The Old Testament references to the Holy Spirit go far beyond the two verses I examined in my first post of my personal study of the Holy Spirit. Those two verses where simply limited to the exact phrase “Holy Spirit”. The more common phrase used in Old Testament is “Spirit of God” and that phrase is found in another 14 verses (from Genesis to Daniel).
In fact, the second verse of the entire Bible references the Spirit of God:
“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2, NLT)
The Hebrew phrase used here (and in the other 13 references) is “Ruwach Elohim”. The word “Elohim” is an interesting Hebrew word for God because it is plural, but references God. Right from the beginning God focused on both His singular and plural nature (one God in plurality). That will make your brain hurt, but that’s how God describes Himself.
I’m not going to go through each and every reference to “Ruwach Elohim” in the Old Testament, but there is one common element that stands out in many of the passages (beyond the plurality reference). In many of the passages there is a reference to a person being “filled with” the Spirit of God or that the Spirit of God “came upon” them. For example:
“I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.” (Exodus 31:3, NLT)
and
“Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, ‘This is what God says: Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the Lord, and now he has abandoned you!’” (2 Chronicles 24:20, NLT)
In each instance, the Spirit of God came upon someone for a specific reason—to help them fulfill a specific task, for prophesy, or even to drive them a little crazy (in the case of King Saul in 1 Samuel 11:6). God’s Spirit gave power and the ability to do something special for Him and/or His people. There was purpose in the filling of the Spirit; and there was power. This was God’s provision to His chosen persons. God’s Spirit resulted in action…empowerment to complete an assigned task or role.
So far we’ve seen two primary “functions” of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament:
- Relationship with God
- Empowerment for Service
These still apply today. The Holy Spirit ushers us into God’s presence and empowers us to serve in God’s Kingdom. We’ll see this and more as we move into the New Testament…
Post Tags: 1 Samuel, 2 CHronicles, Exodus, Genesis, Holy Spirit, King Saul
