkness is over the face of the
chaotic ocean it's called tehom, which was the Hebrew word for the abysmal, chaotic ocean waters.
But the moment that Elohim's ruakh, his life-giving presence and breath, is there, you don't refer to
that deep abyss as tehom anymore. You refer to it with a more neutral term—the waters.
Because tehom is almost always negative. It'll swallow you up and make you drown in it.
Tim: But the waters can do that, but the waters can also give life in the form of wells and streams
and rivers. So it’s as if already there's a transformation of the chaos into order by the presence of
So yeah, the opening portrait is the ruakh of Elohim is the way Elohim is present in the midst of
dark, chaotic places, (00:16:00) bringing about order and setting things in motion that will result in
the emergence of a garden from these waters, and life and fruit trees and people and families and
Jon: So how is saying that Elohim's ruakh is present different than just saying Elohim is present?
Right?
Tim: Yeah.
Jon: So yeah, why this differentiation? Why wouldn't this verse just say, "And God was over the
Jon: Or take this aspect of God, I suppose, of his ruakh and saying that's what was there versus
Tim: Good. Okay. I think we talked about this years ago when we went through the Spirit of God
conversations. (00:17:00) I mean, at its core it's a metaphor. The basic image of ruakh of our
experience for which we have a word is breath or wind. So invisible, animating energy. There's an
invisible energy that I breathe in and breathe out. And that's ruakh.
And then I look out in the world, and I see the ruakh blowing in the trees and the grass. And that's
an animating energy. And it's the very thing that I take in when I inhale. So calling God's invisible,
energizing presence ruakh is a metaphor. It's taking my very physical experience, human
experience of ruakh in and out and seeing ruakh work in the world and come into the conclusion
that whatever beautiful mind is behind all of this, the first uncaused cause, so to speak, that
generates and animates all of this and sustains it, this must be a result of that being's ruakh.
Carissa: So the ruakh is all about animating life. So to describe God's ruakh here means, as the
reader, we're thinking, oh, like life is about to happen. Or at least that association is made when you
keep reading. It also seems like it's connected to the next verse where God speaks because God's
Tim: Closely connected. Yeah, that's right. The next sentence in Genesis after the Spirit
of Elohim over the face of the waters is "And Elohim said ..." He speaks. Yeah, what you're saying—
Tim: It's right. To say a word. I mean, all of our language about a transcendent being who isn't a
part of creation but rather is the ground and source of all existence and being in creation, it's always
going to be (00:19:00) metaphorical. Because all language is based on experience. And then I use
that experience to go out and create paradigms for how I see the world.
So I have invisible breath that animates me, but I receive it. I don't give it to anybody else. I
receive it. So you're imagining that the beautiful mind that sustains everything must be the giver of
breath and the source of all ruakh. I think that's how the imagery works.
Jon: Okay.
Carissa: Yeah, that's sustaining life. Which is what the next link is all about, is how
Tim: Exactly right. You know, I'm recalling from years ago when we had this conversation, we
were trying to find maybe a more ... in our way of seeing the world, trying to find a category for it. I
think for a while we camped out on the concept of bios, the life principle.
Jon: Yeah. Because your breath is connected to this idea of the energy. (00:20:00)
Jon: Energizes you. The wind is energizing the air. And your spirits, this idea of your life force,
yeah, what's animating you? And those are all connected ideas.
Jon: But we got in trouble calling it energy because once you start getting into the theology of the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's more than just an animating life force.
Tim: Yeah, that's right.
Carissa: A person.
Tim: That's right. And even though we said in the video it's God's personal energizing presence,
people were still a little dismayed that we used the word "energy."
Carissa: Yeah. Because you weren't trying to say it's just energy. But it's like energetic—
Tim: It's personal energizing presence. But that doesn't mean it's not energy. It means it's energy
Tim: Just a later Psalm that picks up this imagery (00:21:00) and language of
the ruakh in Genesis 1. Psalm 104 is this whole meditation on the nature of creation using the
language and imagery of Genesis 1. A section of the psalm starts in verse 27 where the poet's
talking about all the animals in creation, about how they wait for Elohim to give them food at the
proper time.
