Genesis 2: 7
And YHVH Elohim (The LORD God) formed the man [Adam] out of the dust [aphar] of the ground [ha’adamah] and breathed into his nostrils [aph] the breath of life/living [nishmat chayyim] and the Adam became a living soul [nefesh chayyah].
NOTE: The term “nefesh chayyah” can also mean: a living person, soul, spirit, intellect or a live body. Also, “neshamah chayyim” could be used as: breath of life or breath of soul.
Genesis 3: 19
In the sweat of thy brow will thou eat “lechem” [bread, food or a crop], till thou return to the ground [ha’adamah]; for out of it was thou taken; for dust [aphar] thou art, and unto dust [aphar] shalt thou return.
NOTE: Astrophysicists confirm the fact that humans are made out of interstellar dust cloud from a previously exploding sun; perhaps billions of years ago.
Job 7: 9
As the cloud [anan] is consumed and vanishes away; so is he that goes down to the grave [Sheol] and shall come up no more.
Job 10: 21-22
Before I go to from whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness [Eretz Choshech] and the shadow of darkness [V’Tzalmavet]; a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death [tzalmavet], without any order [sedarim] where the light is as darkness.
Job 14: 10, 12, 14
But man/male [gever] dies and wastes away; yea, man [adam] gives up the ghost [breathes his last], and where is he? So man [ish] lies down and rises not, till Heaven be no more, they shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep. “If a man/male [gever] die shall he live again?” All the days of my appointed time [“tzava”-alt. reading, ‘hard army/military service’] will I wait until my “chalifah” [changing, renewal, or replacement??] come.
Job 17: 1, 13-16
My spirit/breath [ruach] is broken (corrupt), my days are extinct, and the graves [kevarim] are ready for me. If I wait, the grave [Sheol] is my house [bais]. I have made my bed in the darkness [choshech]. I have said to corruption [Shachat] you are my father [avi]; to the worm you are my mother [immi], and my sister [achoti]. And where now is my hope [tikveh]? As for my hope who regards it [alt. reading-who shall see it]? They shall go down to the bars of the pit [alt. reading-Will it go down to the gates of Sheol?], when our rest together is in the dust (aphar) [alt. reading-Shall we go down together in the dust?].
Psalms 104: 29b
Thou take away their breath, [ruach] they die (expire), and return to their dust [aphar].
Psalms 146: 4
His breath [ruach] goes forth (departs), he returns to his earth [adamah]; in that very day [yom] his very thoughts perish [alt. reading “his plans come to nothing.” OJB].
Ecclesiastes 3: 19a, 20-21
For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as one dies so does the other; yea, they all have one breath [ruach]. All go to one place [mekom]; all are of the dust [aphar], and all return to the dust [aphar] again. “Who has knowledge of the spirit [ruach] of man that goes upward, and the spirit [ruach] of the beast that goes downward into the earth?”
Ecclesiastes 8: 12
Then shall the dust [aphar] return to the Earth [ha’Eretz] as it was; and the spirit [ruach] shall return unto God who gave it.
Luke 23: 46-47
And when Jesus [Yeshua] had cried out with a loud voice [gadol kol], He said, “Father into Thy hands do I commit My Spirit [Ruach].” And having said thus He gave up the ghost [He breathed His last breath].
Acts 7: 55, 59
But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory (kavod) of God, and Jesus [Yeshua] standing on the right side of God, and they went on stoning Stephen, calling upon God, saying, LORD Jesus [Yeshua Adoneinu] receive my spirit [neshamah].
NOTE: According to Jewish Kabbalah, ‘neshamah’ is the highest level of the human soul or being; even greater than ‘ruach.’
Daniel 12: 2
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the ground [admat aphar] shall awake; some to Everlasting Life [Chayyei Olam], and some to shame and Everlasting Abhorrence [Dera’on Olam] and Everlasting Gehinnon [Onesh Olam].
NOTE: “Dera’on Olam” means everlasting loathsome and abomination; “Onesh Olam” means eternal punishment and damnation.
1 Corinthians 5: 8
We are confident, I say, and are pleased rather to be absent from the body [basar], and to be at home with the LORD [Adoneinu].
COMMENTARY: It is not known exactly when humans started to believe in a life after the physical body decays in the ground after death. Whether it started with the Egyptians in North Africa, Mesopotamian Sumeria, the Australian aborigines, the Hindus of India, Zoroastrians of Persia [Iran], Judaism, or Taoists in China and Japan’s Shintoism; the one consistent theme, it is a universal belief among almost every major civilization on planet Earth. The thing though is whether the person who died would be raised in the same body or would it be a spiritual one. It seems that the Bible [Old and New Testaments] shows that this concept was an ever-evolving and apparently inconsistent one which gradually developed over time to where it is today, especially with the advent of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus [Yeshua]; and later with the Apostle Paul through his writings. It is interesting that some of the wisest men who ever lived, according to the TANAKH [Old Testament], namely Job and Solomon, seemed to have a rather pessimistic outlook, for the most part, about death and what comes after. They made quite a few statements that you live, then you die and return back to the earth (ground) and that is pretty much well it.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
March 12, 2012
robertrandle51@yahoo.com
