The following is an excerpt from the book The Living Words.
Can you see, hear, feel, smell, or taste a spirit? If you answer “no,” then we need to look deeper for a more concrete meaning behind the Hebrew word. The word frequently translated as “spirit” is רוח ru’ahh [H:7307] and just a quick search of this word in the Hebrew text will reveal its concrete meaning.
And Elohiym made a wind (ru’ahh) pass over the land and the water subsided. Genesis 8:1
Here we see the word ru’ahh translated as a “wind.” Because we can hear and feel the wind, we know we are on the right track for finding the original Hebraic meaning of this word. A “wind” can be the wind on the land, such as we see in the verse above, but it can also be the “wind” of Yahweh.
By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made and by the wind (ru’ahh) of his mouth all their armies. Genesis 8:1
And of man.
The burden of the word of Yahweh is upon Israel declares Yahweh, he stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and he forms the wind (ru’ahh) of man that is within him. Zechariah 12:1
The “wind” of God and man is the “breath,” but from a Hebraic perspective, the breath is not just the exchange of air in the lungs, it is the person’s driving force, which directs and leads him on his journey through life. As we have already seen, an examination of related words and the roots of a word help to paint the picture of their original concrete meaning. So, let’s do that with the word ru’ahh.
The parent root is רח rahh and while this word/root is not found in the Biblical text, several other roots and words derived from it are. The word ארח arahh [H:732] means “to travel,” ירח yere’ahh [H:3394] is the “moon” and רחה rehheh [H:7347] is a “millstone.” What do wind, traveling, moon and millstone all have in common? They each have to do with following a prescribed path. The wind follows the same path each season, a traveler follows a path, the moon follows the same path in the sky, and a millstone also follows a prescribed path.
When we live according to our “wind” we follow the path of destruction, but if we live according to God’s “wind” we follow the path of life.
Side note (T.I.): No wonder Paul talks about every wind of doctrine.
And I will give you a new heart and a new wind (ru’ahh) I will give within you, and I will cause the heart of stone to be removed from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will give my wind (ru’ahh) within you and I will make you walk in my statutes and my judgments you will preserve and you will do them. Ezekiel 36:26,27
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