Dear friends,
This is Julia Blum from Israel—some of you might remember receiving my blog posts in the past. I’m excited to reconnect and to begin sharing with you a new series of short Hebrew insights from my books.
The Torah is full of hidden treasures—layers of meaning that can only be uncovered through a deeper understanding of the original Hebrew. I know we’re all busy, so each insight will take just one minute to read. But I believe you’ll find them eye-opening and deeply enriching.
WIND OR SPIRIT?
When reading the Christian Bible in English, we encounter God’s Spirit at the very beginning of creation: “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”,
as stated in Gen 1:2. However, in many Jewish translations of the Torah, the same verse speaks about the wind of God sweeping over the water.
Which translation is correct? You probably know that ruach in Hebrew means both wind and spirit, but how do we tell the difference between the two?
How do we understand what the text means? Is it God’s Spirit that hovers over the primordial waters, or just a wind sweeping over them?
We find an answer through the verb that follows ruach: merahefet. This verb occurs only once more in Torah, in Deuteronomy 32:11, here expressing
the utmost care, love, and affection of a mother eagle fluttering (merahefet) over her young ones and bearing them upon her wings.
Whilst there is a certain similarity between spirit and wind (which is why in the NT Jesus compares them), there is also a very profound difference:
wind cannot express tender love, care, and affection! Wind may blow forcefully, but it is indifferent and impersonal – while the Spirit of God caringly
and lovingly flutters over His creation. The same tender fluttering seen in Deuteronomy is what Genesis 1:2 describes: not a mere wind,
but the Spirit of God is hovering over creation with deep, parental love and care. This loving, personal, passionate hovering can only refer to God’s Spirit—
not to the wind!
Thus, just one word in Hebrew—merahefet—opens a window into the heart of God at the dawn of creation.
Through this one word alone, we catch a glimpse of the amazing depth of the original Hebrew text.