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Tuesday, June 27 2006
by Wayne Blank
"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"
In describing the time of creation, the terms "living creature" for animals and "living soul" for humans are English translations of the very same original Hebrew words, kaw-ee, meaning alive (translated as "living" in "living creature" for animals and "living soul" for humans), and neh-fesh, meaning a breathing creature (alternately translated as "creature" and "soul" in "living creature" for animals and "living soul" for humans).
"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:24-25 KJV)"And The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7 KJV)
By God's own Word, although the human potential (for the repentant ones) is near-infinitely greater, humans are also animals, or beasts:
"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.""For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 KJV)
The actual Bible word translated as "spirit" in the "spirit of man" and the "spirit of the beast" in the verses below is the Hebrew word (pronounced) roo-ackh which simply means breath, or to exhale. The "last breath" is what is being described as "spirit" in these verses; the original word does not have any literal or figurative meaning of "spirit" in a "spiritual" way:
"All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" (Ecclesiastes 3:20-21 KJV)
Fact Finder: Do animals have a soul?
See Where Is Your Soul?
Today's Word
The Holy Bible was primarily written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Today's Word examines the pronunciation and literal meaning of one of those actual words of the Holy Scriptures and how it is usually translated into English-language Bibles.
The Hebrew word pronounced sheb-oo-ah means a complete seven. It is most often translated for use in English language Bibles as week.
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This Day In History, June 27
1743: King George II of Britain defeated the French at Dettingen in the War of the Austrian Succession. He was the last British monarch to lead his troops into battle.
1759: British General James Wolfe landed his army near Quebec City and blocked the St. Lawrence River to French shipping. After a siege that lasted 75 days, the 33 year-old Wolfe led his troops up the cliff behind Quebec City to the Plains of Abraham (September 13) where they defeated Montcalm's garrison and captured the city. Both commanders died in battle.
1787: Edward Gibbon wrote the last lines of his classic "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."
1801: British forces defeated the French and took control of Cairo, Egypt.
1844: Joseph Smith, American religious leader and founder of the Mormon Church, was killed by a mob in an Illinois jail.
1893: A major stock market plunge began in the United States, leading to an economic depression in which 600 banks and 74 railroads went out of business by the end of the year.
1905: Mutinous Russian soldiers seized the battleship Potemkin in the Black Sea, throwing the commander and several other officers overboard.
1918: Two German pilots became the first to be saved by parachutes.
1950: President Truman ordered U.S. troops to Korea.
1976: Members of the Baader-Meinhof gang, a German terrorist organization inspired by Soviet anti-Semitic propaganda, hijacked an Air France airliner flying from Paris to Tel Aviv and forced it to land in Idi Amin's Uganda. They then set apart the 83 Israelis to be murdered if Israel did not release 53 Palestinian terrorists being held in Israel. The hostages were rescued by Israeli commandos in the "Entebbe Raid" 6 days later.