And whenever you see a deer grazing in the field, you're watching Elohim give food to them. And
you're looking at Elohim's open hand to satisfy his creatures. Verse 29. "When you, Elohim, hide
your face, they are dismayed. When you take away their ruach, they expire and return to the dust."
So the ruakh is what brought all the creatures out of the ground in Genesis 1. So when
their ruakh (00:22:00) goes away, they go back to the dust. “You send forth your ruakh, they are
created, and you renew the face of the ground.” Such great meditation here.
So in Genesis 1, when God says, "Let creatures emerge out of the ground," he doesn't say, “Let
my ruakh bring the creatures out of the ground.” What it says is, let them come out of the ground.
But you know from reading Genesis 1 that anything comes out of anything because of the ruakh all
the way back ... right there in that pivot verse, verse 2.
And so also, here, you can talk about a creature being born, a deer being born as the sending out
of God's ruakh to create. And then when the ruakh is withdrawn, that's de-creation or an undoing of
Carissa: Yeah, it sounds so mystical in English to me to say their (00:23:00) spirit is taken from
them. But to make that connection with their breath and their life that's connected to their breath,
and that God's Spirit is what sustains that, that just feels so much more of a cohesive idea.
Tim: Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. So that's kind of like a bridge to the second appearance of this
Tim: So Genesis 2:4 begins the next literary unit after the seven day creation narrative. And it's
the garden of Eden story. And that goes from chapter 2 verse 4 to chapter 3 verse 24. So from the
creation of Eden, and then humans in Eden, that's the opening scenes. And then the exile from
And what we're told at the beginning of the Eden story is that there were no shrubs and no plants
in the land, because there had not been any water. And there were no humans. So no water, no
plants, no humans—
Jon: But wasn't God hovering over the waters? It's gotta be a lot of waters.
Tim: Okay. Remember all the way back when the opening two lines that describe the disorder in
the pre-creation chaos, you remember their conflicting (00:25:00) images, if you take them literally.
Tim: Yeah, wild and waste desert. And then the next line describes it as a dark, chaotic ocean.
You're like, "Wait, where'd the land and the desert go?" Yeah. And the point is they are two
coordinated images. Deserts are usually lands that don't have enough water. And chaotic oceans
Carissa: It's kind of a chaotic image to put those together. You're like, "What is it?"
Jon: Right.
Tim: Yeah. So yeah, one has not enough water, the other image has too much water. So the rest
Tim: Separating the waters, land emerges out of the water. The Eden narrative picks up that
Tim: Now we start with land as the starting point, but the land without water.
Tim: Genesis 2:4 and following. Yeah, that's right. (00:26:00) So the first creation narrative of the
seven days begins with too much water. It's about bringing land out. The Eden narrative begins with
too much land and no water. And again, depending on your assumptions that you bring to the Bible,
you know, you're going to find a way to maybe harmonize or make those work into a linear
sequence. So you can reconstruct the historical processes by which creation emerged.
Or you might bring a different assumption to say the goal of these narratives is to set two
perspectives on creation. Two ways ancient Israelites could talk about creation: creation out of
water or creation out of the desert. And they're both ways of describing the same thing in different
images.
So we have no plants, no water, and no humans. So what God proceeds to do is first bring up
water out of the ground. Like little spring. That gives you mud. And then Yahweh Elohim is able to
Tim: Wordplay. But even though you have ‘adam from the adama, you've just got a pile of mud or
like a statue. You have an idol or the beginning stages of an idol statue. But to turn that into an
image of Elohim you need to give it life. And so these are the important lines in Genesis 2:7.
“Yahweh Elohim breathed into the nostrils the breath of life.” And it's not the word ruakh.
Jon: Nishmat.
Carissa: But that's used later and paired with ruakh, I think.
Tim: Correct, yeah. In the seven-day creation narrative it's God's ruakh that brings about life that
culminates (00:28:00) in the images of God—the humans who are called to rule. In the Eden
narrative, it's God's nishmat. His exhalation that passes into the mud to give it life.
And now you've got two images for God's Spirit. You have the word "ruakh" and you have the
word "nishmat." And then later narratives are going to just pick up both of those and connect them
together because they're just two ways of talking about the same thing.
