And ELOHIM Yahuah 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
This means that the body is the place where the soul exists. The body and the soul of Yah becomes one as He imparts Himself into the body. It is interesting that where most Bible versions read Yahuah breathed into his nostrils, the Ancient Hebrew Mechanical Translation (AHRC-RMT) reads: and YHWH molded the human of powder (dust) from the ground and he exhaled in his nostrils a breath of life and the human existed for a being of life. I like the Ancient Hebrew reading because it better explains what Yahuah did. To exhale His breath into the human is powerful as it shows Yahuah placing Himself in us. He blows Himself into us as He gives us life. Our soul is the breath of life Yah imparts into our bodies, He places Himself in us. Without this impartation (to pass on, to transmit) we have no life.
Let us look a little closer at the word “soul” as written above in Genesis 2:7.
The Hebrew word for soul is Nephesh neh’-fesh represented by Strong’s H5315, from the primitive root H5314 naphash meaning to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon. I emphasize the primitive root to mean a breathing creature, the whole of a person, the body, breath, and mind. By this definition, animals, all things breathing have souls.
Soul is a feminine noun meaning breath, the inner being with its thoughts and emotions.
- Judges 10:16. And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Yahuah, and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Yah’s soul was grieved.
- Proverbs 14:10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
- Genesis 12:5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran;…
- Ezekiel 18:4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Soul is used 753 times in the Old Testament and has a broad range of meanings. When this word is applied to a person, it doesn’t refer to a specific part of a human being. Scripture views a person as a composite whole, fully relating to God/Yah and not divided in any way.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Hear, O Yashar’el: YAHUAH ELOHAYNU, YAHUAH is one: And you shall love YAHUAH ELOHAYKA with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (The Cepher Bible).
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And YAHUAH SHALOM (YAHUAH of Peace) sanctify you wholly; and I pray to YAHUAH that your whole ruach (spirit) and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our ADONAI YAHUSHA HA’MASHIACH (The Cepher Bible).
Notice distinction made between Spirit and Soul. The word and is a conjunction. Conjunctions add words together that have some degree of similarity to them. Soul and Spirit are close in meaning, they are similar, but they do not mean exactly the same thing. More will be said about this distinction below. There is another way to define the soul. Hebrew Paleo, the oldest of the Semitic, as well as the Hebrew language is represented by pictures, called pictographs. These images define the meaning of the letter. This reminds me of the old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The language reads from left to right.
Nephesh (Paleo) (Modern Hebrew)
Nun/Noon (sprouting). Briefly, nun means life, heir, son, continuous life. This is self-explanatory. Yahuah is the giver of life. He exhales His breath into our bodies and we become a living soul. His Son Yahusha came to give us life in the flesh as we live in the fullness of His Father.
- John 14:6 Yahshua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
On the natural, in our fleshly bodies is where we act out our sin. Because of the fall of humanity, our flesh is HaSatan’s breeding ground for sin, the place for destruction. Yet we have faith and hope that through Yahusha, through His redemption, we receive life everlasting.
Ayin (eye). We see, know, understand, and experience with the eye. The expression “seeing with the mind’s eye” can be understood here. The eye reveals our inner being, which is our soul. Yah has given us naphash, life but it is our heart that he looks upon because we act upon our thoughts and desires that emanate from our hearts. Our mind thinks it, our heart feels or connects with our thoughts, all related to emotions, and then we act upon the thought.
- Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; guard them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 … For Yahuah does not see what man sees, for a man looks on the outward appearance, but Yahuah looks on the heart.”
Sheen (teeth). The pictograph means to devour, consume, to destroy, and something sharp. A totality of process, from ingestion to digestion, to elimination. From beginning to middle, to the end of the life process. It is amazing that the letter sheen is the first letter found in the word repent. To repent means to destroy the old as we move towards newness of life. It is also the first letter of humility. We destroy the wall of pride as we submit ourselves as a living sacrifice unto Yahuah. Sheen is also the first letter in the word shalom. Shalom comes when we have destroyed the authority that haSatan had us bound by; the root of sin leaves, leaving us in a state of peace.
Within each of us is a desire to be at achad/one with Yah. The words falsehood and lying also find sheen as the first letter. A soul living in darkness is disconnected from the relationship Yah intended it to be and this disconnect leads to the destruction of the soul. In humility and repentance, we respond to His grace of forgiveness. In repentance, we change from living a life of corruption unto death to life everlasting. Oftentimes self-forgiveness is the beginning of the restoration of the soul.
Notice what Yah said to Ezekiel 8:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Again, our soul is life imparted or given to us by Yahuah. It is where our inner being is with all its thoughts and emotions.
The definition that the soul is the inner being with its thoughts and emotions will be the focused thought for the remainder of this infostream.
