Rûaḥ in the Hebrew Bible: A Survey of Past Scholarship

Abstract

The term rûaḥ (plural: rûḥôt) is usually translated into English as ‘wind’, ‘breath’, or ‘spirit’. With such a wide semantic range, scholars have debated the meteorological, anthropological, and theological nuances of the term. This article surveys five themes in the history of that scholarship: (1) diachronic approaches to mapping the meaning of rûaḥ; (2) attempts to track two modes of rûaḥ: the so-called life-giving vs. empowering aspects; (3) distinctions between the meanings of rûaḥ and nepeš; (4) the functions of rûaḥ in designating ecstatic experience; and (5) the role of rûaḥ-language in describing notions of human subjectivity and moral agency.