So you go from dirt to animated creature, and the transition from ‘adam from the adama to
become a living being. And what happened in between the two of those?
Jon: So in this way, our spirit is just God's Spirit kind of being given to us.
Tim: Oh, yeah. Remember back to Psalm 104. That line, Psalm 104:29, "When you take away
Tim: When you take away the ruakh of the animals they die. So every living creature within this
Carissa: And that's paired with the "you send forth your Spirit," and "they're created." If you take
those two in parallel, their spirit and death is parallel with God's Spirit and life.
Carissa: Yeah, yeah. They are contrasted. But the parallels between their spirit and God's Spirit
as the same thing, when the animal has it they're alive, when they don't they die. There's an
interesting way to think about human breath. I mean, that's what you're saying. It's God's sustaining
Jon: Now, having a spirit then doesn't make us different than the animals.
Jon: Because the animals are also given God's animating breaths.
Carissa: Yeah. The breath of life I think is also (00:30:00) given to animals in one of these creation
passages.
Tim: Yeah.
Jon: So what sets us apart from the animals being called the image of God doesn't have to do
Tim: Correct.
Jon: It has to do with something else.
Tim: Every living thing is animated by God's Spirit in the biblical story.
Tim: I think it's why when these ideas develop later there's a human ruakh. Humans have a ruakh,
like our animating breath. But there develops a usage that ruakh can also come to talk about not
just the life principle, but also the driving forces of our minds and our desires.
So Isaiah will say, "Who can know the ruakh of the Lord?" And what he means is who can
understand the purposes or plans? Because purposes are also invisible. But they make things
Tim: When you have an idea—and I'm not trying to get into like the mind, body problem (00:31:00)
Tim: Face value, observational point of view, you know, I have an idea to like go make an omelet.
And all of a sudden, this idea that exists invisibly results in an actual physical reality, the creation of
an omelet. And so God has invisible purposes that have physical results. And so humans have
a ruakh.
So ruakh can come to me in the mind as well in certain contexts. And that seems like in the New
Testament it often means that. Especially in the writings of Paul, he'll use the word " ruakh" to refer
to life principle, but also your mental principle, too. So this language is flexible in the hands of the
biblical author.
Jon: That makes sense. But I kind of want to sit for a second still with this idea that I think my
assumption would be, oh, the reason why humans are special is because (00:32:00) we have this
thing. And maybe in English I would use the word "soul" more. And that's a whole nother thing.
Tim: Well, actually, that word is used right here in Genesis 2:7. In my translation I've translated it
"being."
Jon: Okay.
Tim: But it's the phrase nephesh chayyah. "Chayyah," the word "living life." And then this is the
Tim: Here, let's go. I'm looking at the New American Standard Version translation of Genesis 2:7.
Carissa: But even this, this is exactly what the animals are called in—
Tim: In what translation ... I think it must be in the King James. Genesis 2:7. So Genesis 2:7 ...
Tim: NRSV?
Tim: Soul.
Tim: It is.
Jon: Quick word study on nephesh is—
Tim: Your living being. So including your invisible animating energy, but almost always primarily
Tim: So what you're talking about, Carissa, is that earlier in Genesis 1 the creatures are called
living beings. In Genesis 1:21, the creatures, (00:34:00) the birds and the fish are all called nephesh
chayyah (living creatures). So actually, the animals are first called this.
Jon: Are first called living souls. Is it in King James they're called a soul?
Tim: Good question. Let's check it. Yeah, that'd be kind of funny.
Carissa: That part of it ... this ... what follows too: “that hath life.”
Tim: Same phrase in Hebrew. Nephesh chayyah. Here they translate it “creatures with life.” And
Jon: But that kind of messes with your categories, right? Because again, what I'm trying to land on
Tim: That's right. And it's not that they have ruakh.
Jon: It's not that they have ruakh and it's not that they have a nephesh.
