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revived: “… When he [Samson] had drunk [the water], his spirit [literally, “breath”]
came again, and he revived …” (Judg. 15:19). Astonishment may take away one’s
“breath”: “And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the home
that he had built, And the meat of his table, … there was no more spirit in her [she was
overwhelmed and breathless]” (1 Kings 10:4-5).
$
may also represent speaking, or
the breath of one’s mouth: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth”(Ps. 33:6; cf. Exod. 15:8; Job 4:9; 19:17).
Second, this word can be used with emphasis on the invisible, intangible, fleeting
quality of “air”: “O remember that my life is wind: mine eyes shall no more see good”
(Job 7:7). There may be a suggestion of purposelessness, uselessness, or even vanity
(emptiness) when
$
is used with this significance: “And the prophets shall become
wind, and the word is not in them …” (Jer. 5:13). “Windy words” are really “empty
words” (Job 16:3), just as “windy knowledge” is “empty knowledge” (Job 15:2; cf. Eccl.
1:14, 17—“meaningless striving”). In Prov. 11:29
$
means “nothing”: “He that
troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.…” This nuance is especially prominent in
Eccl. 5:15-16: “And he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as
he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And
this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he
that hath labored for the wind?”
Third,
$
can mean “wind.” In Gen. 3:8 it seems to mean the gentle, refreshing
evening breeze so well known in the Near East: “And they heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool [literally, “breeze”] of the day.…” It can mean a
strong, constant wind: “… And the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day,
and all that night …” (Exod. 10:13). It can also signify an extremely strong wind: “And
the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind …” (Exod. 10:19). In Jer. 4:11 the word
appears to represent a gale or tornado (cf. Hos. 8:7). God is the Creator (Amos 4:13) and
sovereign Controller of the winds (Gen. 8:1; Num. 11:31; Jer. 10:13).
Fourth, the wind represents direction. In Jer. 49:36 the four winds represent the four
ends of the earth, which in turn represent every quarter: “And upon Elam will I bring the
four winds [peoples from every quarter of the earth] from the four quarters of heaven, and
will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts
of Elam shall not come.” Akkadian attests the same phrase with the same meaning, and
this phrase begins to appear in Hebrew at a time when contact with Akkadian-speaking
peoples was frequent.
Fifth,
$
frequently represents the element of life in a man, his natural “spirit”:
“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, … All in whose nostrils was the breath of
life …” (Gen. 7:21-22). In these verses the animals have a “spirit” (cf. Ps. 104:29). On
the other hand, in Prov. 16:2 the word appears to mean more than just the element of life;
it seems to mean “soul”: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord
weigheth the spirits [
NASB
, “motives”].” Thus, Isaiah can put
“soul,” and
$
in synonymous parallelism: “With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my
spirit within me will I seek thee early …” (26:9). It is the “spirit” of a man that returns to
God (Eccl. 12:7).