From: "Adrian Teo" <ateo@whitworth.edu>
> The difficulty here is that the OT uses the word nephesh ina variety
> of ways. It occurs 754 times in the OT, and most often applies to
> humans, although, sometimes it applies to animals (e.g. Gen 1:20),
> and interestingly, to God himself (Judg 10:16 and Is 1:14).
> If we were to draw your conclusion, then we would also have to say
> that God is not immortal.
You are correct that the word "Nephesh" is used in many ways and has many
meanings. Not only is it translated as 'soul' but also 'spirit' in both the
KJV and the NIV. The word "soul" in English also has many meanings. This,
of course, brings us back to important point of the context. Obviously the
context of Genesis 2:7 is different from that in Judges 10:16 and Isaiah
1:14. You cannot apply the definition of the human 'soul' in Genesis 2:7 to
any and every occurrence of the word in the Bible. But it would be logical
to apply it to those contexts which deal with the human being.
The same definition could work for animals also. A body + the breath of
life = a living animal/soul. The word soul, as 'living being,' (per the
NIV) can apply to the animal world also. It is only if you try to make the
soul into some kind of conscious intelligent entity that exists in a body
that one would be hesitant to think of animals as having a conscious
intelligent entity in their bodies.
A living being is a soul, a soul is a living being, whether human or
animal.
Allen
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