Jon: All the animals have nephesh and ruakh. Spirit and soul as often translated. But in the
biblical narrative, God takes humans and says, "You are my image." And in my mind that was
always connected to some special, disembodied part of me. Whether you want to call it soul or spirit
Tim: Yeah, that's right. So yeah, when we're getting to day six up in Genesis, the description of
the creation of humans comes in three parts. And what sets them apart from the animals is not that
they have life or breath or are living creatures. It's that they are given God's authority to rule. And it’s
stated twice in a nice little chiasm, where the humans are told to rule, God said, "Let them rule." And
then he calls them his image in a little poem in Genesis 1:27. And then he repeats it: "Let them
rule." So it's representation and rule (00:36:00) is what makes the humans differ in the narrative.
Jon: Yeah, and it's not because of nephesh. It's not because of ruakh.
Jon: Humanity. And the Bible doesn't say what is it about humans, our anatomy, our whatever.
Tim: That's right. And for a long time, I just wanted to limit it to say, “Well, let's just go for what the
biblical authors were saying.” But you know, we can't stop there. The biblical authors are opening a
door for us to ponder and meditate on, man, well, it's not just that we represent God. How do we
represent God? With what capacities and faculties are we different from the animal world and the
plant world—
Tim: Yeah. That opens the door to the kind of more classic answers to this, rationality or
intelligence or ... And people debate all these things. Relationship building. Yeah, that kind of thing.
(00:37:00) But for the biblical authors, the baseline is that humans are set apart with a stewardship
and responsibility to rule in a way that mirrors and represents God's rule. That's kind of the baseline.
Carissa: Just to recap what we do when we see these links. If you're reading through, and you
read in Genesis 1, "The ruakh of God is hovering over the waters," and then Genesis 2, "the breath
of God gives life to humans," when you see a link like that, the author is asking you to pair those
things together and look at them and compare them and see how maybe the story is moving
forward.
Actually, your question about the spirit and the soul was bringing up for me that when you do pair
those two things together, they're supposed to be seen as consistent in the sense that that same
spirit that was animating all creation, that was giving life to the trees, and the land, and the water
was the same spirit that that gives (00:38:00) life to humanity and animals.
So it's almost the opposite of what we typically think of when we think of the spirit or soul
differentiating humans from all creation. It's like no, the point being made is actually that humans are
so united with the created order, and God's breath was breathed into all that exists. And humans
too. He sustains it all. It's like the analogy is drawing those things even closer than farther apart.
Tim: That's right. Not only does it not set us apart, it's the very thing that ...
Tim: ... connects us to the animal and the plant world. Yeah, exactly.
Jon: It feels much more Eastern, which I guess this is an Eastern document.
Tim: It's ancient Eastern literature that it would make sense. Okay, that's the second appearance
Tim: We're trucking along. I think appearance like four through seven of this theme are all pretty
similar. So the next time (00:39:00) that the word "ruakh" appears is after the humans disobey the
divine command and take from the tree of knowing good and bad.
Tim: Yeah. So what happens is that God puts the human in the garden, gives the human a
command, "Hey, I want to give you eternal life. Eat from the tree of eternal life. It's all yours. But
there's one tree, the tree of knowing good and bad. It'll kill you if you eat from it. Just don't take from
that tree." We'll just step around the rabbit hole as we've gone down it many times.
So then God splits the human into two, so that the one becomes two so that those two who are
different can become one through covenant. And then what happens is that an animal over which
the humans are supposed to rule, but there's this animal that doesn't like the humans ruling wants
to usurp—
Tim: Yeah. The snake deceives the humans, tricks them into thinking that choosing death is
actually the way to life. Tricks the humans into thinking that they're not the image of Elohim, says
"You can become Elohim if you just take this knowledge for yourself."
Jon: That's better than (00:41:00) being an image. Be the thing that you're imaging.
Tim: Yeah, quit being a statue, become the real thing. So the humans break God's command and
take from the tree they weren't supposed to. And the first thing that happens, Genesis 3:7, is that
their eyes are open and they realize that they are naked. They're arom, which is a wordplay.
Jon: Crafty.
Tim: Shrewd.
Jon: Shrewd.
Tim: Shrewd. Quick thinking. Quick on its feet (pun intended). And so because of the arum of the
snake the humans end up arom after the tree. So the first thing they do is hide from each other, hide
Second thing is they hear the sound of Yahweh Elohim. It was walking about in the garden at
Jon: Ruakh.
