BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

[20] We assert therefore that, apart from Christ, no one has received
revelations from God except by means of the imagination, namely by
means of words or visions, and therefore prophecy does not require a more
perfect mind but a more vivid imagination, as I shall show more clearly in
the next chapter.
[21] But now we must askwhat the holy Scriptures mean by the spirit of
God that inspired the prophets and what they mean when they say that the
prophets spoke by the spirit of God. In order to investigate this, we must
¢rst ask what is intended by the Hebrew word ruagh, which is usually
translated as ‘spirit’.
[22] The wordruagh in its literal sense means ‘wind’, as noted, but it is
very often used to refer to many other things, all of them, however, derived
from‘wind’. It is used:
(1) to signify ‘breath’, as in Psalm 135.17,‘also there is no spirit in their
mouth’;
(2) ‘life’ or ‘breathing’, as in 1 Samuel 30.12,‘and spirit returned to him’, i.e.,
22 ‘he breathed’.
Theological-Political Treatise
(3) Hence it is taken for ‘courage’ and ‘strength’, as at Joshua 2.11,‘and there
was afterwards no spirit in any man’. Likewise Ezekiel 2.2,‘and spirit’ (or power)
‘cameintome,whichmademestandonmyfeet’.
(4) Hence it is taken for ‘ability’ and ‘capacity’, as at Job 32.8,‘surely it is the
spirit in a man’, that is, knowledge is not to be sought only in old men, for I now
¢nd that it depends upon the individual’s particular ability and capacity.
Similarly Numbers 27.18,‘a man in whom there is spirit’.
(5) It can also denote a ‘sentiment’ of the mind, as at Numbers 14.24,‘since
there was another spirit in him’, i.e., a di¡erent ‘sentiment’, or another ‘mind’.
Likewise Proverbs 1.23,‘I will tell you my spirit’ (i.e.,‘my mind’). In this sense it
is used to signify ‘will’ or ‘decision’,‘desire’ and ‘movement of the mind’, as at
Ezekiel 1.12 ‘they went wherever there was a spirit’ (or ‘will’) ‘to go’. Likewise
Isaiah 30.1,‘and make a league but not of my spirit’, and 29.10,‘because God
poured over them the spirit’ (i.e., ‘desire’) ‘to sleep’. And Judges 8.3,‘then
their spirit’ (or ‘passion’) ‘was moderated’. Likewise Proverbs 18.33,‘he who
masters his spirit (or ‘appetite’) surpasses him who captures a city’. Proverbs
25.28,‘the man who does not restrain his spirit’. And Isaiah 33.11,‘Your spir it
is a ¢re which consumes you’. Further, this word ruagh, in so far as it signi¢es
‘mind’, serves to express all the passions of the mind and even its talents; for
example,‘a lofty spirit’ serves to denote pride,‘a lowly spirit’ humility,‘an evil
20