What the Bible calls “Spirit of YHWH” and “Spirit of Elohim” is called in the Talmud and Midrash “Holy Spirit” (“Ruaḥ ha-Ḳodesh.” never “Ruaḥ Ḳedoshah,” as Hilgenfeld says, in “Ketzergesch.” p. 237). Although the expression “Holy Spirit” occurs in Psalms 51:11 (LXX. πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον) and in Isaiah 63:10, 11, it had not yet the definite meaning which was attached to it in rabbinical literature: in the latter it is equivalent to the expression “Spirit of the Lord,” which was avoided on account of the disinclination to the use of the Tetragrammaton (see, for example, Targ. to Isaiah 40:13). It is probably owing to this fact that the Shekinah is often referred to instead of the Holy Spirit. It is said of the former, as of the Holy Spirit, that it rests upon a person. The difference between the two in such cases has not yet been determined. It is certain that the New Testament has πνεῦμα ἅγιον in those passages, also, where the Hebrew and Aramaic had “Shekinah”; for in Greek there is no equivalent to the latter, unless it be δόξα (=“gleam of light”), by which “ziw ha-shekinah” may be rendered. Because of the identification of the Holy Spirit with the Shekinah, πνεῦμα ἅγιον is much more frequently mentioned in the New Testament than is “Ruaḥ ha-Ḳodesh” in rabbinical literature.
The four Gospels agree in saying that when Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove came down from the opening heaven and rested upon him. The phraseology of the passages, especially in Luke, shows that this description was not meant symbolically, as Conybeare (“Expositor,” iv., ix. 455) assumes, following Alexandrian views (comp. Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 4:33; and Hastings, “Dict. Bible,” ii. 406a). This idea of a dove-like form is found in Jewish literature also. The phrase in Song of Solomon 2:12, “the voice of the dove” (A. V. “turtle”), is translated in the Targum “the voice of the Holy Spirit.” The passage in Gen. i. 2, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,” is interpreted by Ben Zoma (c. 100) to mean, “As a dove that hovers above her brood without touching it” (Ḥag. 15a). As the corresponding passage in the Palestinian Talmud (Ḥag. 77b, above) mentions the eagle instead of the dove, the latter is perhaps not named here with reference to the Holy Spirit. A teacher of the Law heard in a ruin a kind of voice (“bat ḳol”) that complained like a dove: “Wo to the children, because of whose sins I have destroyed my house” (Ber. 3a, below). Evidently God Himself, or rather the Holy Spirit, is here referred to as cooing like a dove (comp. Abbot, “From Letter to Spirit,” pp. 106-135).
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Author: Jewish Encyclopedia
Keywords: Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Spirit of God, Spirit of Yahweh, Spirit of YHWH, God's spirit, YHWH's spirit, Yahweh's spirit, The Spirit, Spirit of Elohim, Shekinah, Shekhinah, Divine spirit, Metonym for God, Metonym, MetonymyRuah ha-Kodesh, Ruach ha-Kodesh, Ruach, Ruah, Personification, Bat Kol, Bath Kol, Voice of God, The Law personified, Scripture personified, Personified, Daughter of the voice, Vox dei
Bible reference(s): Genesis 1:2, Genesis 6:3, Genesis 41:38, Exodus 31:3, Exodus 35:31, Numbers 24:2, Judges 3:10, Judges 6:34, Judges 11:29, Judges 13:25, Judges 14:6, Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14, 1 Samuel 10:6, 1 Samuel 10:10, 1 Samuel 11:6, 1 Samuel 16:13-14, 1 Samuel 19:20, 1 Samuel 19:23, 2 Samuel 23:2, 1 Kings 18:12, 1 Kings 22:24, 2 Kings 2:16, 2 Chronicles 15:1, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 2 Chronicles 18:23, 2 Chronicles 20:14, Nehemiah 9:30, Job 27:3, Job 33:4, Psalms 51:11, Psalms 104:30, Psalms 139:7, Psalms 143:10, Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 40:13, Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 59:21, Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:11, Isaiah 63:14, Ezekiel 3:14, Ezekiel 11:5, Ezekiel 11:24, Ezekiel 36:27, Ezekiel 37:1, Ezekiel 37:14, Ezekiel 39:29, Joel 2:28-29, Haggai 2:5, Zechariah 4:6, Micah 2:7, Micah 3:8, Matthew 1:18, Matthew 1:20, Matthew 3:11, Matthew 3:16, Matthew 12:28, Matthew 12:32, Matthew 28:19, Mark 1:8, Mark 3:29, Mark 12:36, Mark 13:11, Luke 1:15, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:41, Luke 1:67, Luke 2:25, Luke 2:26, Luke 3:16, Luke 3:22, Luke 4:1, Luke 4:18, Luke 10:21, Luke 11:13, Luke 12:10, Luke 12:12, John 1:33, John 14:26, John 20:22, Acts 1:2, Acts 1:5, Acts 1:8, Acts 1:16, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:17-18, Acts 2:33, Acts 2:38, Acts 4:8, Acts 4:25, Acts 4:31, Acts 5:3, Acts 5:9, Acts 5:32, Acts 6:5, Acts 7:51, Acts 7:55, Acts 8:15, Acts 8:17, Acts 8:19, Acts 8:39, Acts 9:17, Acts 9:31, Acts 10:38, Acts 10:44, Acts 10:45, Acts 10:47, Acts 11:15, Acts 11:16, Acts 11:24, Acts 13:2, Acts 13:4, Acts 13:9, Acts 13:52, Acts 15:8, Acts 15:28, Acts 16:6, Acts 19:2, Acts 19:6, Acts 20:23, Acts 20:28, Acts 21:11, Acts 28:25, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:14, Romans 9:1, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13, Romans 15:16, Romans 15:19, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 7:40, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 6:6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:8, 2 Timothy 1:14, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 2:4, Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 6:4, Hebrews 9:8, Hebrews 10:15, 1 Peter 1:12, 2 Peter 1:21, Jude 1:20, 1 John 4:2, Susanna 1:45, Wisdom of Solomon 1:7, Wisdom of Solomon 9:17, 2 Esdras 14:22, Judith 16:14
Source: “Holy Spirit,” 1906 Edition.
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