Jon: Because again, (00:42:00) ruakh in Hebrew can mean spirit, breath, or wind.
Carissa: And sometimes this one's translated as "cool." In the cool of the day.
Tim: So here I'm comparing translations. The NIV translates it as "the cool of the day." Actually,
that's not translating. They're interpreting the image. The presumption is wind refers to the
temperature.
Carissa: That maybe this was a way to talk about a certain time of day.
Tim: Yeah.
Carissa: So the question moves for me is, when we come across this, are we supposed to see,
oh, ruakh, it can also just be used this other way to talk about a certain (00:43:00) kind of weather?
Or is it that we're supposed to see a link between this and Genesis 2 and Genesis 1?
Jon: Yeah. Because arguably sometimes ruakh is just literally talking about weather.
Jon: But in the ancient imagination that's never separated from God's life and energy.
Jon: So even if it's just talking about the weather it's not just talking about the weather.
Tim: The longer I've thought about this ... I think it's one of these examples of a super dense
image that's capable of kind of multiple nuances. So they're in a garden with trees. So how would
Jon: Hmm.
Tim: Well, you know, wind blowing in the trees. That's actually a pretty good way to imagine it.
Also, what type of wind, especially in that part of the world, does the wind often blow? It is often in
the afternoons. It has to do with the fact that it's so dang hot.
Jon: Same with the Columbia River? That's when the winds come up for sailing. (00:44:00)
Tim: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, in our neck of the world. So not always, but often there's afternoon
winds. The question is, is there more here? And here I'm going to just look at the fact that there's a
structure to this verse here. You hear the sound of Yahweh Elohim. It was walking in the garden at
the windy time of day, and they hid. So there's this connection of images. There's a sound that's
Jon: The reason why you're translating "it was walking" because it's referring to the sound? The
Jon: Okay.
Tim: It's ambiguous. Could be the hear the sound of Yahweh Elohim and it's Yahweh Elohim that
was walking. Or sound could be the subject of the walking and it's the sound walking. I think that's
also an intentional too. So the point is that when the sound shows up in this apparently physical,
So what this is laying tracks for is a really important design pattern that's going to appear. So
here's just a quick, nerdy thing. There's going to appear a whole repetition of the voice or the sound
of the Lord showing up, especially at key moments when people have failed a test.
For example, at Mount Sinai, when on the third day, the Israelites failed to go up the mountain
when they're invited to on the third day, what shows up are sounds and lightning and thick clouds
and a trumpet sound, and the people are freaked out. Just like in the garden. The sound of Yahweh
Jon: This time it's not the sound of wind in the trees.
shows up personally (00:46:00) is that's the same personal presence of Yahweh that takes up
residence in the tent in Israel's tabernacle. So that when Moses goes into the tabernacle, he hears
the sound speaking to him from above the ark of the covenant.
And then as you trace, just do a word study on "the sound of the voice of Yahweh," it's associated
with storms and wind. So we could do a lot more here. But the point is, is what we're—
Tim: It's the seed of that idea, of the personal appearance of Yahweh that is frightening.
Jon: Little garden storm. "Cool of the day" doesn't give you the sense of a garden storm.
Carissa: No.
Tim: It doesn't.
Tim: Whatever this appearance of the sound of Yahweh coming and blowing through the garden,
it clearly makes them afraid because they hide. And then when God says, "Why are you hiding?" he
Carissa: Yeah. You can kind of imagine it though. Humans in the garden and they start to hear
this like tree wrestling coming from far away, and it's this invisible life force that they can hear in the
Tim: Totally. So the fear, the hiding, the wind is all connected sequence there.
reason I know I'm naked because I did the thing you told me not to do. So this is Yahweh showing
up like—
Tim: Yeah. Like a storm. Like a stern parent showing up. I have had this experience so many
Tim: Even if I come in and I'm not angry, there'll be like a somber tone. When I come in and the
kids are fighting over something, and then me or Jessica comes in, that's that thing here. (00:48:00)
Jon: Exactly.
Tim: This is kind of adding a new layer of meaning to the ruakh. The wind can mean energized,
life-giving presence or that same life-giving presence that can whip up order out of disorder can also
during the day. That gets more of the idea that we're talking about.
