Genesis 2:7, 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.
Strong’s Concordance H5301
נָפַחnâphachnaw-fakh’;a primitive root; to puff, in various applications (literally, to inflate, blow hard, scatter, kindle, expire; figuratively, to disesteem): – blow, breath, give up, cause to lose (life), seething, snuff
KJV translation of נָפַחnâphachnaw-fakh’– blow, breath, give up, cause to lose (life), seething, snuff.
Can you see the opposites here?
When God bent over the first man and breathed into the nostrils, He GAVE him LIFE. Strong’s Concordance and the King James Version translators provide this word “naphachnaw-fakh” with complete meaning. So, not only can it mean: to puff, to inflate, blow hard, scatter, blow, breath; it can also mean: kindle, expire, figuratively to disesteem, give up, cause to LOSE life, expire, seething, and snuff, as in snuffing out life.
Formula then is: Breath + Body = Life (aka: living being, living soul). Genesis 2:7
Body – Breath = Death (the consequence for sin), Job 31:39, etc.
Examples
– Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed (H5301) into his nostrils the breath (H5395) of life; and man became a living soul (H5314).
– Job 31:39
“If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money or have caused the owners thereof to lose (H5301) their life (H5315).”
Job uses breathed (H5301) very clearly to mean death. This tells us that LIFE, in Biblical Hebrew, is identical to SOUL in Genesis 2:7. There God breathed and GAVE life. Here Job refers to breathing that ENDS / TAKES life. Talk about a contradiction. What is going on here? The Bible is clear; God uses His breath to GIVE life and and the absence of that breath ENDS life.
Let’s take a look at Isaiah 54:16, “Behold, I have created the smith that blows (H5301) the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.” In other words, God is in charge. He created the one who creates the weapons, this is not to say that God created the weapons, however; He will see to it that whatever weapons are wielded by Israel’s enemies would be ineffective against them. This promise will see its ultimate fulfillment in the millennial reign of Christ (see Isaiah 51).
The promise to Israel is often applied to God’s children today (spiritual Israel), as we deal with enemies. No matter what the devil devises to throw at us, in the end it will fail because God is the Sovereign Ruler of our destiny. He gives us the shield of faith which is a part of the Armour of God, “with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:10-19).
A good read is the book titled: “Spiritual Israel”, written by Doug Batchelor & Steve Wohlberg. Go to the following website for a free copy: https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/49/t/spiritual-israel
Hot Seat that Refines – Jeremiah 1:13
Consider the translation seething. In Jeremiah 1:13, “And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What see you? And I said, I see a seething (H5301) pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.” Read the context in verse 15; it talks about the Lord, YAHVEH bringing armies up against Jerusalem. Biblical Hebrew includes this other-side-of-the-coin in God breathed. God’s breathing can put you in the hot-seat!
In ancient times, this form of refining involved a craftsman sitting next to a hot fire with molten gold in a crucible being stirred and skimmed to remove the impurities or dross that rose to the top of the molten metal. This imagery is used to describe a way that God removes sin from His followers. He chastens his children and compares it to a parent that disciplines their children. So yes, we can be put in the hot-seat! Hebrews 12:6-14. A study on “how God refines his people” will prove helpful. Also see the post titled: “The Refiners Fire” by Julie Guirgis, Australia.
Can it get seething fiery for His followers? Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego who was thrown into a furnace heated up seven times its normal temperature (Daniel 3:19)? Can you imagine the experience? Can you imagine how that experience grew their faith? There are many stories in the Bible of situations that were unimaginable, but God used them not only to be a witness to the ungodly but also to refine his people by removing “the dross”. This is the process of sanctification, God helping us to remove the dross, shedding the old self (Eph. 4:17-24; Col. 3:5-10; Rom. 6:6; 1 Pe. 1:14, 2:1,24; 1 Jn. 1:6-7, 2 Pe. 1:5-9, Rom. 6:3, 8:12-13; Gal. 3:27; Titus 2:12-13; 1 Thess. 4:3; Matt. 9:17). In the future, there will a post specifically on sanctification.
Love Chastens
Many believers hold to the idea that God of love means God wouldn’t allow anyone to be in a tough spot. It is because of His love that he chastens us. Throughout Scripture, God portrays Himself as a Father. Those who have received Jesus as Savior are His children (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). He uses the analogy of father/son because we understand it. He compares Himself to a loving father who not only blesses but disciplines His beloved children for their own good. Hebrews 12 goes on to show that those who do not receive God’s discipline are not legitimate children (verse 8). A loving father carefully watches his son, and when that son defies his orders and heads for danger, the father disciplines him to keep him safe. God does that with us. When a born-again child of God heads for sin or refuses to resist temptation, our Heavenly Father brings chastening into his life to direct him back to holiness (Heb. 12:5-11; Ps. 94:12, 118:18; Prov. 3:11-12; Jer. 30:11). He never forces us, but as our loving Savior, he provides a way to point us back to him. So yes, we can be in the ‘hot seat’.
Sometimes people think that God is “punishing” them for wrong choices in the past. It must be stated that all our punishment for sin was exhausted upon Jesus on the cross (Romans 5:9). The wrath of God was poured out on Him so that for those who are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) no wrath remains. When we give our lives to Christ, our Substitute for sin, our sin is forgiven and God blots them out (Ex. 32:32-33; Ps. 51:1,9; Acts 3:19; Col. 2:14) remembers it no more (Hebrews 8:12; 10:15-18). However, often, our wrong choices in the past have brought about unpleasant consequences in our life. God does not necessarily remove the natural consequences of sin when we repent. Those consequences are tools God can use to teach us, to prevent us from repeating the same mistakes, and to remind us of God’s grace.
Examples of chastening are found throughout the Bible. The Israelites were continually disobeying God’s commands (Numbers 14:21-23; Judges 2:1-2; 2 Kings 18:12). He was patient with them, He sent prophets to plead with them, and He warned them many times. But when they dug in their heels and embraced idols or evil practices, God brought chastening upon them in the form of plagues or enemy attacks (Jeremiah 40:3). He still loved them, and in His love He could not allow them to continue in behavior that would destroy them.
There are many examples of personal chastening in the Bible, as well, even upon those in whom the Lord most delighted—Moses (Deut. 32:51-52), David (1 Chronicles 28:3), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:11), to name a few. Notice that, although these men made mistakes and were chastened for them, God did not stop loving or using them. He brought chastening, but always forgave the truly repentant heart. God always restored the relationship.