[In] classic Rabbinic literature,... Ruah ha-Kodesh is [often] personified... Ruah ha-Kodesh [the Holy Spirit: ruah = spirit; kodesh = holy] is used in the sense of a metonym (in this context, something associated with God that stands in for God)... Like other terms (Shekhinah, Kavod, Bat Kol) that express “divine immanence,” it [Ruah ha-Kodesh] may be used as a substitute for God’s name or as an expression of divine involvement with humanity. In some rabbinic texts, I will note that Ruah ha-Kodesh is interchanged with other such personifications. [T]he use of Ruah ha-Kodesh ... as divine metonym are attested, beginning in Tannaitic literature and continuing through both Talmudic literature and Aggadic Midrash of the Amoraic period [200 to 500 C.E.].
[When] Ruah ha-Kodesh is personified ... it stands in for God and gives the “divine perspective” in a Biblical drama, while elsewhere it seems to be another name for the Torah. The salient feature of this second type of use is Ruah ha-Kodesh’s portrayal as a speaking entity. For overwhelmingly (and differing from the Shekhinah), Ruah ha-Kodesh communicates.
Ruah ha-Kodesh is variously depicted as “responding” (various forms of the verb heshivah), “saying” or “stating” (omeret), “proclaiming,” (mevaseret), and “crying out” (tsovahat). The frequency of the terms varies in the different texts and different textual types. In Halakhic Midrash, most of the references are versions of “responding,” while in Lamentations Rabbah, “crying out” predominates. The Aggadic Midrash offers several examples of “stating” or “saying.” The Yerushalmi contains examples of “stating” and “proclaiming,” while the Bavli has both “responding” and “proclaiming.” By careful reading of each type of speech, I have striven to uncover both conventions of use and patterns of meaning.
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Author: Julie Hilton Danan
Keywords: Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Spirit of God, Spirit of holiness, 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, Ruah ha-Kodesh, Ruach ha-Kodesh, Ruach, Ruah, Personification, God personified, Bat Kol, Bath Kol, Voice of God, The Law personified, Scripture personified, Personified, Divine voice, Holy Spirit is a she, Holy spirit as a woman, Holy Spirit is feminine, Female Holy Spirit, Daughter of the voice, Vox dei, parakletos, paraclete, comforter, helper
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, 1 Samuel 16:14, 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 18:23, 2 Chronicles 20:14, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 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 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 16:7, 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 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 7:40, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 6:6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30, Philippians 1:19, 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 1:11, 1 Peter 1:12, 2 Peter 1:21, 1 John 4:2, Jude 1:20, Susanna 1:45, Wisdom of Solomon 1:7, Wisdom of Solomon 9:17, 2 Esdras 14:22
Source: Ph.D., Dissertation: The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin: 2009), pp. 99, 131-164, 231-243.
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