Tim: Yeah.
Tim: It's also the case that “the day” ... In the biblical prophets, (00:49:00) the Day of the Lord is
always depicted as the coming of a great storm. The day of Yahweh, day of ... Actually here. Let's
look at a great example. So here's a later biblical author who's totally got Genesis 3:8 on the
brain. Zephaniah 1. “‘I'm going to completely remove all things from the face of the land,’ says
Yahweh."
Tim: And notice he's going to move right through the list of animals from Genesis 1. “I'll remove
human, beast, birds of the sky, fish of the sea. The ruins along with the wicked, I'll cut off humans
from the face of the land." And you're like, "Whoa, de-creation."
Tim: But then very specifically, he's going to hone in on Judah and Jerusalem because they're
worshipping Baal, they're bowing down to the host of heavens, and yet they swear to Yahweh as if
I'm their God, but then they'll swear by (00:50:00) Malkam—by the name of another god. And this
whole thing is called the day of Yahweh. The day. So that whole motif that will become the day of
Tim: ... embedded right in this. Anyhow, number three. How are we doing?
Jon: Yeah.
Jon: Yeah. God's ruakh shows up first in this kind of pre-creation state of chaos in order to bring
life and order. And then we see God's ruakh not called ruakh but called ... what's the synonym?
Carissa: Breath.
Jon: The breath animating humans. The human mud statues to become living beings, living souls,
living nephesh.
Jon: And then on the third one, after the humans who are meant to be God's representatives
decide they'd rather be God and decide good and evil on their own terms. After that decision,
the ruakh appears in the garden along with the sound of God. And we're really supposed to be
thinking kind of a storm. So that same life-giving energy that brings order, all of a sudden,
Carissa: So the ruakh is that invisible life, energy, or invisible energy that animates life, gives
life ...
Tim: Mm-hmm.
Carissa: You know what's interesting is that Genesis 2 passage, the breath of life, “He breathed
into their nostrils the breath of life.” And then the Genesis 3 passage you were just talking about
when there's the stormy wind, I'm thinking about an angry God. And the way that God's anger is
described as long of nostril, that it's like this breath coming out of the nostrils that signifies anger. I
wonder if there's a connection there between like the breath of God it can be life-giving; it can also
be described as anger.
Tim: Yeah. Oh, man, yes. I was actually just studying the crossing through the sea narrative
in Exodus. And in the (00:53:00) poem in Exodus 15 that describes the story, it says "You blew
Tim: "In your hot anger you blew out of your nostrils a ruakh on the waters." But in that case—
Jon: For everyone who's not following along, in Hebrew, to be angry is a Hebrew idiom to be long
of nostril.
Tim: So in that story, God's ruakh comes out of his nose brings death and destruction to Pharaoh,
the oppressor, and the tyrant. But it separates the waters to create dry land for the liberated slaves.
Carissa: Yeah. And it's also described as Spirit giving life. That's really interesting. The creation
Tim: In the same story, God's Spirit is taking away life and creating a new opportunity for life.
Jon: A path?
Tim: Yeah. But in both cases, it's the ruakh from God's nostrils. So it's a cool example of, again,
how these later narratives will develop the images and invite you into a really profound insight into
the character of God that you need to sit with. But it does so by picking up the thread of earlier links
So we've just looked at three biblical passages. It took us a long time and we're now thinking
Jon: All right. In the next episode then we'll look at ... there's five more hits?
Tim: Yeah.
Thanks for listening to this episode of BibleProject podcast. Next week we continue looking
(00:55:00) at the theme of ruakh in the first movement of Scripture. And as we continue, we're going
Tim: God tells Noah, "Hey, I'm going to spare you and your family. So make for yourself a little
wooden Eden." So outside the boat, the breath of life is going to be taken away. But inside the little
ark, the breath of life remains in the remnant. It's the remnant that's sustained by the Spirit of God.
Jon: Today's show was produced by Cooper Peltz. Dan Gummel, Zach McKinley are our editors,
BibleProject is a crowdfunded nonprofit. We exist to experience the Bible as a unified story that
leads to Jesus. Everything that we make is free, including the new app where you can read along in
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