The inner being or immaterial part of the body is the place of reasoning, communicating, experiencing emotions, memory, and social interaction. Thoughts and emotions are what make us who we are. Our thoughts and emotions drive us to do what we do. They control how we act and react to life, good or bad. Good thoughts lead to positive outcomes and bad thoughts acted upon lead to negative outcomes and consequences. It is our thoughts and emotions that haSatan attaches to by whatever means he can to control our inner being, our mind, our thoughts for the purpose of destroying our souls.
Yahuah is the only one who breathes life into us creating a soul. Our souls come from Yahuah, and this is what haSatan seeks to steal. How does he do it? He does it by affecting our thoughts and emotions. He planted an idea into Eve’s mind causing her to think and act contrary to what Yahuah instructed her. She acted in disobedience. She gave to Adam, and he did likewise. This was Satan’s que to continue affecting how we think and feel and was the beginning of the fallen nature of humankind. At times sin comes from internal choices and will, at times sins of the world are inflicted upon us. It is what we do with the emotion that affects the soul.
Is Spirit and Soul the same?
Gen 1:2 … And the Spirit of Elohim moved upon the face of the waters.
Spirit or Ruah is Strong’s H7307 rûaḥ: A feminine noun meaning spirit, wind, resemblance of breath. Here the breath of Yahuah moved, exhaled, or fluttered much as it did into Adam but rather than saying the Spirit moved upon Adam, Genesis 2:7 reads Yah breathe into Him life. Thus, the spirit can be seen as a resemblance of breath.
Though the spirit and soul are related, the Spirit has different attributes or characteristics. We think from within our soul, the place where we feel and make decisions, however, it is from the spirit that we act upon what we think. The spirit can help or harm the soul. We are familiar with the saying I feel it in my soul, or stomach; Scripture often refers to this place of feeling as bowels.
And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber and wept there (Genesis 43:30).
Some versions use the word heart rather than bowels. The heart is truly the seat of emotion, a characteristic or attribute of the spirit. There is the Spirit of Yah, the Holy Spirit, or Ruach haQodesh.
A familiar section of the Bible that speaks of two contrasting spirits is found in Galatians 5:18-23.
- The Spirit of the Flesh (Gal. 5:18-21).
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, wild partying, and such like.
- The Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 8:22-23).
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Satan deceived Eve. He created a variance in her when he caused her to think differently or, change her mode of thinking. Then Yahuah said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate. (Genesis 3:13). Some versions read beguiled. To beguile is to deceive. Beguile means to deceive, to lead astray. Satan is a deceiver, he began in Genesis 3:13 and continues through Revelation. He carries the spirit of deception and once he imbeds that spirit within us, we fall prey to his tactics of further deception. A soul fallen into deception becomes weak and easily led into captivity. Remember sheen, the teeth, and how it destroys. A weak soul, like a weak link in a chain, provides access to haSatan to create an open door at which point he sets up strongholds such as anger, fear, bitterness, addictions, and the list goes on. Yet, as we read in John 10:10 Yahusha came to give us life.
The strongholds are what put us in captivity, often to the degree it requires tender care, and compassion to lead us out like a sheep stuck in a hard place. Compassionate Soul Care Ministry provides the damaged soul with the knowledge of who they are in Yahuah as we lead them to hope in Yahusha our savior for salvation. During the counseling, process communication arises as to the fallen nature of humankind. Most everyone knows the story of The Fall of Humankind but may not realize and understand the connective dots between brokenness and Satan’s plan for their destruction.
Described as a hopeless life, hope begins when the reality is absorbed that the consequences of disobedience, pain, suffering, and stress find restoration in Yahuah and Yahuah only. Understanding these things at a soul level encourages the counselee towards the belief that they too can break their chains of pain, suffering, and brokenness.
Soul Care is an act of facilitating hope with the counselee to the point of them knowing their future can be free of the bondage of their past. Soul Care involves instilling in the counselee this level of belief and trust in Yahweh to the point where they begin accepting their renewal as an achievable reality. Soul Care involves depending upon the Ruach haQodesh, the Holy Spirit, to guide both counselee and counselor in the healing and restoration process. Soul Care means helping the individual to love Yahuah to the point that all problems become secondary to His Promises of redemption.
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. We are to build one another up and comfort one another even as we are comforted. 1Thessalonians 5:11
Soul Care moves the individual from despair to restoration to the point that no problem is greater than what Yah provides to comfort them as they heal. Whatever their situation Yah gives us what we need to endure, no problem is greater than what Yah provides. Soul Care reflects the attributes and characteristics of a healthy soul such as the Fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:23).
Understanding we live in a sinful world where the battle between good and evil is real. We teach the importance of understanding the purpose of being dressed for war, with the Armor of Yahuah (Ephesians 6:11-18). Satan wants our Soul and Yah has given us what we need to defend ourselves as we guard our souls. Soul Care is the act of helping others restore their soul back to the place Yahuah intended it to be, out of darkness, into His light.